Category Archives: English

Wädenswil

Saturday, July 24, 2010 – 23:41

Summer barbecue in Wädenswil with my Zwänzgerband friends.

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People had brought their instruments, and together with Joel’s portable amp we had an afternoon of jamming on the beachside.

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The water was even warmer than the air.

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Having a part of the seaside just for us was amazing; on days like these all public beaches become crowded with people.

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Being a photographer, I seldom get photos of myself. But Olivia was kind enough to borrow my camera for a while. :) My hair was all over the place as I just had been swimming.

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Oh yeah, and as you can see, the Germans are always loud :)

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Thanks to Noemi for inviting all of us to her place for this party. This evening and these people is what I will carry with me in my heart when I leave this country in not too long a time.

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Glarus

Friday, July 23, 2010 – 00:14

Canton Glarus, visiting José and Beni (as pictured).

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Beni had invited me to see the best sights of his home canton of Glarus.  As he had a car, we could go and see all the sights that are unavailable for train travelers like myself. 5719757212

Really generous of him, I had no idea about the hidden gems this close to Zürich. Take Klöntal for instance:

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The mountains are almost surreal, the Glarner people live in a tiny valley wedged between rocks that reach higher than our own Kebenekaise. These are the mountains you see from Zürich (on a very clear day) After a nice dinner with Beni’s family we went up to the wooden cross overlooking the town of Näfels. Breathtaking, to say the least. From there we could see the majority of the Glarus valley, with a half moon rising over the mountaintops.

And with this view, a tripod, flash, remote release, ,ultrawide and three funny guys this is what you get:

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I took more photos than those above, but I’ll save them for another time…

By Jonathan Fors | Also posted in Photos | Tagged , , , | Comments (1)

Here we go again

Wednesday, July 21, 2010 – 21:49

It seems like we have frequent visitors at the student house…

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“Not again”, was my first thought as I heard the alarm, before putting on my shoes and reaching for the Speed Freak. “Let’s make the best of the situation and snap some quick shots of the firemen.”

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It was some automatic alarm on the fourth floor this time. (To be clear: no fire) I was a bit annoyed as I was just going to sleep. The firefighters were quickly on the scene, but really took their time in the corridor, looking through fire plans before finding the rooms.57137

As the fire captain searched the rooms for the non-existent fire, some of us went to chat with the firefighters standing by at the trucks. Juan was curious about the rescue ladder.

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The firemen were really relaxed and funny, but had to say no to a game of Töggeli because they were on duty. The girls were “super-excited” to have all these good-looking firemen around, and they of course wanted photos. :)

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Perhaps you recognize the guy on the right side of the frame. He’s been here before.

I know that my neighbors want to download the photos, so I’ve made it easy for you guys. Follow this link to download a zip archive, everything’s included there. Please be kind to my server. I have limited bandwidth and wouldn’t be able to cope if everyone hammered the connection. Thank you. (The link will be removed in a couple of days)

By Jonathan Fors | Also posted in Fun, Photos | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Lac Léman

Tuesday, July 13, 2010 – 17:12

The latest fad in media seems to be 3d technology. 3d displays, 3d cameras, 3d movies; complete with 3d glasses and lazy-eye. Yawn. Who needs all that when it is entirely possible to produce 2d media with a sense of depth?

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Lac Léman (or Genfersee as we say it in German) in the afternoon, as seen from Montreux this last Sunday. Feel the depth of the image? Near-middle-far relationships is a compositioning technique I’m working on right now, and they are a great way to pull the viewer into the frame. Mother and daughter, steamer ship, mountains. I guess such techniques would fall into oblivion if 3d photography ever got mainstream…

Oh, and there is an ongoing event these weeks in Montreux, one of the most famous of its kind in Europe. I’ll write more about that event shortly…

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Improvisation

Sunday, July 11, 2010 – 12:52

I love improvised traveling. Yesterday I felt the need to go traveling, and one hour later I sat on the train headed directly to Basel. The twin canton was on my list for my Swiss Challenge, and I had nothing else planned for the evening.

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The city of Basel is located on the Rhine, not too far from Dreiländereck (“three-country corner”, where the borders of France, Switzerland and Germany meet).

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The weather was quite something. 35 degrees Celsius, at 5 in the afternoon. Don’t want to know what it was around lunchtime…

As I walked from the Rhine to Marktplatz I saw a police squad turn its sirens off, stop the car and exit the vehicle. As  I followed them, hoping to get a photo of policemen in action, they joined up with a number of their collegues. They had circulated a block of houses, apparently watching or guarding something.

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As soon as I pulled up the camera the policemen hid behind street signs, walked out of the way or turned their heads away. They seemed slightly agitated of having a photographer nearby, and one of them walked up to me and politely asked “Haben Sie einen Ausweis?”. (Do you have an Ausweis?). The German word Ausweis is ambiguous here and could either mean a license to take photos or identification papers. I answered in English (I always do that when I need a language advantage) “Yes, I have identification”. The policeman then responded “Please don’t take too much [sic] pictures of me” and walked back to his post.

I suspect they were about to arrest somebody, but don’t understand why they were so agitated about me being there. This was a public part in one of the most touristy areas of Basel, and people are carrying cameras in abundance. The officer was polite, yes, but I was a little annoyed about being approached. Good that the Basel police has some manners, in comparison to the London Metropolitan Police.

I waited around for a few minutes, but nothing seemed to happen and I wanted to catch a train that was about to leave. It was time to I make my way to the combined SBB and SNCF train station. It was now after seven in the evening, and thus my Gleis 7 card allowed me unlimited travel by train.

Next stop: Liestal.

The Canton of Basel is a half-canton and consists of the two parts Basel-Stadt and Basel-Landchaft. Basel (the city) is the capital of Basel-Stadt (the canton), whereas the tiny town of Liestal (13’000 inhabitants) is the capital of Basel-Landschaft. This was really a boring place, and big rainclouds were gathering in the sky. I walked around a bit before I crossed a bridge over the Frenke river. Two girls were swimming with their dog and were talking to a friend on the bridge. Seeing that I was a photographer,  they wanted me to take their picture. That photo will have to suffice for the Canton of Basel-Landschaft.

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Back at the station, I saw that the S-Bahn to Olten was about to leave. Olten is located in Solothurn, another canton I haven’t been in. Why not? I can take any train for free!

As I arrived in Olten, the ICN express train headed for the canton’s eponymous capital arrived at the platform. Improvising again, I stepped aboard. The ICN trains are the fastest Swiss trains, and I swoosched past the Solothurn landscape in over 200 km/h. (The device in the picture is my GPS logger)

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Solothurn

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Hm… Wildbachstrasse. That must mean “Forsgatan” in Swedish. My own road! :)

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It was getting late and I could just manage a few minutes in town before the Postauto took me back to the station, where another ICN waited to take me home to Zürich. I didn’t want to get home too late.

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Coming back to the student house I saw that people were excited. I asked about the bronze match in the World Cup, and they were all “Yeah we [Germans] won alright, but you should have SEEN the weather!!” I looked around and saw that the yard was filled with tree branches and leaves, and that the lounge had a smell of algae and dirt.

I was told that there had been extreme rainfall and very powerful winds in the evening. It was so bad that rain water flooded the entrances and got into the lounge via the doors and windows. The house is located only 150 cm above the ground water level, and this probably contributed to the flooding. In a few minutes (an Indian friend of mine said “Man, I’ve seen the Indian monsoon, but that was nothing compared to this”) there was almost a decimeter of water in the ground floor and kitchen. The house representatives mobilized with the inhabitants, wielding mops and buckets. It had passed by in about half an hour, but it was quite surreal to come back home and hear about this. I had just seen the clouds in Liestal, but never felt any rain. Guess I was lucky.

Water had also flooded the elevators, so they are temporarily out of order. Grr…

Anyway, with the Gleis 7 card, improvised travelling is both easy and cheap. And the Swiss railway system is, as I’ve said before, awesome. Just go to the station and a take a new route you haven’t seen. Get ready for the adventure.

Time to update my Swiss Challenge stats. Just five cantons left now!

Swiss challenge
Zürich, Bern, Luzern, Uri, Schwyz, Obwalden, Nidwalden, Glarus, Zug, Fribourg, Solothurn, Basel Stadt, Basel Land, Schaffhausen, Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Appenzell Innerrhoden, Sankt Gallen, Graubünden, Aargau, Thurgau, Ticino, Vaud, Valais, Neuchâtel, Genève, Jura

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Zwaenzgerband

Sunday, July 11, 2010 – 07:48

In this blog post I’ll explain why I’m wearing makeup most friday evenings.

Since I got to Zürich in September last year I’ve found sort of a second home in ICF. Monday evenings with the smallgroup, Tuesdays rehearsing music with the band, Wednesdays with the TWC photography workshop, Thursdays with the student group, and Zwänzger on Fridays.  Phew! No, I don’t do all things every week, so don’t worry too much about me ;)

Zwänzger is Swiss German for “20-ish person” and is the name for the friday evening services, aimed at people of this age (like me!). As the music team was looking for a pianist when I arrived it didn’t take much time until I was playing in the band.

This last friday was one of my last times in the worship band before I go back to Linköping in August. Danny is briefing the stage team on this evening’s service.

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Almost everybody here is volunteering, and during a normal friday evening around fourty people are involved. Musicians, sound technicians, lights, video cameras, producer, ushers, stage manager… the list goes on. Everything is run very professionally, in usual Swiss manner. The goal isn’t to make a concert, though, as this is a service before God. The ultimate purpose of this evening is to lead people closer to Him, and worship music has always been a central part of the faith. I personally believe that this is the ultimate purpose of music, a tool given to us to glorify God.

The soundcheck is done, the music rehearsed and the video production stands ready. We now prepare ourselves in prayer followed by a backstage meal.

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And here is where the makeup comes in. Being on stage with video cameras it’s quite important to look well. No, no, I’m joking, there’s no way I’d wear makeup for that purpose. The stage gets rather warm in a city that currently has 30+ degrees of heat, and even dry skin looks rather strange and shiny on the monitors. The “makeup” is in fact just a matte cover to prevent this.

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The service starts at eight in the evening. Worship music, followed by Danny’s message (the current series is about grace). Zwänzger is, as you might have guessed, completely a Swiss German-speaking event.

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As the pianist I back up the preacher or MC during the prayer. Gotta love that piano+strings patch on the Motif keyboard!

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So that was a little about the friday evenings at ICF. Hope you enjoyed it; and remember to pop in to Zwänzger if you are in town on a friday!

By Jonathan Fors | Also posted in Fun, Photos | Tagged , , , , | Comments (3)

Theory of football, part 42

Saturday, July 3, 2010 – 21:49

Theorem: Football is to be enjoyed in the company of Germans.

Proof: A few hours ago in Meierwiesenstrasse 62, Zürich ∎

Corrollary: Football is even better when the Germans are winning.

Proof: Trivial ∎

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Noise

Saturday, July 3, 2010 – 13:44

I live right next to a tram line, my window faces out to the tram stop.

Pros:

  • The tram stops right outside the door
  • Downtown within 20 minutes

Cons:

  • Tram rails require maintenance
  • Trams run during the day
  • Maintenance can only be done during the night

I don’t mind the trams themselves, but I do mind the sound of metal grinding in my sleep.

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Adagio sostenuto

Friday, July 2, 2010 – 20:52

Continuing on the blue-scene-with-moonlight theme from yesterday.

One of Beethoven’s most known works is his Piano Sonata No. 14 in C♯ minor. But you probably know it under another name, coined not by the composer himself but by music critic Ludwig Rellstab five years after Beethoven’s death. What did inspire him to give the famous Moonlight Sonata its name? The moon shining upon Vierwaldstättersee! (I don’t like the English name of Lake Lucerne).

This is how it looks:

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Vierwaldstättersee is indeed a breathtaking lake at any time of day.

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Blue sky in effect

Friday, July 2, 2010 – 00:09

The rain clouds finally left Zürich after blocking the sun for more than a month. Clear skies mean wonderful sunsets followed by the blue hour.

Grossmünster in moonlight.

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Update 6 July 2010: Did some improvements to the photo.

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