Try, try again.

Getting a photo CD from Walgreens is nice and easy, but I feel like I should be able to use this scanner better than I have been. This is a shot I took of Matt Green that I had posted already, but this one is scanned from my negative, so I wanted to see if there was a difference. I think there is, but then again I am sort of biased. 

Also, really stoked to read the Garrett Reynolds interview where he makes mention of the five-pound-frame issue and how lighter than that can (and often does) cause problems. I hope the pendulum stabilizes a bit after swinging back to a reasonable weight for a frame. 

The Albion is really killing it right now. The only thing really holding it up is the writing style of Steve Bancroft. But even then I think there is an air of "what the fuck is that dude gonna write this issue that will be over the line?" So maybe that is working; British tabloid style, as it were. 

Any ways, the rain has let up and the sun is shining just a bit. Let's go see what's up...

All but one...

The Old City Java photo show is over. It was a good opportunity for me to go through my first "showing" which in turn helped me to learn some things I should do if I am ever to do another showing again. Hopefully I will amass enough pics to warrant such a thing. Anyways, Brien had been asking me if I was going to post up the pictures that I showed, and so I will do that now- minus one because I submitted it to someone that might do something with it. TIME WILL TELL. So here they are. Some have been on the blog before, some have not, but all were taken by me and my Nikon D200.
 

The F100 and one hour developing

So, this is my second roll of film from the F100 since purchase. I forgot that I had taken some photos in Austin on this roll- an uncomfortable close up of Aaron Ross at the ice cream social and this picture of Tree Bikes Sam at House park. Sticking with the chronological order of things, I have a couple of shots of Matt Green from North Carolina (raise up). Dude is a fucking shredder. Would rather watch riding like this over a banana sandwich any day. I took some shots at the trails the other day, probably post-Jeff Grindstaff concussion, and though I have trouble with my D200 taking pics up there, I liked the way these came out... Tim Lewis puts in so much damn work up there. Anyone that pedals up there owes him a beer and a handshake. Don't be freaked out by that gnarled finger. It's cool. Dave looks high as fuck right here. vs. Dave going high as fuck. To close, pictures from this very day. Some dudes from Ohio came down and found me via the magic of BMXboard and instagram. I don't have last names and probably don't even have names right, but they were a blast to ride with. Fuckin' Ohio, man. Floyd? I think I got that right. I feel like this guy's name was John? Not even sure about that. All in all, I am really stoked on shooting with film and figuring out settings on my own and not relying on the back of the camera to tell me if I "got it". I don't take shots like that Pollari kid from Willoughby, but who does? Fucker is a savant.

The calm before the drizzle.

So yeah, in a couple of days I will be hanging some photos up at Java in the Old City for all to see. Well, all that venture into there, anyways. I keep trying to start writing an "about the artist" type of thing but it never feels right. I guess this is what deadlines are for (even if they are somewhat self-imposed). My friend Tyler Pollari came down a few weeks back and brought his twin-ish brother Travis with him. All the way from Ohio! I tried to get some information, like...why the fuck is Ohio a "swing state" and how come it seems so damned indecisive. He basically said that the people in the cities are liberal and the rural areas are not, and they are sort of equal in population and so it makes it all sorts of mucked up. Whatever. All I know is that Ohio does appear to be bad ass and I choose not to fuck with it. With that in mind, here is a little shot of my friend Tyler, getting it. There was a trail jam here this past weekend, and though no one really showed up for it, that didn't stop it from happening. I took a lot of pictures, but apparently my 28mm is a piece of shit (happy early birthday, Anna!) and so the only shots that even sort of turned out were ones that came from me shooting with the fish. So here is Dave "SOMEONE PLEASE HOOK THIS DUDE UP ALREADY" Williams with a tire grab over the big one... Here is a pic from my last trip to Austin that I have been sitting on for no apparent reason. It's Macneil's Drew Lazaruck (sp?) riding the bowl on (obviously...I mean it's not like he dropped from the fucking sky, is it?) a day that I got to share riding space with some captains of industry. Povah and Aaron Ross. It felt like riding with the embodiment of Twitter and the guy that invented the Cyclops stem. Nice! This is a picture of Brian Hunt that has been on my drive for forever. I have no idea why I never did anything with it. I think I might have sent it to DK and they never used it. Probably too busy working out Wal-Mart contracts. Or they thought it was a shitty photo (more likely) but I liked it and even felt good about catching the bars where I did. Now, a departure. For the last couple of weeks I have been working on a home for these ladies... and I finally finished it! I lost some blood, smashed my thumb (twice!) and had countless pieces of chicken wire stuck in my hands, but it came out okay. Some of the wood got warped (notice where the bottom hinge is...it had to be there.) but we made the most of it. I hope Gregger approves. That's all for now. I have to get up in six hours.

I think it is safe to post these now.

Back in 2006 the FBM team came through town. At the time, I had just gotten my Canon EOS Elan7 and was eager to take some pics of anything. Crandall asked that I not post or publish anything because Ride UK was doing an article on the trip. So I sat on the pics. UNTIL NOW.

BEHOLD. PICTURES OF CAM WOOD AND AARON ROSS THAT WILL SHATTER EVERYTHING YOU THOUGHT YOU KNEW.

White on white, that's fuckin' Ross?


Cam Wood on the same wall. Goddamn, this was six years ago. I will still in my 30's. HAHAHAHAHA. Great.


I hope Cranpa doesn't write me a nasty missive over the publication of these.

A scanner dorkly.

So I worked on scanning negatives in, but the dust...oh god the dust. I had been sitting around trying to figure it out, and then realized (stupidly) that I could just scan the prints. Let's try that.

Michael Tetro. A man so skinny that the UN sends food aid to his house.

This was taken with Lomography film on my old Nikon 35mm that I got for 12 bucks off of KEH.


These were shot on some Fuji Provia (I think. I threw the box away. NOTES. TAKE NOTES ASSHOLE) Also of Tetro.



And this is Chase Hawk. I posted the scan of the negative earlier, but this is the print. What do you think? I promise I am not doing a dismissive wanking motion right now.

The UM is right.

Go upside down, people notice. Some rad dudes from Asheville came into town on Sunday and got radical at our park. It should have initiated some sort of turf war, but I left my Dagger jacket at home. No skateboard-ditch-jousting today. We just talked to one another and had a fun session. Then we burned their fucking ramp down. That's how it goes in the valley, brah.

Take these broken wings...


Dave Williams grabs his bike in various ways. Two examples:



More nutty goodness from Matt Green. We're facebook friends now, so I assume I can just call him Matty. Or Matts. MAAAAAATTTTSSSSS.


I feel like a dick because I forgot this guy's name. I was gonna just say "Matt's friend" but I think his name is Nate. That feels right. I should get a Moleskin and write this shit down, but I'd feel so pretentious whipping that thing out and being all, "hang on, lemme write this down in my MOLESKIN." Then again, maybe it's better to feel pretentious rather than feel like a forgetful asshole. Anyways, he got upside down several times and did not mind helping me get what felt like the right shot.


In retrospect, this could have been called the "a bunch of shots on the wall of the big side of the spine blog update". Time to get out more.

I'll have some pictures up at Java in the Old City at the beginning of next month. Come by and see them. More importantly, come by and get some delicious coffee and baked goods.