Confessions from the End of the Jetty, Borlänge, Sweden
A study in isolation: A single pylon assembly and its perfect double on a void of water and fog
Foggy day on Lake Siljan near Borlänge, Sweden
Ten years. That's a decent amount of time to reflect on a singular moment, or in this case, a singular tire.
This shot was taken on one of my trips to Sweden, a country known for many things: Volvos, flat-pack furniture, and, apparently, fog that can erase the concept of reality. I was on the jetty at Borlänge-Siljan-Lake, where I walked and walked until, looking back and the shore was gone. There was no water. There was no sky. Just me and this very polite, bundled-up cluster of wooden pylons.
And, of course, the tire.
Water: Element of (Literal) Change and the Loneliest Tire
The way the fog dissolves the boundary between water and air, leaving only that singular, almost sculpture-like object, perfectly encapsulates the theme of 'change'—the state of matter itself has become ambiguous. The solitary tire adds a layer of quiet, surreal human artifact to the absolute stillness.
I remember distinctly the crushing weight of the solitude. Not a sad solitude, but the kind where your brain momentarily glitches and thinks, "Am I the only thing left?" That’s the feeling I wanted to photograph.
When I look at this image now, a decade later, the 'change' that hits me isn't just the state of the elements. Water as gas (fog) vs. water as liquid is the easy metaphor. The real change is the persistence of that singular, lonely rubber tire. Someone, once upon a time, had the presence of mind to ensure that pylon grouping had a rubber bumper. Now, it just floats in the void, a weirdly practical monument to a world that the fog decided to momentarily censor.
The Ten Year Wait for Recognition
So, the reason I’m posting this particular photo today is because I was just notified that my photo, which I submitted to a juried gallery exhibition has been chosen to be a part of the exhibition beginning May 1, 2026. The theme is "Water: Element of Change". The way the fog dissolves the boundary between water and air, leaving only that singular, almost sculpture-like object, perfectly encapsulates the theme of 'change'—the state of matter itself has become ambiguous. The solitary tire adds a layer of quiet, surreal human artifact to the absolute stillness.
