Committing to a photography project is difficult. Mental gymnastics intended to clarify and focus a direction generally leave me thinking that every photograph has been made and adding to the sum total of human expression is a pointless exercise. Every mundane chore or diversion looms larger and the camera sits quietly in the dark. My brain really makes it difficult to start.
The images I make of the Vespa while riding are easy. The rides are fun and I like the way the scooter looks. I can pull the digital camera out of my pocket and in a few seconds I’m done. What I’m talking about now is a body of work related to the scooter only because the scooter may be transporting me to the location in which I would photograph. The Vespa is not a subject. Perhaps the ride is the subject. The photograph above was made during the last ride of my LX150 shortly before permanent mechanical failure. It is the sort of image I might make as part of this project. Whatever the subject is what is clear is that I have not been able to sustain action or production. I do a lot of thinking. Thinking is good, just not for photography, at least not for me.
During a phone conversation last weekend my friend Gordon, also a photographer, suggested we get together periodically to help each other along through doubt and motivation, to prod through support or shame the production of new work. Friend Paul was added to the group and Kim took part in our first meeting on Monday night.
I’ll share my part in this. I agreed to shoot two rolls of film, process, contact and make two work prints to show when we meet every two weeks.
A quick calculation in my head shows one hour to process the film and two hours to make the contact sheets and prints. I can’t estimate the photography time. The above contact sheet shows images made during the last ride of the LX150.
I need a carrot but more often I need a stick directed at me to get me moving. Thinking about photography doesn’t get me any farther than thinking about riding does. In each case I need to just get in motion. Things only happen when I am engaged in the process. I’m hoping that combining the camera with the Vespa will make something happen. I have faith in things happening when I am in motion. I’ve decided to share this journey in Scooter in the Sticks. I’ll allow you to see the process and the rough results as I haul my camera around. If I am really lucky I’ll feel guilty not keeping up with my photo production goals. So look for some black and white photos to appear at least every two weeks. Give me hell if I drop the ball.
I’m looking forward to this…
Riding a less-photogenic scooter, I’ve often thought about omitting it from my photographs. But something always stops me, especially in Winter.
It’s like I need to prove that yes, I was out riding, and I didn’t make this image from the nice, warm cab of my truck.
That probably says more about me than it does about my readers, but who knows?
Ride well,
=gc=
I think Scarlet is a good-looking scoot.
John
Steve, what does the scooter look like, at night, under moonlight or illuminted by moving flashlight? I remember som supurb long-time-exposure work done in the former USSR Hermitage Museum, forced by lack of official permits to time-exposure over 1 minute in length. I also remember some National Geographic work, where a flashlight-wielding person made a time-exposure of a caravan in the Sahara, at night. Just curious.
Hmmm… Steve, I note you take landscape photos. Wide-open vistas. Ever thought of getting a macro lens for your camera and shooting small details, like, say, a small flower, backdropped by the front tire of your scoot? I took a photo like that of my ’85 CRX after it had been sitting at my uncle’s for a year or so. Focused on the blooming weed growing up beside the left rear tire… made a very nice shot.
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Being a guy that takes some pretty crummy pictures, because I don’t know much about how to do it right. I look to you as someone that could take a photograph of sand and make it look interesting.
I just really like your work,with or without your scooter in the shot.
Have fun,
Bill
Steve –
You just keep getting better and better all the time! I’m inspired by your dedication to this and curious – as any photog might be – as to what you are shooting with, why film and not digital – as it seems you are digitized to a certain degree – and if we are going to see what others in this small elite group is producing too. I was once part of a small group of photographers – we called ourself “f 2.8,” after Ansel Adam’s “f 64” group – and it was very inspiring and productive.
Congrats … I’m looking forward to it!
Justin
Steve;
Your photos bring the mood of your prose to life…it all fits together so very well.
As I mentioned earlier, I am new to your blog. I am working hard to not read all the past postings in one day…so I savor them through lunch at work…the best part of my workday.
Jef
Steve: I’ll be looking forward to your photos. Perhaps it will inspire me to pack my digital Nikon more often in my Harley’s tour pak.
gary: Photographs work in a lot of ways. I am familar with the need to produce evidence that I am riding and like you I am not sure if this is for me or the viewer. There is autobiography and psychology in every photo I make. I’m not always smart enough to see it though.
John: Scarlet is a racy girl in a modern way. She always adds to the photos Gary makes.
eldercattus: I’ve not done much photography at night in general and little with the scooter. I have considered a few times going out on a clear night and try and show the scooter and a sky full of tracking stars. I’ll think about your suggestions. My friend Stephen Dirado shoots at night (as well as a lot of other things). He has had some of his work enlarged to huge proportions and displayed in Grand Central Station. Check out his Web site.
Roose: I have played with extreme macro work but never warmed to it. I don’t live in that world and the pictures don’t mean much to me. The kind detail you mention with the weed is intriguing and a bit different. I’ll look for those moments.
Bill: Thanks for the kind words. Your pictures are good because the content is so strong. It is easy to get caught up in the technical stuff and not realize how important content is. You are out in the world riding and share what you see. No amount of technical stuff can make up for that.
Justin: Almost all my blog color images are made with a little Canon S50 digital camera. Fits in my pocket, easy to use, and has survived many drops to the pavement. There are a handful that I made with a Nikon D200. It’s not as easy to drag along. The black and white work I do is either with a Mamiya 7 or Leica M6. I work with film in black and white because the look of a gelatin silver print is unique. Digital can produce its own stunning black and white prints but they don’t look like silver.
And I find the darkroom a wonderful escape. I hope I find the informal group I am working with here to be productive too!
paul: Can’t go wrong with a camera along!
You know Steve, it’s the road shots that always grab my attention. The middle image in the bottom row of that contact sheet drew my eyes immediately.
Looking at that, I feel the same sense of contentment that I would from the saddle of a motorbike, albeit fleetingly. Nice work…
Ride well,
=gc=
I enjoy all your pictures, with or without the scooter. You have beautiful country to shoot.
Betty 🙂