A different kind of photo walk: Aboard the East Indiaman Götheborg

Three sailors. Bottom left, first mate August Jansson, at the top, Woody Wiest, and right, Madléne Hjelmroth.

I was on a different kind of photowalk in Gothenburg. I was lucky to be one of ten photographers allowed on board the Swedish Ship Götheborg.

Götheborg is a replica of the 18th century Swedish East India Man with the same name. The original ship sank near its home harbor in Gothenburg in 1745. Check out the Wikipedia page if you want more facts about the ship.

Peter Sandin, Madléne Hjelmroth, and Daniel Sjöström created the A Different Kind of Photowalk group, and this was the first event.

On deck. Götheborg sails with a crew of about 80 people. The original sailed with about 130. Travelling was high risk, so the ships had to have extra crew on board.

I used a Sigma 10-2mm lens for all the shots in this post. This is a great lens for shooting in confined spaces. It's also great for shooting the deck of a sailing ship. I knew I would not be let up in the rig, at least not this time around, so I brought a monopod for hoisting my camera up into a higher position, which made for more interesting photos of the deck.

If you get an opportunity to shoot on Götheborg, which you may, since she is travelling all over the world, shoot details. There is so much interesting stuff aboard you could spend weeks there with a camera.

I shot the ships wheel through a skylight. I dried some water drops off, and then held the lens very close to a glass pane in the skylight.

The gun deck

The gun deck was interesting. It was also very dark, so I lit it with two remote triggered flashes. I had full CTO gels on to match the color and tone of the light inside.

This little tableau was interesting. Beautifully done. Also a reminder that lunch time was drawing closer...

The cannon shot was interesting. I wanted the cannon to pop out from the background, so I put a flash in front of it, i.e. on the side closest to the gun port, and aimed it against the wall. I held a second flash above my head, and aimed it down.

I then took a few shots, varying the strength of the flash in my hand, to get a good balance between the two light sources.

Of course there are some modern amenities on the ship, like this sewing machine.

Woodie Wiest, our guide, took us to see the workshop on the pier.

Tools and stuff everywhere. Very neat and orderly, at least compared to a photo shoot...

After the tour, Madléne, who is one of the photowalk organizers, gave Woody some very well deserved tickets to the Opera.

The last shot of Götheborg...for now.

After the tour the lucky ten joined up with the rest of the photographers who would go on the walk at a café. While most of the others had coffee, I had an incredibly large pizza.

The rest of the photowalk was great too. I'll post more about it, and show off some very nice pictures.

A very large Thank You! to Woodie Wiest, Peter Sandin, Madléne Hjelmroth, and Daniel Sjöström, who made it possible to shoot on the Götheborg!

Also a big Thank You to everyone else who had joined the walk, and made it a memorable and fun experience.