As a visual artist, I find it difficult to relax when I’m in an unknown environment. To ignore the natural urge of framing what’s around me, putting it into perspective and internally turning it into a piece of art is often difficult. In ‘digital times’, when it’s relatively easy to take a quick shot without planning and preparation, distraction looms everywhere!

So I went for a week-long holiday with my partner to mid-Sweden and consciously left my camera and lenses in their safe place in London. No camera, no distraction, I thought, and I thought right! This was the best decision I’d made for months!

After a short flight from London Stansted to Oslo (Norway) we popped into the nearest car hire office and just a few hours later entered the little wooden lake side house in a forest in Sweden that my parents have had for decades and which has since served as a regular retreat from the hectic urban life in both Germany and the UK.

Despite a discouraging forecast of rising temperatures paired with melting snow and rain and pure misery we would be blessed with sunshine, cold temperatures of -10 deg celsius, snow fall and regular visits from deer, squirrels and a wide variety of birds visiting the various feeding stations installed around the house during our entire stay.

A week packed with slow life can pass incredibly fast! Walking through the white forest, reading, enjoying delicious home-cooked food, steaming in the sauna in the afternoon and skinny-dipping in the snow afterwards to cool down body temperature are slow life activities that made life worth living and time fly. Not to forget the hour-long meaningful conversations in front of the fireplace over a few sips of smoky Scottish Single Malt Whisky.

I’d be dishonest if I denied missing my camera a few times, but during most of my stay in this wonderful country I was too much distracted by not being distracted, by enjoying the best basics of life. And hey, after all we live in the 21st century and there’s always a camera available somehow. Smartphones become more and more powerful and with them do their cameras. And although I hesitate using my smartphone camera for my artistic work, I know I could do so purposefully as a last resort.

It’s good to spend some time off work from time to time to recharge batteries and regain mental energy. Back to London I am now relaxed and have a rested mind to get back to work.