Yesterday I was on assignment covering some of the ceremonies linked with the opening session of the Swedish parliament, Riksdag. The day began outside of Storkyrkan, a church in Gamla Stan which is adjacent to the royal palace. At noon there was a ceremony attended by politicians and the royal family. Even with the ceremony starting at noon it is important to arrive early and mark your territory. I was in place by 10 and when I arrived there were already 3 other photographers waiting there.
At about 11:15 guests and politicians started arriving. Most of the big names in Swedish politics attend and you have a great opportunity to get good frames of them. At about 11:45 the royal guard showed up and started to line up in preparation for the arrival of the king. At the point there were still some politicians waiting to arrive, including Jimmy Åkesson of the Sweden Democrats party and Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven of the Social Democrats party. After their arrival the royal family arrived. The King and Queen lead the way and they were followed by Crown Princess Victoria and husband Prince Daniel Westling. After them you had Prince Carl Philip accompanied by his wife Princess Sofia and his sister Princess Madeleine.
This year I chose to cover the arrivals outside of the church where as last year I was inside the church. I felt last year that the pictures just were not that great in the church. The lighting is awful and then when the king makes his entrance you only get a few seconds to take pictures before you are being pushed aside and out of the way. I’m very happy with that decision as I got shots of the royal family and most of the big politicians.
As soon as that ceremony got underway we moved to the next location which was outside of the Swedish parliament. Once the the church ceremony was complete you had all of the politicians coming to the parliament. This gave me an opportunity to photograph some of the people I missed previously or those who did not attend the church ceremony. Once all the politicians arrived they began to prepare for the royal family’s arrival. Guards lined the entrance way to the parliament and a royal band lined up and prepared to provide music. The royal family then arrived by horse carriage. They, along with the speaker of the house, then posed for a picture and then proceeded inside.
Thanks for stoping by.