From the petrol station Photo

Photographer’s Note

During the short period of power Sweden had in the 17th century one of our richest men were Per Brahe. By the crown he was given a lot of land around lake Vättern and to run that land he needed a manor house. As the countryside here offers some very good views and he could choose the location he wanted the manor Brahehus (House of Brahe) was built high above the lake on the eastern side. So to be everything was set for the future of the Brahe family, they had land the size of a small country, the power of a king on that land, a beautiful manor overlooking the sunset over the lake every evening. What more to ask?

In 1680 Per died, a few years later the crown claimed the land back, in 1708 the house was set on fire by a forest fire in the hillside below and in the 20th century European highway E4 was built straight through the manor park with four lanes and ramps with a total width of some 60 m. Finally on the other side of the road a petrol station and cafeteria was built in quite an unsensitive way. I took this view from the petrol station after filling up the tank. There is also an underground passage from the cafeteria to the ruin.

robiuk, Michael_Gan, jrj, RandomCameraGuy, sandpiper has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

robiuk (10763) 2004-09-03 17:04

A very useful note accompanied by carefully composed and professionally rendered b/w photo.
The image possess a great clarity and the sky is superb!

Michael_Gan (2772) 2004-09-03 17:41

What a shame that this highway was built so near to the ruin. Well, our economy and the related infrastructure was obviously much more important than preserving a historical site in this case. Anyway, the highway creates a nice contrast with the ruin. It's good that the cars in the picture are dark, I don't believe that light-coloured cars would fit this composition.

jrj (34779) 2004-09-04 8:19

Good story and a very interesting motive, all by filling up petrol!
Good post work and well choosen in BW. Very good Ebbe

RandomCameraGuy (3063) 2004-09-04 17:29

An interesting story. Thanks Ebbe!

Anyways, the pic is good. The castle is placed well in the frame, the sky is interesting (though it should be brought out more), and the tones are good. But those cars on the highway ruin it for me. They're too sharp for my tastes. I would've liked to have seen them much more blurred. Perhaps if you had taken this pic a little later on and had streaks of light rushing by?

Cheers!