Scooter in the Sticks

Exploring life on a Vespa Scooter and Royal Enfield Himalayan motorcycle.

Roll 522

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Like clockwork I parked my Vespa last Sunday morning across from the library and walked over to Saint’s Cafe to show Gordon my three prints of this week.  The trip to the ER didn’t dissuade me from the darkroom though more than a few inquiries about stress have me wondering if the self-induced pressure of shooting, processing and printing isn’t just another straw on my back.

The prints fit nicely into the Givi topcase.  Glad I got it.

Another Saint’s regular, violinist Carl Ector, sits outside Saint’s with his coffee enjoying the fine spring morning.  Looks like I might be photographing his musical group at some point in the future.  I’m with the band!

Gordon examines me for signs of imminent collapse.  Feeling well enough to ride the Vespa into town and brave the rising heat I assured him I was ok.  For now.  And added that I had prints and an ER visit.  Where were his?

I’ve been suggesting for awhile now that Gordon get a motorcycle or scooter and have quietly shared how amazing it is to ride.  Last week sent me an email saying he found the registration papers for a Harley Davidson that he didn’t know his father owned before he was born.  Over the past few months he’s talked about riding and I almost thought I had him until he shared this comment from his daughter:

“You already look like a biker dad.  You don’t need a motorcycle.”

Oh well, looks like photography will continue.

Here’s the take from last week.  Rushed as usual.  Process late Saturday afternoon, print Saturday evening, wonder why the prints are damp on Sunday morning.

Shot one roll of Ilford HP5+ and processed it in TMAX developer. [YOU ALL KNOW YOU CAN CLICK ON THESE IMAGES TO SEE THE BIG VERSIONS RIGHT?]

Junior during a Saturday morning walk through Boalsburg.  He’s getting to the point when he sees me raise the camera he sits down.  It’s a problem sometimes when I want him standing.  We’re working on it.

Shot this same thing with the iPhone earlier in the week. I think I like the black and white image better.  Wish I wasn’t so rushed to print so I could get a little more from the negative.  Rushing.  I have to look at the stress component some more.

 Shooting with the iPhone is so easy and engaging in a way that’s hard to describe.  I’ve been shooting a lot with it but have failed to post much here.  This quasi-riding/dog picture was made last week with the iPhone using the Camera+ app.

Haven’t ridden the Vespa since Sunday evening.  Have an appointment with the doctor in the morning and am uncertain if I should show up riding or in the truck.  Don’t want to tempt him to say, “Don’t ride for awhile.”

I suppose I’m open to whatever is going to happen…

Sunday Morning Ride: Roll 521

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I meet Gordon almost every Sunday morning at Saint’s Café to review our respective photographic lives for the week, to cajole or shame each other into further work, and to keep alive the dream of a creative life we heard rumored in graduate school. The 3 Prints Project (two rolls of film and three prints every week) began almost three years ago and has continued ever since with a few detours into digital and plenty of excuses for showing up without work.

On Friday I got an iPad2. Minutes after turning it on a strong desire to shoot film washed over me. The iPad may have been the digital straw that broke my analog back.

To be fair I like he iPad and acquired it to evaluate, test and monitor the release of the magazine I edit as an iPad edition. The measure of digital continues to grow in my life.

Friday afternoon the Leica is hanging around my neck, an extra roll of film in my pocket, and the world is revolving at a bit slower pace. Such seems to be the effect of shooting film.

Roll 521. I have to thank Matt Alofs of the 1PT4 photography blog for the idea of numbering by rolls. I have a mess of negatives and I have gone through many schemes of keeping track of them. Following his Flickr site I saw that he assigns roll numbers to sets of pictures. While I have no idea the meaning behind his numbers I thought it was a marvelously simple way for me to have a system that I could track.

The number 521 comes from the month and day I started using it. After that everything will just be sequential. I’m working on 522 now.

Matt has an amazing volume of black and white work that I have no idea how he finds time to produce. He documents the things he sees in life including ongoing portraits Kate (wife, partner, girlfriend, significant other?) in a manner that most partners would find withering. To shoot so much film is pretty amazing.  If I find out he is not scanning negatives I’ll be really depressed.

Gordon arrived with digital prints of images made with his camera phone and a couple others made with a digital SLR during his drive to work. I’d arrived with a single print and contact sheet from the one roll of film I managed to shoot.

We’ve sustained a level of output over the years generating a steady stream of personal work, questioning process and intent, criticizing, supporting and tending the fragile flame of creative expression amidst the daily grind of earning a living.

 
Morning. Mount Nittany in the fog. My camera has pointed this way many times. Photographing the same subject over and over reveals something about the subject and the photographer. For me, this is home.

The iPhone and Camera+ app continues to impress me. This shot was made using the Clarity effect.

Last night I developed a single roll of black and white film. A familiar ritual repeated thousands of times over the last 20 years in this particular darkroom. The iPhone is always handy and this time makes a recording of the path less traveled in photography.

Looking at the contact sheet I realize I see the world differently with the Leica. Different than I do using a digital camera. Not better or worse, just different.

The ride into town was quiet with almost no traffic on US 322. Sporadic fog continually changed the landscape allowing me to ride from magical place to illusion and beyond.

I have a great capacity to be sloppy, something that does not incur many benefits in a darkroom. Rushed to make this proof print of Junior so I would have something to show at Saint’s Café. Flat, lifeless, drab. No digital effects to save me, mask the deficiencies of the image. And strangely, I am enjoying the process.

Again.

My printing skills and general late night sloth betray the magic a silver print can possess. Maybe next time I’ll work harder.

 On towards town and a brief stop to exchange stories with a small herd of Penn State quarter horses.

On through the fields, fog beginning to lift and reveal a gray day with threats of rain. The Vespa is indifferent and moves on and on and on.

After Gordon and I exhausted comments and ideas we parted company and I headed home on a slightly longer route. Climbing to the top of a hill along the road I was offered the opportunity to photograph these two motorcycles speeding in the opposite direction. Everything looks insignificant from this altitude. A reminder of how careful I need to be on the road.

At Café Lemont, a spur of the moment stop for tea and a Neiman Marcus cookie (love these things), I pull up next to a 2002 BMW R1200 GS. If the Vespa is ready to riding in and around town the BMW looks ready to ride in and around North America. Inside the owner pretty much confirms that assessment.

His name is Mark and he tells me he’s getting ready to ride to Nova Scotia and then on to Labrador. I ask if he’s ridden in Alaska (he has) and he tells me that he and his wife have ridden in Europe a couple times through Edelweiss Tours.

I mask any jealously and envy.

We talk for awhile, shake hands and go our separate ways. On the way home I think about what it might be like to ride for weeks on end or travel to some exotic location. Rounding a bend covered with gravel my attention returns to the road and I grow satisfied with the adventures I create within a 200-mile radius of State College. It’s what I can manage now with work and family. And I love the riding.

Not far from home I pass a barn with a horse gazing out the window. I went past and continued on for several hundred yards before I couldn’t get the image out of my head and made a quick U-turn to make a picture. Would never have done it on that big BMW K1600 GTL. Just saying.

And I’m still working on those reviews.

For now I’m just glad to get out and ride a little, make a few pictures, and spend some more time in the darkroom.

Business: Riding, Writing, Photography and Explaining

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Let’s get down to business. So there’s no confusion.

This is Scooter in the Sticks. The main blog. The only blog.

Some might be confused because I have been posting all these daily images and changed the Blogger template yesterday. Say goodbye to the original blue version. I’ve moved on to my favorite color – gray. Other than the design change everything else is the same. I think.

Change is our friend.

First, I’ve decided not to post the #DailyRider and #MyDogJunior pictures everyday. I’ll consolidate them once a week in a post. The nearly 1500 people who subscribed to Scooter in the Sticks via Feedburner will continue to receive text and pictures as usual in an email. Everyone should be happy. I’ll be happy. That guy in Key West might even be happy. If you want to see them right away subscribe to my Twitter feed or view them on Flickr. I put them there as I go.

Since I have those pictures ready I will post them as sort of a change gift.

The Daily Rider: February 23, 2011.

Made this image with the iPhone this morning. I neglected to shovel the wet snow and slush a couple days ago in the morning and upon returning after work everything was frozen. So I will have to brave the snow covered driveway until the weather warms a bit.

My Dog Junior.

This morning at the vet. Junior had to get his first round of the Lyme Disease vaccine. He was bored. Made this image with the iPhone and the Lo-Mob app.

It’s been good to be on the road again despite the salt, cold, and occasional ice and snow. The motorcycle parking spaces at my office have been slowly disappearing with the recent snow. Thankfully there was a space I could hide the Vespa in. In a few weeks there will be flowers and warm air. I do remember one mid-March around 1995 that we had 28 inches of snow. I probably shouldn’t get too attached to the idea of spring just yet.

Kissell Motorsports and I have some plans for spring. The first being to do some riding on the Ducati Diavel and the new Triumph Tigers. Craig Kissell and I have talked about riding together and comparing notes on the bikes. Look for those after the roads are clear and the salt has been washed away. Until then I will look over the books Craig gave me. I can see myself on the Tigers. The Ducati is a bit harder to picture.

Last Friday night I attended Midnight Madness at Kissell Motorsports. A big sale from 10pm to midnight. Lots of people turned out and found some great prices on helmets, gear, gloves, motorcycles, and such. I almost bought a new pair of Rev It pants but decided all I really needed was a new Triumph sweatshirt.

It was getting close to midnight when I got back on the Vespa for the 12-mile ride home. It was cold (around 35F) with wind gusts hitting 45mph. Interesting night ride. I couldn’t figure out why no one else rode to the event.

Not everything is fun and games though. I still have to find time for the 3 Prints Project. Time is less of an issue. Motivation is my problem. Gordon and I show up faithfully at a local coffee shop on Sunday morning to share work. Being a regular now you begin to notice the other regulars.

And coffee shops seem to be one of the last bastions of unfettered photography (except for those corporate ones with rule books). I figure the day will come that someone will complain and we will be politely asked to put our cameras away lest we be branded as terrorists.

Photography is not a crime.

Not yet.

This past Sunday Gordon had some nice digital prints. Both of us have recently agreed to abandon film and the darkroom for a while. I already miss it. This image is of his wife.

Gordon has a dog named Laika. I think my Junior photography was inspired by his pictures of his dogs. I’m a follower. Except when it comes to riding. Then I’m a loner.

Riding buddy Paul Ruby made an appearance. I’m not sure if he wanted to see us or just needed a muffin. He recently purchased a Ducati 1198 to share space in the garage with his Kawasaki Concurs, Harley Davidson something or other, and a nice, 1964 Vespa. And his 1962 (?) Mercedes and 1976 Ferrari. He thinks they are all chick magnets.

He needs to talk with Dr. Riepe. Besides, that sweater demagnetizes pretty much anything.

Made this picture on the way home from work this evening. Despite the cold and snow I’m glad to be out. Some days when I walk into the house Kim remarks on the smile. Riding has a way of doing that. Even on cold days like today, riding to work without my ski mask and the cold cut into my throat like a knife, I was smiling and happy when I arrived.

Go figure. Things like that don’t happen in warm climates like you might find in Key West.

I do have some good news to report. A while back Jack Riepe of Twisted Roads posted some good information on how to handle Valentine’s Day. He made a recommendation for Big Jim’s Cookies. I bought two-dozen immediately. And Jim called the house because of a snowstorm seeking permission to ship the cookies a couple days later so they would not get hung up somewhere in shipping. He bakes these things fresh and they are GOOD. Yum. I wish I had some right now.

Jack Riepe may not know much about motorcycles or women but he does know chocolate chip cookies.

Since I can’t have a constant supply of Big Jim’s Cookies I can always stop at the candy store down the street for my beloved Figaros.

So I think I am all caught up with the news from the sticks. It’s good to have friends, interests, a loving wife, kids, family, a dog, camera and Vespa. Can’t ask for much more. Well I can but I won’t right now.

As the weather warms and I cast off the weight of winter I hope to provide a little more interesting fare.

3 Prints Project: Limited Success with Print Giveaway

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In the driveway, packed and ready to try and give away some prints away at the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts. Thirty prints that had lived in a box since I made them would try and find a new home.

On Sunday the festival doesn’t open until 10am so I had some time to roam around on the scooter. Morning is my favorite time to ride. The earlier the better. If 6am is good then 4am is heaven. I haven’t seen much of heaven lately.

I can remember days when this area was solid humanity from sidewalk to sidewalk and you could barely travel a half block in 15 minutes. Early morning is a favorite because things are more quiet. In the background you can see a bicyclist amidst the water spray made available to help cool people off and give kids some water action. The bicyclist had a small child on the back of the bike and he rode back and forth through the spray to give the little one some excitement.

The print giveaway.

Gordon Harkins and I gathered on campus and decided to make one loop through the festival and see how people reacted to our offer of free art and prints. We would make no verbal offers or approaches, just respond to inquires. We probably should have taken a long look in the mirror before making that decision.

Gordon was fully outfitted for the giveaway of his prints. Being far more serious than I am he had selected four images and made five custom, numbered prints of each. The prints were carefully signed and labeled and placed inside plastic sleeves to protect them. I had my prints in a satchel on my shoulder with a package of plastic sleeves to protect the print from barbecue sauce or funnel cake fallout should anyone desire to take one.

Neither of us had any idea how this would go. The show was just waking up and people were just beginning to arrive as we approached the sidewalk sale. I could see people reading us and wondering what we were doing. I could see furtive glances and hear soft comments like, “You ask.” But no takers.

Finally, “Hey, what are you giving away?” A man in a white van who just helped unload some artist’s wares. We showed him our prints and explained what we were doing but we couldn’t convince him to choose a print. He told us his wife was the artist and that we should visit her just two booths away.

“Why are you giving these away?” was her question. I froze and mumbled something meaningless about having boxes of them sitting at home. Gordon stepped in for the save and told her that we are setting them free. Worked for me. Worked for her. She selected a gelatin silver print of a dead tree I shot just a few miles from where we were standing. It was made with an 8×10 Zone VI view camera and that particular image garnered a Best of Show Award in the Annual Art Alliance of Central Pennsylvania Show. I never felt it was too popular. Photographs are never supposed to be chosen over painting and sculpture for a best of show honor. It’s like a mixed breed dog winning Best of Show at Westminster.

The woman wouldn’t know any of this unless she visits here. Doesn’t matter. I was just curious about what people would chose.

In the 90 minutes we were at the show I gave away nine prints. And I recognized another dozen individuals who wanted to ask but wouldn’t. This was all Gordon’s fault. He labeled his hat “Free Art”. Everyone knows that’s code for a credit card offer or worse.

In addition to being surprised at how reticent people were to ask I was also surprised at what they chose. One young woman picked a picture of my front yard. A young man chose a tree with a Posted, No Hunting Sign attached to it. One woman chose a picture of a single tea cup on a table in an empty Saint’s Cafe and a man selected a picture of a shimmer of light on a brick wall at the Cleveland Clinic. Good thing I had a diverse selection.

Walking home Gordon and I characterized our endeavor as a limited success. No one yelled at us and no one chose a print and ritually destroyed it in our presence. That’s always a good sign.

It did feel good to share the pictures and I will do it again next year. If not before. Until then I’ll keep riding and making pictures. It is its own reward.

Giving Away Photographic Prints

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Free. Just for the asking. If you see me wearing this handpainted T shirt on Sunday at the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts in State College, Pennsylvania you can have one of my gelatin silver prints.

That’s what my friend Gordon and I will be doing tomorrow morning — giving away prints from our 3 Prints Project and perhaps some others that make their way into my satchel.

Gordon sprang this on me a couple days ago after thinking about a conversation about the expense of buying a photograph from an artist or photographer. No wonder so few people have original prints hanging on their walls. Collecting photographs is a pastime for those with disposable income. So giving prints away is our answer to the problem of high print prices.

It’s almost midnight as I write this and I am wondering what exactly I’m doing.

I’m not certain why anyone would want a print — their personal and not particularly pretty or decorative. They’re small, black and white, and printed on 8×10 inch paper. No one is going to ask which frame looks best for putting this over the couch in the family room. They’re just little memories, snapshots, snippets of experience.

But they originals and they are free. At least until someone says we aren’t allowed to give them away. I certainly don’t want to end up on the no-fly list over it.

For now it’s just an opportunity to do something just to see what happens.