Report: Mushroom growing in Nairobi!

Well,
I just must tell you all, mom has succeeded from Flen. They are actually breeding mushrooms in the suburbs of Nairobi, instructed remotely through email from mom (and Berra of course).

Yeah! She was so happy when she called me. It was over five years ago they left Kenya, but have kept some contacts all the time.

The dogs had to be left behind, as well as a part of Mom and Berras' hearts.

The photo equipment in Kenya is not the best, hence the yellowness, the dirtiness. But nevertheless, I can feel the smells through the faint photos I've borrowed.

And now they actually are growing mushrooms in the mud houses outside Nairobi. I can't believe it! Mission succeeded!

-Christian

invited guest: Matthew T. Joyce

I still remember seeing your first picture Matt...and I have been looking
for it! Where is it? Anyway, finally you are here on The F Blog. I am
very pleased to be able to show our readers "Calle Diez" a celebration
of grain, movement and fiesta!

I love people with a character and you´ve got loads of it Matty boy.
You are most welcome here to the "no rules society" and I am looking
forward to your first guest postings. Matt will appear under a label
called: Beneath the Hard Wiring: Subterranean Thoughts.

invited by ulf fågelhammar














All pictures ©Matthew T. Joyce

mobile phone diary

©Thomas Håkansson

Black & White winter

I am always glad to receive email from Benny because I know he will attach
some fine pictures. Benny is a "bleking", remember Jeanne? They are the
friendly neighbours of the "skåningar". /urbano

This is what Benny says:

"Twelve months ago we had a Black & White Winter
here in southern Sweden. Perhaps it was the last one
in case the global heating is escalating. I like snow
in pictures, old motifs suddenly change and present
themselves as something different."










all pictures by ©Benny Persson

invited guest: Carlos Morales-Mengotti (part two)

local hangout of 1939

Creator: Wolcott, Marion Post, 1910- -- Photographer
[African Americans conversing and drinking beers in a bar,
Clarksdale, Mississippi Delta, November 1939.]
Farm Security Administration Collection.
Created Date: November 1939

Found at NYPL Digital Gallery

I decided to go to Spain...

...during Christmas so I took some days off from work
and found a cheap one-way ticket to Barcelona. This time
we lived more central and I actually started to find my way
around the city, but the days went so fast and before i knew
it I had to get on the bus to travel on to Madrid. But the visit
left me with a desire to return soon.

/Örjan Fredriksson

















All pictures©Örjan Fredriksson

one day she was just sitting there...

...Barbie
picture by © Joakim Ahnfelt

this is my job - pictures by Bengt Björkbom

There are a couple of great subjects flying around on the blog
right now; "the local hangout" (wow!) and "this is my job" (!)
Do something about it then, you say. Well I wrote to Bengt
who is a great man and an excellent photographer and asked
him to share some of his pictures of people at work.
Enjoy!
/urbano

















all pictures ©Bengt Björkbom

Carmen - the local hangout

Invited guest: Werner Heyckendorff

I grew up in an area that looked pretty much like this, and still looks. I'm infact sitting in my childhood house writing this. When I found Werners photos they struck me with a great sense of lost times, or to use the words of Werner him self, they triggered some chrystal clear memories.

invited by Markus Andersson

* * *

My photographs mainly revolve around the concept of memorization and perception. Most people know the feeling when a piece of music, a smell or, more rarely, a sight triggers an overwhelmingly clear piece of memory. These moments differ from the ordinary way of remembering things by the way they subconsciously emerge from hidden parts of the memory.
In my own case, these clear memories are always followed by a bittersweet melancholic feeling. Not as a sentimental longing for long gone moments, but more as a reminder of the ever decreasing amount of time from the present to the day of my death.

If I should mention one photographic goal of mine, it would be to produce a picture that would be able to trigger one of those crystal clear memories.

* * *

Werner Heyckendorff
Denmark
heyckendorff@hotmail.com

* * *

Even the most crowded places have moments of absolutely emptiness.

invited guest: Carlos Morales-Mengotti (part one)

Some years ago I found the work of Carlos Morales-Mengotti. I especially
remember some excellent pictures from Madrid. His coming exhibition is
called Ghosts. Carlos says: "This series of photographs is called "Ghosts"
and will be in my next exhibition and 39 of them were bought by a Museum
in Madrid. The Exhibition will have 71 photographs. Why I call the series
"Ghosts" is because I think of them as revenants of my past.



It´s a pleasure to have Carlos Morales-Mengotti here on the F Blog.
Please check out Carlos site as well.
invited by ulf fågelhammar























all photos © Carlos Morales-Mengotti

invited guest: Andrei Wilenius

Andrei is one of my oldest and dearest friends. We used to play
around in the rocky hills of Alby in the early 1960s.

Some years later I had started to make pictures using a camera,
but Andrei´s passion was painting. And he wanted us both to try
it. Well, we went to a shop and bought some material. I tried it
once and decided that this was not for me. But Andrei had a great
talent and the energy to go on.















Inya Laskowski and Andrei Wilenius, Stockholm 2004
photo: Ulf Fågelhammar

We don´t meet that often nowadays. Andrei moved to USA in the
1980s and lives in California. But every second year or so he comes
to Sweden and we have a chance to meet. A memorable moment
was when we went to see Christer Strömholm´s exhibition
"On verra Bien" in Stockholm. Last time we met was in September
2006 and I told him about the F Blog.

I am glad to be able to present some of his work here.
These specific graphite drawings have been sent to me
by exploding head gallery in Sacramento, California.
invited by ulf fågelhammar

Devadasi, 2006, Graphite on Duralene, 43" x 48"




Didache, 2006, Graphite on Duralene, 32" x 24"




Dakini, 2005, Graphite on Duralene, 24" x 36"