In My Head
Finding this sign on the back of a Honda Metropolitan scooter had me wondering if my recent tendencies to be lost in thought were a result of not riding the Vespa enough. It’s been sitting quietly in the garage sucking electrons from a Battery Tender for over a week now. The weather has been fine and I certainly could make the time but still it sits.
In the Woods with a View Camera
Much of the blame for abandoning the Vespa falls squarely on my renewed fascination with my 4×5 Zone VI camera. I’ve taken to wandering with it in search of subject matter for a new project. In the fast paced world of digital photography working with a heavy wooden camera that eats film at more than two dollars a shot one has to wonder why. Thankfully, that mental conversation was short lived as I realized early on how different the process and the end results.
Just to be fair though, the picture of the camera was made with my iPhone.
Recovering Puppa
Our youngest Belgian Sheepdog – LilyHammer – recently went under the knife to be spayed. It’s more complicated at age three that it would have been as a puppy. But we followed the advice of both breeder and veterinarian that for this breed, waiting would be beneficial for hip health.
Poor Lily. No ball chasing, running or even walking for a week. And then another few days before she could be off leash in the yard. On Sunday she’ll get to retrieve her first tennis ball. She’s been waiting, I’ve been spending time with her, and the Vespa sits in the garage.
All is right with the Universe.
Processing 4×5 Negatives
Along with the view camera comes time in the darkroom. Processing negatives has become easier after a few clunky missteps mixing chemicals. Compounds from the old days — HC110, Indicator Stop Bath, NH5 and a variety of other little ingredients. Emerging from the chemical wizardry though is the same flash of excitement at seeing images emerge from the processing tank.
And again, the Vespa scooter sits.
Walks with Mr. Joon
Junior wants, needs attention too. He has no restrictions on walking so he expects more serious time afoot. Good for me. Good for him. But it does take time as we put some miles under our belt.
So the Vespa scooter has to wait for another time.
Contact Prints
And there’s printing. Contact printing 4×5 negatives takes time as well. Gelatin silver contact prints of large format negatives have a unique quality unmatched by anything digital I’ve seen. It’s subtle and likely lost on most viewers. But I see it.
More reasons why the Vespa sits.
Palmer Museum of Art
And I have my own needs and desires. Visits to the local art museum have long been an ingredient to creative stimulation. Parking on Penn State’s University Park campus is just awful for visitors on motorcycles since they banned the machines from all the parking facilities. That leaves parking on fringe lots with long walks.
So the Vespa still sits.
Fallen Vespa
I have been riding though. A lot actually. Just not finding the time to write and share. For a taste from a recent ride I’ll share this image of my scooter sleeping against the guard rail. I’ll explain what happened in some future post.
It’s almost 6am. Time for bed…
Happy for your renewed large format enthusiasm. Happier still that the shot of the fallen Vespa is not followed by shot od casts or splints or stitches.
No casts or splints. Just a slap on the forehead and an audible “Idiot!”
Banning motorcycles on campus? Yet I assume cars and pickup trucks are OK. What might the reason be? As a means of personal transportation two-wheelers are far more efficient users of space and can use space no other vehicle can. Were the Hell’s Angels meeting on campus?
They’re not banned for faculty, staff and students. And not visitors either. It’s just the designated parking for visiting motorcycles is on the fringe areas of campus. You used to be able to park in the garages on campus but they felt the automated gates were a danger to the riders. Before automation there were half gates that you could ride around if the detection system failed. But I guess they were worried that too many biker outlaws were going to enter and exit without paying.
Not sure what Penn State’s logic is. All I know is to get to the designated parking — a lot with a pay station and you use a full space — it’s a LONG walk to central campus. I’m old you know!
I echo David Masse’s reaction to the bastiches banning motorcycle parking spaces!
Good to hear Lilly is recovering.
Poor Vespa but you do have plenty demands on your time….how do the dogs react to the smell of photo chemicals on you?
Parking. It’s a bureaucracy at Penn State. I don’t try to understand or make sense of anything. I just do what I’m told. Rage is toxic you know…
Lily is doing fine. On Sunday she’ll be back to no restrictions on movement. She’s ready. I’m ready!
The dogs don’t react to anything coming from the darkroom. And I’m a careful worker in the darkroom. Don’t splash around like I did in my youth.
My curiosity is intrigued as to why the Vespa is leaned over onto the guardrail that way. I had a similar situation happen to me a while ago, which involved a sinking center stand and my Piaggio BV 250 ended-up lying up against my house, cracking my windshield. Looking forward to the story of what happened, Steve, so it might teach me and others something in order to protect our two-wheeled rides.
I’ll leave the full story to a future post where I can write more drama into it. But basically, careful when you park on a steep incline…
I like the photo of the film hanging from clothes pins in the darkroom. As to the resting Vespa, there are solutions to not only the instability of a stopped scooter but also to carrying the large format camera into the field…
I’m sorry Richard. I have no idea what you’re referring to…
It has been quite some time since I have in close proximity to nicely exposed sheetfilm contact prints. I remember the image quality as rich, dense in detail and velvet like despite being a straight prints. So true that digital has made the photographic procedure so much easier, certainly no more satisfying and perhaps less so but less all around effort. The larger the format the slower the process. Not such a bad thing?
The whole film versus digital approach to image making still twists my brain. There are pros and cons to each. I just have decided to stop the debate and work with film until it doesn’t make sense.
The slowness of the large format process is one of the main attractions for me but I keep thinking I should be able to slow down with a digital camera as well. After all, I can ride a Ducati slow…
I don’t see any of these as so much an “either/or” situation as much as gently-competing matters. Lily, of course, was a really big deal, but one that wouldn’t be an ongoing ordeal. (BTW, I never knew this was a case with some dogs.) Glad she’s all good now. (And Joon looks so majestic in that photo.)
The view camera, and film: Oh, I know this (and those pics of hanging negatives)…as mentioned before, I’m itching to get back to proper b/w developing – and maybe small-scale printing – ASAP. Le Wife wants to as well, but she’ll be dealing having her last non-replaced joint (left knee) operated on in less than two weeks, followed by roughly two weeks mostly off her feet, during which time I’ll be point-person for errands/cooking/Et Cetera (Which, curiously enough, means a good deal of time on the Vespa). The Darkroom Project requires clearing out the basement, which likely means it won’t really be in shape till mid-to-late December. The Vespa, in turn, will need some tending to as well: a new set of tires are about due, and, thanks to fortuitous timing via eBay, I scored a like-new stock exhaust from a barely-ridden 2016 GTS which I’ll want the shop to swap out at the same time, so I can have the original either repainted or ceramic coated.
So, yeah…competing matters. Some obviously more important than others. But none totally blotting out everything else indefinitely, which I need to remember. Melody (and even my bicycles, which have been neglected somewhat more) are always there, mostly at the ready. Overall, it’s all good. Sounds like it’s the same there, too.
(P.S. The photo of your Vespa against the guardrail made me gasp just a bit. Glad to hear you’re okay; please tell me the bike sustained little to no damage, especially since you had her spruced up not so long ago.)
Both dogs are doing well. Lily was patient with her recovery time and will be all clear to resume her wild antics tomorrow.
Something has remained magical for me in regard to the darkroom. It’s a unique little world that few encounter anymore. All that aside, I am still impressed by the presentation of a contact print on gelatin silver paper. In a world of monumental sized prints I wonder if there’s a place for little prints anymore.
Wish your wife well for me regarding the upcoming surgery. Being unable to be as mobile as normal is always a challenge. And for you a lot more effort than you might expect. Take care of yourself too.
All is well here aside from some predictable resistance on my part to the beginning of cold weather. I’ll get past it eventually.
The scooter is okay too. Went for a ride yesterday in a cool rain…