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Annevi - Travels
Icehotel 2013
14.03.2013

The ICEHOTEL is situated above the Arctic Circle in northern Sweden. The sun doesn’t rise at all for two weeks in winter but then again the sun shine both day and night during summer.

The ICEHOTEL is made of massive blocks of ice from Torne River and the hotel is rebuilt every year.

The design of the hotel is different every year and artists from around the world are involved in the making of the ICEHOTEL. Artists are credited below.

Reception – Unfold by Susan Christianen & Lena Kriström

I stayed at the ICEHOTEL to photograph an Australian wedding last week. The thick walls of snow inside the ICEHOTEL isolate all sound and the hotel was so quiet, turning voices into whispers. It felt serene, magical almost.

Main Hall – Navigating the Unknown by Marjolein Vonk, Marinus Vroom & Jens Thoms Ivarsson

The Icebar was one of the more popular places to hang out in the ICEHOTEL, perhaps to keep the heat up on the dancefloor, or simply hang around in the bar. Drinks were served in glasses made of ice, obviously keeping the drinks well chilled. The tunes of Fever Ray was playing. Very fitting.

Icebar – Unique by Sofi Ruotsalainen, Mikael “Nille” Nilsson & Viktor Tsarski

Torne River

The ice church is also rebuilt every year and they many weddings and baptisms are held in the church. Still water will freeze (besides being very cold), so the water is kept in a thermos during the baptism.

Ice Church by Javier Opazo, Ethan Friedman & Rob Harding

Residence

There’s a story behind every ice suite, all designed by different artists. Some suits are playful, like Bedtime Story and Cold And Crazy.

Bedtime Story by Wilfred Stijger & Edith Van De Wetering

Cold and Crazy by Jonas Gencevicius & Jurgita Gencevicius

There are also more suites with a more serious message, such as Blue Marine, showing the inside of a whale. The commission salary of the artists was donated to BLUE Marine Foundation to protect water life.

Blue Marine by William Bloomstrand, Andrew Winch & Alex Hutchison

Dragon Residence by Bayarsaikhah Bazarsad

Elliptical by Geertje Jacob & Gastón Vacaflores

Iceberg by Wouter Biegelaar & Margot Eggenhuizen

Two Japanese artists created the Flower suite. The tsunami in Japan destroyed almost everything, but shortly after the wild flowers started to blossom. And it gave people hope.

The Flower by Natsuki Saito & Shingo Saito

Eternity to the left. The Flower to the right.

Eternity by Fernando Inçaurgarat & Alfredo Juan Diez

Nest by Maurizio Perron

Rain Of Memories by Alessandro Canu & José Carlos Cabello Millán

Virgin In Space by Monica Popescu & Petros Dermatas

White Water by Elin Julin & Ida Mangsbo

White Water to the right. Beam Me Up to the left.

Beam Me Up by Karl-Johan Ekeroth & Christian Strömqvist

Exterior

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Copenhagen
8.03.2013

I went for a walk in beautiful central Copenhagen and the quaint harbour, Nyhavn. My grandmother was Danish and I spent a lot of summer vacations in Denmark.

I like the relaxed vibe of the city. It was lovely to walk around in the sunshine checking locations for a shoot and to have lunch by the water.

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Gold
14.01.2013

The Gold Standard is a list of the best hotels, bars and restaurants around the world. It’s put together once a year by Condé Nast Traveller and the Golden Standard of 2013 is published in the February edition.

One Australian bar made the exclusive list, The Croft Institute. It’s a wonderful bar, tucked down in an alleyway in Melbourne. I love this place. It has a funky vibe and it’s simply a great place to hang out.

I have photographed the official photos of Croft Institute and one of them is published in Condé Nast Traveller.

Related posts: The Croft Institute

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Bang
14.12.2012

It was so bizarre to walk around in the freezing cold while the ground was bubbling. The hot steam from the geysers froze before it hit the ground making the area around the larger geysers pretty slippery.

Growing up in Sweden you are used to snow and you just know by a glance if the ground is slippery or not. In fact, I have never really thought about this until I saw tourists walking around with large steps on the icy snow, obviously falling laughing all over the place. Geysers and all, but that is what I remember the most.

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Hallgrím
12.12.2012

Heart of winter and it had been snowing all night. It was early in the morning and black outside as we walked up the hill to Hallgrímskirkja. It was only a short walk but the strong winds made the walk painfully cold.

I got some quick shots and we hurried through the storm to the massive doors to get inside. Only to find the doors locked. Luckily, we found a smaller entrance. The interior looks like a Viking ship turned upside down. It’s all white with glass sculptures looking like frozen water.

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Castles & Laneways
3.10.2012

Spent the week in Edinburgh and I loved the contrasts between the historic buildings and the busy streets. I walked around in the rain early in the mornings and photographed in the many laneways. I have always found that peaceful. We also went for a drive on the countryside.

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Beach House
26.07.2012

Finished 3 days of shooting, in 3 different cities and a quick trip to Copenhagen. The editing work is quickly piling up, but I have escaped to the beach house for a few days. So I’m plugging in the laptop and working to the salty breeze from the ocean and the sound of seagulls. Life is good.

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The Final Countdown
30.04.2012

It is hard to tell, but this abandoned event park was the place to be in the 80’s. With several indoor and outdoor discos and a large outdoor stage with all the cool Swedish acts at the time, Europe, Magnus Uggla, Orup and my all favourite (at the time) Lily & Susie.

This place was on fire and usually sold out immediately and all the accommodations and temporary youth camping were filled up in no time. Funny enough the park was located in a kind of posh area by the sea and my family home was only a short walk away. Once my parents let some kids put up a tent in our garden over night. Another time we were having a family barbecue and cars with drunken kids in the trunk drove by. It was wild; it was the neon coloured 80’s.

The music was pumping loud into the summer nights, a lot of the neighbours would complain but I remember falling asleep as a kid to the comforting beats, screaming kids in roller coaster and singing teenagers on their way to the disco.

As I grew older, my friends and I would walk to the park during the sound checks at day, and I probably still have autographs lying around at the attic. When I was in my teens, the former glory of the park had started to fade but we spent a lot of summer nights looking at live bands, dancing the nights away at the outdoor disco. It was the place of the first drinks; the first kisses with boys; there are many memories.

The place is abandoned now, the main stage is gone, the roller coaster is long gone and the buildings that remain are slowly falling apart, a sense of sadness, passing of time. It’s the final countdown.

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Exhale
20.04.2012

It was snowstorm when we arrived in Reykjavik and the waves were crushing hard against the black lava shores. No whale watcher boats left the harbour for a few days due to the snowstorm, but finally they did.

Only a handful of people were on the boat, all of them Scandinavians brave enough, or perhaps foolish enough, to go on a boat trip in the Arctic during winter. It was not warm, but it was stunningly beautiful.

We were only 20 minutes from the harbour when the guide spotted a humpback whale. I did not. From a distance it takes a trained eye to see them, but as we got closer so did I.

It is not unusual to see whales around Reykjavik during winter, but quite often you spot them and then they swim off. This humpback whale however stayed with us; it started to play, splashed his tail against the surface.

As we turned back towards the harbour a group of Orca whales (killer whales) came close to the boat, swimming next to us. It is extremely unusual that Orcas go near Reykjavik and our guide told us that she had only seen it happen twice before.

The humpback whales move slowly, sliding through the water; the Orcas are all about speed and power. They live and hunt in groups, circling the pray before they strike and that’s what we saw. On the second photo there are baby Orcas too.

The photos don’t make the whales justice, the graceful swimming through the water; the breathing sounds; their impressive length and strength, only sense it. Just like the traces they leave behind them in the water after a dive, like a quiet fingerprint on the water.

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The Horse Whisperer
13.03.2012

I hadn’t been horse riding since I was a kid, but you can’t visit Iceland and not go horse riding. So off we went.

I was perhaps slightly optimistic when I put on my camera thinking I would get some nice photos from the excursion. The landscape was stunningly beautiful with frozen lakes and snow covered hills and heaths, but the paths were slippery.

The five gaits were new to me and I can’t really say I had much control of the speed. It didn’t feel like an option at the time to give the horse free reins and photograph. I believe I looked slightly less graceful than our young guide, who told me she was a horse whisperer. Yet another thing to love about Iceland, the stories, the magic.

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