Analog Mondays in Årstaviken: 2024 season summary

“How can you live in Sweden without sunlight?” I get this question quite frequently. In Stockholm, winter days are indeed short, but when the sun does make an appearance, it puts on a breathtaking show. I’ve never fully appreciated how much the sun’s height in the sky can change everything. A perfect example of this beauty unfolds during the series of car meetings in Årstaviken.

The season starts in May. At 17 pm, when participants are starting to arrive, the sun is already low and projects beautiful shadows and highlights the cars fortunate to park on the shiny spots. The car, which is the star of this season, is the yellow Lotus Esprit. When I see how the afternoon light is flirting with its lacquer, I regret the decision to shoot on black and white film only.

In the middle of the summer, as it gets warmer and citizens of Stockholm feel like going out and meeting others, the number of participants increases. Good weather conditions encourage drivers to take their most valuable machines to the meeting. Are there any drawbacks? Yes, one. The sun creates much worse conditions for photography.

Fortunately, when I came back to Årstaviken after the summer break, late August sun was again back in its best position.

The formula for the event is very simple. Park the car, kick its tire, greet other participants and go back home after around an hour. The biggest number of cars can be seen, unsurprisingly, around 6 pm.

When comparing this year’s season to the previous, I noticed only one difference. Unfortunately, a bar made of shipping containers, called Plåt Parken, was moved to a new location. It was not only serving refreshing beverages but was also creating interesting photographic opportunities on this otherwise flat area. Now, looking for new angles became even more challenging.

One of the reasons I visit Årstaviken on Monday afternoons so frequently is the opportunity to test some of my vintage cameras. This year was dominated by old, mechanical SLRs from the 60s and 70s. I have always seen cameras from that period as heavy, slow and very limiting. But this year, I rediscovered them and started to appreciate their fully mechanical charm. It turns out they are not as slow and clumsy, as I have always seen them. On one of the earliest events, I used Canon FTb from 1971. One of the first bodies with the popular fd mount. Continuing with Canon, for the next event, I took the manufacturers' flagship from the 70s: the F-1. Mighty camera! The build quality is incredible, and viewfinder is in the class of its own.

Later events were mostly photographed with Nikon’s so called “pre-AI” gear. In the case of the 1960s Nikon, AI had a different meaning from the one we know today. It stood for Automatic Indexing. Using this system is quite weird for a modern photographer. The Saab-themed meeting was photographed with Nikokkormat EL with the world’s first standard zoom: 43-86 f3.5. The internet is full of videos describing it as the worst lens Nikon ever produced. Is it really that bad? Definitely not. Huge respect is due to its designers.

The last event of the year, dedicated to American cars, was shot with one of the most important cameras in the history of photography: a Nikon F. I can’t understand why, after over 20 years of vintage camera collecting, I have never used that body before. Its viewfinder is relatively dark and the light meter of this copy needs calibration, but it won’t deter me from using it more in the future.

Let’s get back to the more usual subject of this page: cars. Unfortunately, I had to miss my favorite day: the one dedicated to Italian and French cars. I find it quite weird that all the brands from those two countries gets only one day, but there are separate days for rare brands like Lotus or Morgan. This however reflects how the landscape of Swedish classic car scene looks like.

But Italian car enthusiasts should not be worried too much, as many interesting cars were present during all the days. Worth mentioning representants of Turin included Fiat 2100, Fiat 750 Granluce by Viotti or Bertone X1/9. Milan was represented by a few type 105 Alfa Romeos, older racing Giulia or described in my story from the season opener “Giuliettona”. I was not surprised to see De Tomaso Pantera. A much more unexpected was a sight of an extremely rare model in Sweden: Fiat Cinquecento. In my mind it’s one of the most popular cars ever made but in this country it’s rarer than Gullwing or Diablo.

I can’t provide a complete list of all interesting cars that I noticed this season. A few that I can recall now include a Bugatti type 35, Aston Martin DB6 and BMW Z9. Japanese cars are also quite rare, but some interesting specimens were noted, like Toyota Carina from 1975 and Century from year 2000 or Mazda 929 Coupe from 1985. I was also very happy to see a Tjorven: a delivery van made in Kalmar from 1989 to 1971 mostly for post.

This season of meetings organized by Automobilhistoriska Klubben in Årstaviken gave me the opportunity to not only see some interesting cars, but also to challenge myself as a photographer. It’s still a very long time before the first meeting of the next season, but I already have some ideas for even bigger film photography challenges. See you next year!