Steampunk Motorcycle

Yesterday I wrote a bit about the state of the art of custom motorcycle design. I was disparaging of builds that resulted in trailer queens; bikes that would never be ridden, or were so unlikely that riding would be problematic. At the peak of the Orange County Choppers madness, I would look in amazement/amusement at the used bike ads and see 1-2 year old custom built motorcycles with original build costs of $40,000 and up, languish at $12-15,000. There is little market for custom built bikes. They are too much a personal vision, either of the builder or the owner.

But sometimes the art is more than a radicalization or naked-woman art on the tank. On this bike, the builder wanted a functional bike that had aspects of the steampunk genre about it.



I think the builder did a fine job. The bike is hugely custom and yet I can easily imagine throwing a leg over it and going for a ride. I loved the effort to incorporate the oil filter in a highly visible and truly thematic way!



While the seat is probably not something you would want to ride on for 500 miles id does seem like something you could ride on for more than a run to the store for smokes.



And not a naked woman in sight on the bike. Though to be in keeping, any such woman would have needed to be represented in neo-Victorian garb anyway. Better to stick with base metals, eh?

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Motorcycles!

Reena and I went to the International Motorcycle Expo in Chicago this weekend with a couple of other riding buddies. It is a fun way to spend a day, even if it does mean 4-1/2 hours in the car to spend 4-5 hours at the expo. It is an opportunity to see all the new makes and models, and find all the gear you might be looking for (or wanting to investigate to buy locally) in one place. Among the things on display are custom bikes, generally not in a defined class, but representative of what is going on in the custom scene in general. For a decade or so it was all about cruisers, Harley-ish sorts of bikes all stretched and slammed and completely useless for actual riding. They reached such a point where I just called such trailer queens (never, ever going to be ridden) "butt jewelry". Those days faded along with Orange County Choppers (thankfully), and now the focus seems to have shifted to making sport bikes impractical.



Nothing like taking a brilliant motorcycle like a Suzuki GSXR-1000 and working hard to turn it into an ill-handling beast that is only interesting to ride in straight lines!

The other up-and-coming trend seems to be cafe racers, and that one I am happy about. At least with that sort of custom, the goal is all about form and function. It also frequently involves small displacement engines making the whole thing more affordable. Here are a couple of fun examples.



A venerable Yamaha SR500, sold here from 1978-1982:



I have some more, and will make a detailed post about someone's steam punk inspired build tomorrow.

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International Folk Fair

Today is the day I finally offer some of the photographs from the actual International Folk Fair. I have sort of offered all of the related pictures in the last couple of posts, images of the things going on around the fair. It is hard to capture all the buzzing energy of the crowd. Attendees vary from casual drop ins to those who are there because it is their idea of a perfect day. I fall somewhere in the middle of that range.

The first performance I saw was the alpenhorns. They create such a sonorous tone, and these guys did a fine job of showing off their skill.



In passing I caught the Mannerchor, the (primarily) German heritage mens choir. They were down a floor from where I was in the rotunda, and I was going up two mofe floors so I listened for a few minutes and grabbed this shot.



The kung fu school at which I used to train - Zhong Yi - had a mixed age group perform a traditional lion dance to bring good luck. I think there were six lions. I guessed poorly about where would be the best vantage point to get good photos, but I liked how this one turned out. My location really called for a wide angle lens, but alas, I did not have one.



There are a few more that I might get out here yet. I knew that life was too busy to blast away a couple of hundred photos (and then edit) so I was more parsimonious this time out. They say that with age comes wisdom. *grin*

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Promises, Promises

In sort of an offhand, backing into it sort of way, these are photographs from the International Folk Fair last weekend. They are in and around the venue. As I said, there is much atthat event that qualifies as eye candy, and not all of it is people-related.



The above is part of the old Capitol Theater, which remains intact though remarkably well hidden inside the austerity of the Overture Center. Below is one of the sculptures in the building; this one being in the main rotunda lobby. It never fails to put a smile on my face when I see it.



And finally for this small set, a photo looking up into the rotunda itself.



Thanks for dropping by. I'll have some photos of the fair soon, I promise!

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Snowy State Street

I spent the day at the annual International Folk Fair today as is my habit. It is a treat of visual eye candy everywhere you look. The attendees are multi-culti as is the very nature of the event. It reminds me that Madison in not plain vanilla. I have a bunch of pics to share, but they are going to have to wait.

It snowed today, and while I was out and about on State Street, I shot this and liked it enough to share.



Enjoy!

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Potpourri

There is no unified theme to today's post, just a bit of house-cleaning. These are photos that I have had in mind for a post, but never got to them. So I offer them as a potpourri of eyeCandy from eyeDance.



A recent shoot for a pair of aerial dancers yielded this dragged-shutter image. I only had time for a few of these, and most did not work well, but I thought this one was worth sharing.



When my wife was a kid back in the days of film cameras, her dad would use of the last frame or two on a roll by having the kids line up on the front walk and do a "jump picture". At a recent gig, members of Cycropia Aerial Dance did the same. This was not technically the best of the bunch but it makes me laugh every time I see it.



At a recent wedding I could not resist getting a shot of these shoes. I assumed I would get another one later when they were on the dance floor, but by the time it occurred to me again, the shoes were discarded in favor of barefoot dancing. And, she told me, they were on sale.



A gratuitous cat picture? When it is the always lovely Nala, sure. And yes, that fabric on the chair is hers, and she loves it.

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Just. Plain. Wrong.

OK, this is simply wrong. It is January 19th and this is Madison, WI, 43 North latitude, smack in the northern middle third of the United States. It is supposedly the dead of winter, a time of year when we often would have a week where the temperature never gets above zero degrees (F). Today I am thinking about a motorcycle ride, and I have plants starting to come up in my gardens.



The first one I noticed is on the northeast corner of my house, and generally the last place things come up in the spring. The above is Snow On The Mountain, named for its appearance not because it is an early spring plant. Below are freaking daffodils for crying out loud. Daffodils! In January!



Unreal. And wrong. Nice to see them and all, but they are a good six or eight weeks early. The HIGH temperatures for the rest of the week are 17, 5, 10, 20, 22 (F). That does not bode well for the daffys.

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Wonderful, Atypical Weddings

I have said here before that I generally do not shoot weddings. Sure they are lucrative, but part of me rebels against supporting the over indulgence that is a contemporary wedding. I have been to too many $20-30,000 weddings of people who really should be having a $5,000 wedding so they do not start their life together under a crushing cloud of debt. Not my call of course, but I do not have to be a part of that process. So I only shoot one or two weddings a year, and they have to be FUN and otherwise interesting, and especially low key.

Over the last couple of years my weddings have included a couple that got married (handfasted, actually) in a creek while their guests sat on shore. Right on. My kind of quirky. The other stand out of the past couple of years was a couple that had been married for 20 years had a formal ceremony to add another man to their marriage. Not legal, of course, but nevertheless, that was their sincere desire and I have to say that it was among the most profound wedding ceremonies I have ever attended. The words they said, each to the other two, were heartfelt and loving in a way most weddings never come close to.

I started this year with a wedding. While nowhere near as out of the ordinary as the aforementioned ceremonies, it was fun and their guests were clearly there because they WANTED to be there. And the wedding portrait portion got to include this:



Now how can a guy turn down a chance to shoot a beauty like that? Too bad it was January and the light was fading fast. It would have been fun to hang around for half an hour or so so that the herd would have become familiar with me, and vice versa. I did get a couple of good ones of the bride with her llama and the groom looking on with a big smile. It is photographs like this that make editing a treat.

OK, back to work!

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Almost an Embarrassment of Riches

I think my life is rich and fascinating. It has been filled with an abundance of experience and unique people.

In addition to owning and being head photographer/artist at eyeDance Photography, I have a corporate day job that keeps me intellectually stimulated and challenged, and I am a board member, choreographer, and dancer with Cycropia Aerial Dance. Add to that a 25-year marriage to a wonderful partner, a telegenic cat, a lifelong love affair with motorcycles, and a wide-ranging social network, and it adds up to a pretty fine existence.

The photo shoots I get to do are generally a privilege and they really feed the creative, artistic side of my soul. Often women, often rather intimate, these photo sessions are almost all fun and playful for both me and the client. Older posts have illustrated some of these images, and you can see samples HERE at my business website.

This photo is from a recent shoot with two young, up-and-coming aerial dancers who have been trained, in part, by Cycropia's program, as well as other ancillary teachers. They are dedicated and willing to put in the time needed to hone their craft, and it is really starting to show. The lyra (steel hoop) was hung in a Madison studio, and the homely ceiling and light fixtures are edited out using Photoshop (not a common habit for me). The unusual crop accentuates the long bodies and their shape in space. I really like it.

I have a wedding to shoot, also not a common practice, but it is for a woman who has been an acquaintance and pal for around a decade, and I have done high school senior portraits for her two children. As the wedding itself is likely to be low key and low drama, I accepted the gig. Generally I steer such requests to my nephew and his wife who primarily shoot weddings and are really quite good at it.

Continuing the trend of fun, new things, I am starting a new corporate job on Monday after a brief hiatus when my last employer closed their office here in Madison leaving me without a job. I am uniquely positioned in life to not have to take the first job that came along, so I was able to look for and apply for only those that I thought would be a good fit. This one seemed like such, and I hope (for both our sakes) that I am correct. I will enjoy having the intellectual challenge to keep me sharp!

On the dance front, I am rehearsing three pieces for our upcoming spring show (March 29-30, here in Madison, WI) as well as co-directing the show. In short, life is a cornucopia of interestingness. Or at the very least, that is how I choose to experience it.

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Fortune Passes Everywhere

Fortune passes everywhere. When my former employer closed the Madison office in September of 2012, I thought I would roll pretty quickly into a new job somewhere. I am nothing if not an optimist. It did not work out that way. I did not want another job doing quality assurance, though I am capable of it. I hoped to return to a business analyst role like my favorite role from years past. However, my work experience does not make sense on paper, and consulting firms do not quite know what to make of me. I have a ton of valuable experience, yet because it was part of a 19 year stint with the same company, and we did not use the latest greatest tools and methodologies, I was tough to assess against a checklist (Use ClearQuest? No. Discard resume). Get me an interview and I am fine, but first the employer has to understand why they want to take the time to interview me. So it is with great delight that I have landed a new job, in a role that is similar to, if slightly lesser than, my desires. I think it will be a good fit, and if I am as good as I think I am, then I will earn a promotion in due time.

It has been three years since I had to wear any of my dress clothes for a job. In those three years I have been rigorously training in aerial dance, including some physically demanding pieces. Consequently my shoulders and arms are noticeably more muscular than in 2009, and I have less roundness in the butt (to my wife's dismay). I recently pulled out my finest dress shirt for an interview and not only did it not fit, it was not even close to fitting! I do still have shirts that fit, but I wanted to update my look a bit and have some new duds for the new job.

I am frugal and hate paying full price if there is a deal to be had. Reena and I headed out to Savers, a decent second-hand shop, to search for some shirts and perhaps a new pair of khaki pants. I know from experience that it is possible to find brand new shirts there for a fraction of the original retail. This trip was no different. I scored four new(ish) shirts and a pair of pants for $35.00. While Reena went elsewhere I popped into Kohls department store and found a fun dress shirt shot through with metallic silver thread. It delighted the performer in me so I splurged and bought it (for 50% off) as well as three new pairs of socks (alas, full price).

So another extended vacation comes to a happy end. The new work crew appears to be warm and welcoming, and the work itself promises to be interesting and challenging, with lots of room to learn, grow, and eventually, hopefully, to shine. But fear not, the photo projects will continue!

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Tableau From Below

A rare day! For the first time in, well, forever, Reena had off the Saturday before Christmas. As a retail operative, that never happens. But as she is transitioning from one retail position (of 27 years!!!) to another good one, things are different. Since that transition pretty much fell on 12/21, we are assuming that is what the Mayan end of the world meant for Reena personally. We decided to run some errands - together - and spent a little time on State Street. Dashing out of the house with no breakfast meant a priority stop at a coffee shop for me to put a scone and a cuppa java in my belly. Leaving there we were headed to Fromagination (a super awesome cheese and other foodstuffs shop on the Capitol square). En route I spotted an arm sticking out from a second-floor tiny balcony.



Just as I unslung and got the camera into play, the subject leaned forward. I would have preferred just the arm, but a street photog shoots what is there. The subject was watching the birds while enjoying a cigarette and I liked the scene. Or, if you prefer as I do, a tableau from below.

Other than the bit of snow on the branches, the shot could be any time of year from October to March.

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Snowstorm "Draco" (When did they start naming snow storms?)

Madison got hit with the same storm that dumped snow from the Rockies east. We were right in the path of the most snow too. It has not stopped snowing yet, and the temps have been hovering above 32 degrees (F) all day, so the snow is deep, wet, and heavy. For reasons that are clear to no one, my wife's part time employer decided to open. So, after shoveling this morning, I drove her to work because the metro buses were not running (hello, clue?). Rather than go straight home, I went looking for scenic spots. Fortunately they were not difficult to find.


Tenney Park Bridge

At this point in the day there was only about six inches of snow on the ground. Driving was not too bad, though I did help dig/push six other drivers out of where they were stuck. Memo: You drivers with bad tires, automatic transmission, and the incorrect idea that spinning your tires is a good idea really should not have Good Samaritans push you out. You should really just stay inside when the weather is like this.

There were lots of pedestrians out, mostly walking dogs or headed somewhere. Not a lot of point in shoveling when there is going to be another 6-12 inches of snow to fall. Fortunately there were not many drivers.



While I was by the Yahara River at Williamson Street I was intrigued by the slushy ice that was floating downstream. It moved like fabric and was really quite beautiful. I have never seen anything quite like it. I'm not sure this photo really does it justice, but it is the one I got. It was still snowing hard, and blowing, so I was not prepared to stand around and set up and wait for the perfect shot.


Slushy Ice

Once I got home I had an invitation to walk six blocks over to a friend's house for "brunch". If you do not eat until 2:15 PM, it no longer qualifies as brunch. More like Second Lunch, except that I had nothing but a Power Bar in me, so my belly button was gnawing on my spine by the time we ate. I arrived home again just in time to have the road plow bury my driveway with a three foot high, three feet deep pile of heavy snow. The rest of the driveway and sidewalk needed it, so I shoveled the whole works. Now I intend to put my feet up and have a nice rye whiskey.

There are more photos from today HERE.

Cheers!

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Leko Redux

Life has been fun and busy of late, with all sorts of interesting diversions and distractions thrown in my path. My last day job relocated out from under me, and I have been looking for the right job. I had a positive interview a couple of weeks ago and a follow up interview has been scheduled for this week. I look forward to confirming that it is a good fit. I have had several really fun and adventurous photo shoots (and I really need to get some samples out here) that have filled the coffers a bit and fed my soul. In early December the aerial dance troupe of which I am a member - Cycropia - had a corporate gig that was fruitful and exhausting. It was particularly challenging because as we assembled at the venue to start make-up, we learned that a dear friend (of 30 years for me) had died quite suddenly and unexpectedly. We were distraught, but had to suck it up and put on a happy face to perform. The show must...as they say.

For one of the recent shoots, the client was performing for the first time in a burlesque show. The event was a women-only show, dancers for dancers, and the venue is lousy for good photos. So she hired me to get good performance shots. We set up the studio sparsely, blank wall and hardwood floor, and rigged the Leko spotlights rather than the strobes I mostly use. I have had the Lekos since late 2009, but seldom find an opportunity to use them (here is one such occasion) so I was delighted to do so. Those pics came out great, and if the client doesn't object might post one or two here. We'll see. In the meantime I was inspired to try some other things with them, so yesterday I took myself in to experiment. The results are not quite what was in my head and that is OK. It was an experiment.



The studio is not capable of rigging aerial apparatus, but I wanted to make it look like I was being supported by the silk (which in this case really was fine silk rather than an aerial silk which is sturdy tricot). The artifacts on the wall are dirt on the Leko lens. I can't decide if I REALLY need to disassemble and clean them, or if I like the vintage spotlight look. There is little doubt that I could create this same shot using a strobe, and probably in far less time than this took, but again, the learning was the point. There is something unique about having the spots in play. Plus when irised down to a narrow spot, they add great shadows.



The vignetting is from the lights themselves, boosted a bit in post camera processing. In the burlesque shoot the shadows of the client/performer were and integral part of the composition. I often shoot against black backdrops and do everything in my power to prevent or eliminate shadows so this was a new treat. In these two experimental photos I kept the shadows strong, but was not so concerned about them in the composition. In the second I planted myself just a few inches from the wall to get a strong outline, and it adds a strong visual element.

If you are interested in the technical details here they are. The Lekos are not particularly bright so the camera was set quite differently than I would with strobes and it contributes to the overall look and feel.

Camera: Nikon D300
Lens: Sigma 30mm prime (on this camera it is equivalent to 45mm)
ISO: 1000
Aperture: f/13
Shutter: 0.3 seconds
Light Source: Single Leko spotlight at about 20', camera-right about 6'
Post-Processing: Image free rotated (the top one), minor tweaks to levels and brightness (especially the top one), converted to B&W, adjustment layer added with moderate sepia toning.

And might I add that I am quite pleased that my body still looks like that at 50. *grin*

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