Scooter in the Sticks

Damn Leica

February 26, 2015 by Scooter in the Sticks 20 Comments

Spent the past couple hours fighting with my damn Leica. The battery died this morning and when I got home the fight began to get the little round cover off. It’s always been difficult but nothing like this — heat, attempts to turn it open wearing rubber gloves for extra traction, and eventually tapping a jeweler’s screwdriver with a hammer into the soft brass. My thumb is so sore now from attempting to break the cover free that I can’t use it on the spacebar while typing.

It’s moments like this that I just hate machines. I want them to work. Period. And I don’t want to tinker. Pretty unrealistic expectations.

With the Leica out of service I’ll have to turn to the view camera or the Zero Image pinhole camera. Haven’t decided what I’ll do. In the meantime I’ll share the three prints I made last week as part of my ongoing 3 Prints Project.

Our Belgian Sheepdog Junior standing at the door waiting to be let inside. Can’t remember why he’s outside in the driveway or even what he’s looking at. I know there aren’t any dog biscuits or bacon in that direction.

View from the driveway as I head into the garage. When spring arrives and the leaves begin to grow that little shed disappears from view.

An abstract look at our Honda Fit during a morning snow flurry. Not sure what motivated me to make the exposure, just some instinctual reaction to form and texture. Maybe.

Maybe I’ll give the Leica another go. Can’t find the WD40. Seems like a tool that’s inconsistent with a Leica…

Video Blogging Ideas

February 25, 2015 by Scooter in the Sticks 11 Comments

A recent post on Fuzzygalore.com about the voices of bloggers caught my attention, in part because I wonder who’s behind the blogs and what they sound like, but more importantly it reminded me of thoughts and ideas about video and how I might incorporate that media here. When I was in graduate school I made a lot of video with little miniDV and point and shoot cameras. I tried to upload one that gave a bit of insight into what makes me tick but YouTube had pulled it because I was bad and used some music by Brian Eno.

The scooter video above is old, poor quality, and was made not long after I got my Vespa LX 150 in 2006 when I had big ideas about video. But that medium is a lot more work that shooting still pictures and I wasn’t sure I had anything to say.

I tried the GoPro camera and while the capability was astounding I didn’t see anyone having much interest in watching the road ahead, at least not if I wasn’t running into something or some similar misfortune.

Perhaps the winter doldrums are pushing my thoughts towards other things. If I could draw I might be considering a comic strip. Video seems to be on my mind now and maybe there’s a role for video and blogging on Scooter in the Sticks.

Maybe something different might surface.

Fighting Winter

February 24, 2015 by Scooter in the Sticks 17 Comments

In bed, dog still asleep, a glow of pre-dawn light illuminating the curtains, I sneak a look at the iPhone to look at the temperature — five degrees below zero. Winter has relentlessly chewed on souls and psyches, turning even the most positive outlooks into jagged personas. Fighting winter has become a full-time job to keep depression at bay and not feel like life has become a massive landscape of failure.

Call me gray cloud.

And like the Peter Finch’s character in the motion picture Network, I got out of bed saying to myself, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!’

And the decision was made and a methodical undertaking of steps led me to be standing in the driveway with the Vespa scooter idling, ready to head to work in spite of the frigid temperature. The sky was blue, the sun was shining, and the roads were mostly clear.

I should add that winter riding is a game of relativity. My cold weather concerns are nothing compared to the weather that Dom Chang and Richard Machida endure in Colorado and Alaska respectively. My cold weather is their balmy weather. Richard doesn’t seem to worry about the temperature until it nears -40F and then only because “things” don’t sound right on the machine.

So maybe call me wimpy as well.

The ride to work was almost uneventful save for two unexpected stops. The first was to put air in the tires. In the cold I guess the pressure decreases, in this case by seven pounds per square inch. Nothing like fiddling with tire valves with your bare hands in sub-zero weather. On the heals of the tire maintenance was a need for fuel. Best to keep the tank full in cold weather.

On the bright side, the heated grips are fantastic. They get so hot that I can feel them almost burning my hands through heavy winter gloves. The Tucano Urbano muffs keep the wind off my hands with only some minor impairment of access to the brakes. Not so much impairment but a need to adjust how you manipulate your hands — you need to use exaggerated movements.

And another unexpected surprise was with the First Gear Kilimanjaro jacket. I usually ride in cold weather with several layers underneath the jacket but was distracted this morning and left without them. Didn’t want to turn back to make adjustments thinking I would be fine for the short trip and it turned out I didn’t need them at all. I was toasty warm with just a sweater on. First Gear considers the Kilimanjaro a three-season jacket but unless they are excluding summer I would think you could wear this year round.

Last time I rode to work in sub-zero weather I had a fuel line freeze by the end of the day and I was fearing the same this time. But the day warmed and there were no problems. Since having the fuel pump replaced the scooter has run like a champ again and I’m thinking of bigger trips. The ride home was pleasant and I was able to be on the road before sunset when it becomes harder to spot stray ice spots. Generally the road is clear but you can never be sure which requires major adjustments in riding style. After dark is an even bigger challenge.

I’m not mad as hell anymore. Life is good. A few miles on a scooter can serve multiple roles — an attitude adjustor, or an interventionist.

Are you needing to ride about now?

Large Format Photography

February 22, 2015 by Scooter in the Sticks 14 Comments

Poor planning had me testing my new (to me) 8×10 Calumet C-1 view camera as a cold front moved into Happy Valley bringing with it a drop in temperature (12F), wind, and snow. But only needing one exposure I figured it wouldn’t be so bad even though the view out the front of the van suggested otherwise. Working in large format photography requires practice and method and while I once possessed both ten years ago it’s not like riding a bicycle. The new camera immediately felt like a foreign object.

You might wonder what any of this has to do with riding the Vespa? I’ll get to that.

My Belgian Sheepdog Junior loves the cold weather and was content periodically chasing the tennis ball down the hill as I wrestled with the camera. Setting it up in a warm home is nothing like trying to do it when a biting wind is at you. I could do most of the setup with gloves save for mounting the camera to the tripod. By the time I turned the mounting screw into the base of the camera both hands were numb — not a good start to a test. I was reminded of how I had to develop a process for riding the Vespa scooter in the winter and how the same would be necessary for the big camera. I made a mistake just venturing out like I did.

The test destination was about 100 yards away — the tree in the distance on the far right of the photo. Lugging the camera, lens and tripod (35 pounds total) is a chore in itself that requires some practice. At least I could wear mittens.

Not sure how old the camera or lens is or even if the shutter is functioning properly. That’s one of the reasons I was doing a test though about at this point in time I was wondering why I wasn’t conducting it in my livingroom. At least the snow slowed a bit so I could spend some time composing a picture.

Junior is relentless and I try to imagine myself as such though my cold tolerance just can’t match his. Each time he lunged into the snow to retrieve the ball he turned just a little whiter.

Finally I had everything ready and made the exposure — 1/1o of a second at f32 on Ilford HP5 8×10 film. Later in the day I processed it in Kodak D76 developer at a 1:1 dilution with water in a new BTZS (Beyond the Zone System) processing tube.

I was able to get everything back into the van without becoming frostbitten but was aware some practice was in order in handling the camera from setup to tear down. Practice will make this much easier over time. It’s like learning to ride.

The darkroom was pretty much the same thing — some practice is in order to streamline the process. And the final result indicated the need for an adjustment in exposures and/or processing time — the negative was dense. But it was a good first step and here is the result:

The black and white contact print “feels” like what I saw — white and cold as snow blew through the air. Because the negative was so dense the image has lost detail in the highlights but I suspect I can retrieve them in the darkroom. This quick print was really to evaluate the sharpness of the lens and see if I could detect any processing inconsistencies. So far, so good.

So, what does this have to do with the Vespa? Well, my plan is to haul the camera on the scooter to work on a two-fold project. One part focuses on landscape — man-made, social, environmental, natural, whatever I see while riding. The other is a series of portraits of the Vespa in the riding landscape. I’ve worked out in my head how I’ll haul everything. The camera will be packed and hauled on the front rack. The film holders and light meter will ride in the topcase while the lens and dark cloth will call the under-seat space home.

One step at a time I’ll keep plodding along…

Photographic Reboot

February 17, 2015 by Scooter in the Sticks 18 Comments

With so much snow and cold weather lately I’ve just not been interested in riding lately. I’ve traversed this sort of surface but I no longer am interested in testing my endurance or skill on the ice. Instead, I’ve been exploring my photographic roots and am spending more time making photographs on film and working in the darkroom. A post on a forum this evening spoke of a “reboot” in life. That may be what I’m doing.

Sunday morning at Saint’s Cafe has been the place to validate my non-professional photographic life with the help and participation of friends on similar quests. Everyone should have a time and place to confirm some things in life. The hot chocolate and bagel is just icing on the experience.

Paul Ruby has been consistently working and producing gallery quality digital prints from scenes from his life. Seeing someone consistently show up with new work, regardless of quality or subject, is inspiring. Everyone is busy with myriad responsibilities and seems to live in chaos so when a person manages to inject some personal creative expression and output into their days is kind of amazing to me.

Gordon Harkins has been showing up for years now and most times with new work. In his frustration that he’s not doing more I recognize my own awful critic that can’t see how much I’m actually doing myself. I remind him of the output he’s accomplished but I don’t think he believes it. I’m familiar with the trait.

Photography is important to Ruby and his thoughts, words and gestures support that observation. I often sit back just to watch and listen to the show.

Each week I continue to try and expose two rolls of film and make three prints. It feels random and unfocused but I trust that it will lead somewhere if I do the work. So here’s the latest from the photographic reboot:

Leica M6 portrait of Gordon Harkins made the previous Sunday as snow began to fall.

View of Kim making photos of her snow-covered garden.

Portrait of my Belgian Sheepdog Junior in the snow.

So that’s it. Three prints. This week I have the 8×10 Calumet C1 view camera out and have been considering a switch for a bit. The camera is heavy — almost 18 pounds — and the film is expensive — almost $2.50 a shot — so I’m still pondering. Whatever happens, I trust the process to yield something good if I show up to do the work.

Just like riding the Vespa scooter.

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Scooter in the Sticks