I’ve started volunteering with the Swedish Red Cross as a photojournalist in between writing/photography gigs, and will be sharing highlights from various projects and assignments once in a while. Tasks include documenting field projects, covering specific events, and writing up some project summaries in English for the International Red Cross.

“Where is everyone?” Inez asks the bespectacled old man standing at the makeshift entrance…a wooden table with a plastic container for tickets and another for money.

He laughs dryly. I understand why.

Besides the dark rain clouds that have been hanging over Luleå all morning, it seems something else has driven everyone indoors and glued to their television sets.

An event most Swedes have been waiting 30 years for…a certain royal wedding.

Every mid June, residents of the UNESCO World Heritage site, Gammelstad and surrounding towns gather to enjoy its annual Spelmansstämman – a Fiddlers’ meet up. Amidst 19th century wooden cottages where local actors dressed in native Laplander period pieces stoke fires and make thin bread from scratch, fiddlers tap boot-clad feet and play old Swedish and Finnish songs.

Maidens in long striped frocks with colorful flowery scarves wrapped around their shoulders dance and twirl with gentlemen in baggy black pants, worn-out camel brown boots, and shocking red tops.

The Spelmansstämman usually draws thousands to the historic site who come to sing along to old tunes, and take horse-drawn buggy rides through fields of grazing sheep.

Barely two hundred make it out today.

The heavy clouds break for a few minutes and sun rays spill brightly out. The folk dancers hop back onto the wooden stage and spin, skip, and clap, entertaining a dozen drenched onlookers.

They take their bow to scanty applause and as if on cue, the heavens open up once more and rain falls.

—-

This post has been entered into the Grantourismo and HomeAway Holiday-Rentals travel blogging competition.

Neatly plowed green fields roll past us. I’ve always wondered what shade of green those fields are. The artist in me always does; wondering how much burnt sienna to mix in with yellow ochre and aquamarine blue to come up with that exact green hue. A task I know is impossible to accomplish yet a mental exercise I enjoy nonetheless.

I casually glance over my left shoulder at the back seat. Those same green fields are rolling over my mom’s black sunshades, her head gently resting backwards on the car seat. Thin white wires run from her ears down to the iPod hidden beneath her scarf. She is listening to her own African soundtrack personalized for the undulating Swedish countryside; a mix of strong drum beats with the occasional synthesized voice singing in Pidgin English as we pass Falu red cottage after barn after cottage strewn across the landscape.

Dad is sitting to her right, glancing out the right back window. His brows are furrowed with concern, his cellphone at his ear, listening as another excuse is being made over the line. An international phone call from Nigeria; it seems another contractor or employee or family member hasn’t delivered on their promise as his brows have been furrowed for the last 100 or so kilometers.

I turn back to Urban who is driving; his eyes never leaving the road.

“This is crazy,” I say. “They’re in Norrbotten.”

Highlights

The last few days have been spent crisscrossing Northern Sweden with my parents. In town visiting from Nigeria, we decided to take them on a 13-14 hour road trip up along the Gulf of Bothnia and Höga Kusten (High Coast) to visit in-laws up north. With 37 pages of roughly scribbled notes and observations in my little journal (which will go into personal essays), it’s safe to say we had some amazing experiences.

Here are just a few:

• Finally taking my parents to the Arctic circle where mom uttered the most memorable words of the entire trip…”So where is it?” she asked, glancing around and looking for some “arctic circle.”

• Taking a moose farm detour and proudly watching dad conquer his fear while mom refused to get closer for fear of being eaten by a moose.

• Visiting the summer stuga (cottage) of my extended family, riding in a small dinghy boat around the lake, and fishing out baby sea bass and random seaweed.

• Sampling all what Norrbotten had to offer food-wise including reindeer meat, trying all forms of lax (salmon) and daring to eat surströmming once again.

• Hiking around and checking out Storforsen where the geologist in my dad emerged once more.

• Finishing off the last evening of our trip on a floating Falu red cottage amidst a pristine lake; the only sound for miles being our collective breathing.

Photo Gallery

I took close to a 1000+ photographs in just 5 days, so I’ve selected 89 shots to share:

• View Northern Sweden Gallery (89 photos).

Shot with my Nikon D300 and two new favorite lenses – Nikkor 16-85mm and 35mm

Returned today from Northern Sweden with my parents where we took what I’m now dubbing our “Arctic Road Trip”. Activities enjoyed included jumping at the Arctic circle, taking a moose farm detour, visiting the summer stuga (cottage), digging into reindeer meat, riding in a dinghy, fishing, eating surströmming, hiking, checking out Storforsen, trying all forms of lax (salmon), floating (yes!) in a Falu red cottage in the middle of a pristine lake, and lots more all in 3 days.

So I’m currently backlogged sorting through photos and stories while still entertaining the parents here in Stockholm.

Wanted to share my latest BBC essay in the meantime.

The backstory behind the photographs is pretty sweet. I was hanging with fishermen and fishmongers at Ebute Lekki (also online at BBC) when I saw a couple of  kids dressed in yellow and green uniforms walking towards the shore.

Curiosity piqued, I asked one of them, Musili, a 13-year teenager who was holding a wooden paddle where he was going.

“Home,” he replied. Across the lagoon to his village.

So I grabbed my camera and started snapping away as dozens of children loaded into wooden canoes and began their daily commute.

The raw feelings that wash over me at the sight of a newborn baby are indescribable. While cliché words like “innocent” and “precious” immediately pop into mind, when I see a newborn, I see man at his/her purest.

In essence, at the very best moment of ourselves when we didn’t know much and didn’t need to.

Plus, newborns are cute too…

Picture of friend’s baby shot with a Nikon D300 and new 35mm fixed lens.

From rounding up spicy foods and yummy cupcakes for Fodors and Forbes Traveler, to decoding Swedish fika culture for Guardian UK’s Been There and National Geographic Traveler’s Intelligent Travel and many more…

About two months ago, I reached out to one of my favorite people, editor of  Heart & Soul, looking for any last minute assignments she needed, and thus, the incredible edible eggplant feature piece was born – You can read the article here in the June-July issue.

But even more interesting was the issue question posed to a couple contributors (see contributors’ page with yours truly):

What does sexy mean to you?

Here’s my answer:

Sexy to me means confidence. Simple as that. An understated confidence in yourself and what you know well without being arrogant or feeling the need to constantly verbalize.

I feel sexiest when I’m actively taking care of and nurturing all aspects of me – mind, body, spirit – at the same time.

From a brute hockey player with tousled brown hair to a “gentleman” with gelled and sleeked-back brown hair, the country watched a personal trainer from supposedly nowhere transform from a spontaneous guy to a primped up robot-like prince-in-waiting.

Not a wrong word was uttered over the last few years. Emotions were kept in check as well as personal opinions and views. For years, he’d been preparing for his new role.

He is prepared…until the doors open up and in walks, not a crown princess, but the girl he’d fallen in love with at a gym and he cries unabashedly…

—

With the extravagant church ceremony over, the new couple stands on the steps of the church, waving to fans and other country folk. A few minutes later, they stop waving and wait….and wait…and wait awkwardly. After over a year of preparing for the country’s biggest event in decades, the royal horses, horse-drawn carriage, and horsemen were at least 5 minutes late.

—

Then the horse-drawn carriage procession begins, taking the new royal couple through Stockholm’s people-lined streets. Four Swedish Secret Service guys (including one gal) dressed in black suits begin their slow jog alongside the carriage. They’d practiced this before. Their jog is slow and steady…until the horses change their minds. The horses up their pace, and the secret service guys move from a slow jog to a run…a full-on run they weren’t anticipating.

And thus began a mini-5K race for the four of them through the entire city. Had they not been fit and physically prepared, they would have fallen behind and left the new couple vulnerable to attack.
—

Stories abound of people who were at “the right place at the right time”, which turned into an unbelievable change of lifestyle for them…from random authors appearing on Oprah, receiving six-figure dollar grants to hobby photographers winning prestigious awards for one-time shots.

These lifetime opportunities, it seems, usually come knocking on unlikely doors of unprepared owners.

For me, these stories actually reinforce the fact that they were prepared and, as defined by the Encarta dictionary, “ready to deal with something: in a suitable physical or mental state to be able to cope with something, often something hard or bad.”

They were mentally prepared to fully recognize when opportunities came knocking and didn’t let self-doubt or a poor assessment of their skills get in the way.

Yes, Daniel cried, not very “kingly”, at the sight of his princess, but that didn’t mean his years of preparation went out the window.

The royal horsemen were at the wrong place at the right time, rolling in late to pick up their most famous of passengers. This makes them no less well prepared horsemen confident in their skills.

And those Secret Service guys got in their exercise for the day by being physically prepared.

Preparedness means being in a holistic “state of readiness for action“…whatever it may be.

[Michael Yessis facilitating the travel writing panel with Alison Stein Wellner, David Farley, Don George, and Jim Benning]

This past weekend, I flew into New York (well, Newark) for the 1st annual Travel Blog Exchange (TBEX) conference. It felt so refreshing to finally meet fellow travel writers/bloggers/photographers I’d spent years (3-4 years!) chatting with and befriending online.

Here are a few of my favorite shots:

Hanging out with bonafide Matador babes – Nancy Harder, Abbie Mood, and JoAnna Haugen, and new friend, fellow photographer Jessica Stuart.

I wonder what Michael Yessis is pondering.

Chowing down on sandwiches, cheese and fruit trays sponsored by the Australian Outback’s Northern Territory Tourism board.

Rocking the Dr. Seuss top hat while listening to the effortlessly funny Mike Barish.

To know Ann Lombardi of The Trip Chicks is to love her. Plain and simple.

Organizers Kim Mance and Maren Hogan talking logistics between panels.

A true testament to how popular an event is (and rightfully so) is if you’ve got people sitting on the floor.

The real reason we were all there – to mingle and finally meet.

You can read a host of blog summaries about TBEX via Maren’s excellent compilation of links and also check out my short summary of Matador’s presence at TBEX.

To all the fantastic, warm, talented, spirited, and downright cool people I met at TBEX (too many to list), keep doing what you do and stay focused on that true path life has crafted just for you, and no one else.

Stay blessed.

The last few weeks have been quite busy on many fronts….ramping up on my Swedish, immersing fully in a new culture, trying to work smarter, not harder…

While I sort through more photographs from this weekend’s jaunt up north to Luleå, here’s the latest on the freelancing front..

Writing

Haven’t been pitching as much as I’d like due to other priorities, but I’ve got upcoming pieces in Heart & Soul (3 pieces, latest in Jun/Jul issue), AFAR, United’s Hemispheres (another last minute assignment), and currently working a few other leads.

Guarding The Red Sea Coast - National Geographic Traveler’s Blog (Intelligent Travel)

Photography: Making The Leap – The Travelers’ Notebook

Also been doing a couple interviews with other travel photographers and photojournalists over at the Travelers’ Notebook. Definitely check out the interviews as they share some invaluable insight and practical advice about the world of travel photography.

Photography

Super excited to be publishing a couple photo essays from Nigeria on BBC.com. Check out the first of three slated pieces titled “Nigerian Fishing Community” (pictured above).

Other photography upcoming on The Away Network and Transitions Abroad (future webzine cover photo).

Awards

Picked up a nomination in the People category of the 4th Annual Photography Masters Cup Color Awards.

Photojournalism

But even more important for me is the fact that I’ve connected with both the Swedish Red Cross and United Planet and will be volunteering as a photojournalist on a few of their field projects.

This type of field-based, slice-of-life photojournalism work is where my heart truly lies, in addition to writing about experiential travel and capturing sense of place through photography.

If only I had the million dollar sponsorship to be able to do it fulltime with no worries!

Quintessential Stockholm fashionistas in their recognizable attire…overflowing tops, leggings, flat shoes….at the annual Smaka på Stockholm festival.

Check out the full photo essay on Matador Life.