The Old Town of Stockholm (Gamla Stan)

Overview & Quick Tips

Gamla Stan (Old Town) used to be the center of Stockholm, the capital city of Sweden. It dates from the 13th century, but most buildings that are there today were built in 1700s and 1800s, reflecting the style of West German architecture.

Detailed information

Gamla stan is the old part of Stockholm, formerly the center of the city, and today it is one of the main tourist sites. There are around 3000 people living in this area, and thousands of tourists that walk through it every day. It is a vivid, lively area, full of cafes, restaurants and souvenir shops, but also galleries, studios and museums, including Nobel Museum and Port Museum. There are also several churches to be visited in Gamla Stan, and all of them are indeed beautiful and very interesting for photographing.

There are certainly many interesting things to photograph in every city or town, but here is some advice if you decide to visit and photograph Gamla Stan.

First of all, keep in mind that even though Stockholm is magical in any part of the year, winters can be quite harsh, with cold and gloomy days, which are also very short. This is why it is the best choice to go there in spring and summer, since the days are significantly warmer, sunnier and longer – so you will have much more daylight. This is also important for your photographic equipment, because it is less likely to be exposed to freezing temperatures and condensation at this time of year than during fall and winter. While we are on the subject of the equipment – it is not even necessary to carry a large number of lenses with you. In my opinion, this is one of few places where a decent kit lens can (like 18-105 for example) cover almost anything you see as an interesting image. However, if you decide to bring several lenses, t is encouraging to know that Stockholm is very safe. Never before have I seen so many people casually carrying D-SLR cameras around their necks. Therefore, you can be relaxed and carefree while taking photos and/or changing lenses and the whole experience will thus be much more enjoyable.

Bridges – Stockholm is situated on 14 islands, 3 of which form Gamla Stan. Until 1980 this part of the city was officially called Staden mellan broarna (The Town between the Bridges). This beautiful part of the city can either be photographed from several bridges that surround it and make a part of it, and the bridges themselves are interesting for photographing. If you decide to take photos from a bridge, wide-angle lenses (or the widest angle of your kit lens) should be a good choice. Since there will be water captured in every photo, if the day is sunny, it can be a good idea to bring a CPL filter in order to prevent the overexposure of water’s reflection.

Streets – the narrow streets of Gamla Stan offer many interesting details. The buildings were built in West Germanic style, and yet the streets somehow resemble the ones in old Mediterranean towns. This combination is what makes Gamla Stan very interesting and unique. It is the best to take photos in a sunny day, because the yellow, red and orange colors of the buildings really pop up in the sun. Also, the sunlight can create many interesting patterns, shapes and shadows in the streets of Gamla Stan, which can be very appealing to every photographer. On the other hand, shooting in the bright sun in an area like this can cause great differences in exposure, causing certain parts of the photo to be over or underexposed. The solution for this is to shoot RAW, since this format saves much more data from the sensor, allowing higher amount of manipulation when post-processing the photos.

People – just like every tourist point, Gamla Stan is also crowded with people. However, there are also many streets where there are only a few people, or even none. This means that you have several options, depending on your preferences. First, you can capture the atmosphere of the crowded streets, since the people are the ones that give life and diversity to every city. If you enjoy street photography, this can be exactly the place for you. Keep your camera on stand-by and observe the faces and the situations around you. If you, on the other hand, prefer photographing architectural and other details, rather than people, there are truly many streets where you can find the motifs you may find interesting without anyone interfering with a shot.

Even though Stockholm is very organized, clean and neat, it is not “sterile”, which is one of the aspects I particularly liked about it. This allows you to find some pretty crazy and unexpected details on the walls or in the shop windows of Gamla Stan. Also, because of many tourists, you are likely to see many different people and interesting situations they might find themselves in, which can be appealing to a photographer. Keep your eyes wide open and try capturing these details and moments, since they are actually the essence and the most fun aspect of Gamla Stan.

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