The Right Way to Eat Surströmming

I've tried eating surströmming twice. Neither of the times did I manage to keep it inside of me for too long. The taste isn't quite as bad as the smell but the smell itself is the most revolting thing I've ever experienced. I think I should use a gas mask next time I dare to open a can of this typical Swedish delicacy.

Taken with my semi-vintage camera system consisting of Canon EOS 50D camera body, Asahi Pentax SMC Takumar 50mm f/1.4 lens mounted using M42 screw mount adapter and a Soviet flash from the 80s called Photon connected to PC sync port. Apparently I wasn't looking for the easiest solution but the challenge itself was the main point.

The trickiest part was holding the flash off the body in one hand to bounce it of the wall behind me while holding the camera in another hand trying to keep it steady so that the objects won't get out of focus since the lens is a manual focus one and won't just refocus once I press the shutter button half way.

Another tricky thing was to get the flash fire at the right power in order not to overexpose the photo taken with almost wide-open aperture. I had to fire the flash first, count to three and shoot before the capacitor inside the flash gets fully charged. It took me awhile before I mastered the trick I've invented.

Useless but makes me proud of myself. And it's always fun to play with vintage photo equipment. There's really something about it. Something truly exciting.