February 8: Utö – tour + night shots

The second day was also gray, but less misty. Just gray.

8105

We took another tour around the island, starting at the main dock, where this map is. It's marked by the green "i" symbol on the map. Right around there is the main village; the lighthouse is just southwest in white and red and the pilot station next to it in yellow; the Havshotel is on the northwest peninsula; the church is the white rectangle on the east end of the village; the graveyard is just southeast of the church, labeled with three crosses. Our studio site (for the non-build project) was in the gray area to the northeast labeled Kattrumpan.

8111

A cropped view to the church across the village.

8138

The pilot station and lighthouse from the northwest.

8147

A curious, ghostly freight ship passing by.

8184

Inside the church, a small tile stove. I think that's the only possible source of heat, besides churchgoers themselves; the temperature was about the same as outside when we visited.

8203

A plain leading out to the graveyard. Utö has a rather wide variety of terrain for such a small area.

8214

Here we are outside the graveyard; it's very simple, just a surface slightly raised up from the surrounding plain and bounded by this stone wall.

8215

Then, just to the north, is this other grave outside of the yard.

8233

Finally, at twilight, near the horizon, a slight sign of coming clearing after a whole day of overcast.

8248

The clouds continued to break after dark, and the moon emerged, giving me a perfect opportunity for some night photography. The clouds were moving fast in the wind, so they streaked across the sky in these long-exposure shots.

8252

This boat sits right near the hotel storage buildings. The light is moonlight, remember. Note Orion's belt to the right of the boat and Betelgeuse, with its ruddy color perceptible, above that. That must be Procyon in the upper left.

8257

Sharper focus.

8259

The hotel main building is in the center, and the lighthouse and pilot station can be seen beyond.

8264

The bay to the west of the Havshotel, Orion still looming to the right.

8270

The courtyard defined by the hostel, the sauna building, and these other two buildings.

8273

This, I think, was taken with the camera (my Powershot A75, same one as took all the Switzerland photographs) resting on an exhaust pipe in the ground, pointing straight up.

8276

The clouds started to thicken again, but here the lighthouse is thus all the clearer.

8278

Storage buildings + clouds. STATIC/DYNAMIC HURRRR

8279

The way toward the ferry dock from the stairs outside the hostel.

8281

This is the view looking directly out from the hostel stairs to the west. It will become familiar to you. To the right of the building are Aldebaran and the Hyades.

8283

MOON

8286

This was taken through the kitchen window of the hostel, looking west again.