The winters here in south of Sweden is usually not at all like the one we have this year. We are “lucky” if we get a few days of snow each year. But this year it has been freezing cold for weeks now and the ground is covered with snow everywhere. Nice for photographing but otherwise I’m more of a warm climate kind of guy. This is a image I shot earlier today. I like the graphical elements the windows make and the very few colors in the image.

In the middle of Luang Prabang there is a small hill with a temple on top. I thought it could probably be a nice place to shoot some landscapes at sunset. So of I went one evening and walked the hundreds of stairs to get up there but only to find out that it was packed with people! I was of course not the only one to think it could be a nice place to see the sunset.

Once the sun had set the crowd was starting to walk down again and I could finally find some space to set up my tripod and shoot some landscapes. It was not really the kind of light and images I was hoping for but it was the best I could do considering the situation.

I read somewhere that when the water is low in the Mekong river people go out on the sand banks digging for gold. I don’t know if it’s true. I took a walk outside of Luang Prabang one day and walked down to the river and saw people digging on the sand banks but it actually looked more like they where collecting some kind of stone or something. They didn’t seem to mind having me around for a while taking pictures.

I also found some really nice spots down at the river for landscape images with great reflections in the water. My plan was to go back in the evening and shoot some landscape but that was the evening I got sick so that never happen. This image was the last one I shot on this trip.

My trip to Laos turned out to be a disaster. I got really sick in Luang Prabang with stomach problems. I’m pretty sure you don’t want the details I’ve been in that part of the world a couple of times before and have never been this sick before. Getting some stomach problems is almost a guarantee but usually it’s just for a day or two and then you can continue on but this time I was sick for a week and had to get back to Bangkok to talk to a doctor and get medicine. Once I got the medicine I got well in a few days but I was still tired and didn’t feel up for much so I decided to go back home a week earlier.

Now I just want to leave this trip behind me and start planning for a new trip. I still managed to shoot some pictures that will be posted here in a few days. The image above was shot in Luang Prabang in Laos. I found some kids down at the Mekong river that runs through Luang Prabang making a fire.

I’m packing today. Leaving for Bangkok tomorrow. Got four weeks of shooting in Thailand and Laos, but mostly Laos I think. I haven’t had time to plan that much so I’ll see what happens. I’m not much of a planner when it comes to travelling. At least I have booked a hotel at my first destination this time

You can follow me on Twitter if you are interested in where I am and what I am up to.

It’s always fun to have an image published on 1x. More than 90% of all submitted images are rejected and a few of them has been other images that I have submitted before but this time I was lucky. You can see the image here. You have probably seen it before but I did some extra work on it during the weekend.

Otherwise there’s not much going on right now. I can’t find a single thing that interests me enough to photograph this time of the year in Sweden. The weather is just gray and it’s dark most of the time. I’m going to Thailand and Laos after Christmas for a bit more than three weeks so I’m really looking forward to that. Hoping to get some great pictures.

As I have said a couple of times before, I’m pretty active on Twitter so head over there right now and start following me!

Tourists on a city tour bus.

Watch the complete slideshow of 18 images here.

As I said before I really liked Essaouira. I’m definitely a near or on water kind of guy. And it is something about harbors, I can walk around there for hours just watching the boats and fishermen. I also got a good guided tour of the harbor by an old guy showing me where they build boats and stuff. Of course he wanted money for it and not asking for it until the end of the “tour” but that’s just the way it works in Morocco. Never expect anyone to do anything for free.

Some pictures are shot early in the morning when it was cloudy and some are shot late in the evening just as the sun was setting.

I can’t say that it’s anywhere near a top list position of the most interesting country I have visited. Either places are very worn down or to modern and “hip”. Marrakesh is one place that definitely has become too “hip”. I was there some twenty years ago with my parents. I was a kid then and I don’t remember much but I have some memories of the place from back then and it has changed a lot. It feels more like a theme park for tourists now.

Another problem in Morocco is photographing people. They really do not want to be photographed because of their religion. Trying to capture everyday life of people in Morocco is not easy. I knew it would be tough but I didn’t thought it would be this tough. I was feeling really frustrated when I walked around there with my camera. Questioning my potential as a photographer. But I must say that now when I’m back home and is going through the images I have shot they are at least better then I was expecting.

Overall it was a nice trip anyway. Even though my photography didn’t went as good as I was hoping it was still fun to just get away for a week and do some travelling.

The image above is from Essaouira. I shot it in the fishing harbor there. I visited Casablanca, Marrakesh and Essaouria during my week in Morocco and Essaouira was definitely the nicest place. A small town by the sea with a fishing harbor and a old medina. Stay tuned for more pictures.