One of the favorite things I like to shoot is historical locations (side effects of growing up with a history teacher for a father) and reenactments are often part of that. For many years I've gone to Foteviken Viking Museum to shoot during their market at the end of June/start of July, but this year I had other obligations, so instead I went to the somewhat smaller market in Trelleborg on the southern coast which took place a week later. In the 80s they found archaeological proof that there'd once been an enormous circular Viking fort there (hence the name Trelleborg, treller is an old word for logs...so a log fort). They've since rebuilt a quarter of the fort so people can see how it may once have looked.
I must admit this market was actually bigger than I thought it would be, so that was a positive surprise. Also, thanks to the generosity of the staff on hand us photographers who are members of a local Facebook group got in for free. It's nice to be a VIP for once. :-) So thank you to Ylva-Kristina for letting us into this event for a VERY fair price!
I'm not going to do much commenting, because I think most of the images in this post are self-explanatory, except to mention that one of my favorite things to do at these events is to watch the interaction between the people in costume and kids visiting. It's so much fun, especially during the "battle", when these guys hammer at each other with swords and shields and you see the kids' eyes pop up wide in disbelief. "Are they really hitting each other THAT hard?"
Thank goodness they know when to apply the brakes when they do their customary final rush towards the audience!
*the headline is my bastardization of a Sturgill Simpson song title. Apologies!