Shots from Missouri and PCH 1 California

[bonedoctor]

I'm new to the forum, but have been periodically browsing the photos. I shot these photos in Missouri and along PCH 1 in California. I used this site to find some of the side roads north of SF and really enjoyed my ride--never would have know they were there without a little reading on this site.

The coast was cold and foggy (big surprise) and my passenger wasn't having much fun. We stopped at Stewarts Point for gas and I noticed that little road across the street and recognized it from this site. We took it through the redwoods and within a mile or so, the sun was out, it was waaaay warmer, and we had a great time.

Women like cycles so much better when they're not cold! I went back to the coast and covered it from SF to Mendocino alone. I was shooting film with a Nikon 8008 that started misbehaving and subsequently quit working. It fogged many of the images at the top, but I cropped them and used Photoshop to desaturate them. Kinda gave a eerie vintage look to them.

I ride a Yamaha FZ1 and Kawasaki Vulcan Classic seen in some of the pictures, but mostly they're from the Cali ride. For the PC Hwy 1 ride, I rented a Harley Heritage Softail in San Raphael. Its vintage look goes well with the B&W look. I was also shooting 800 speed film, so that also gives a vintage grainy look. It's a miscellaneous collection of pictures, some of old houses, bikes, unusual vantages, some cropping and Photoshopping, having fun. Was really experimenting, trying to salvage some shots

The shots of engines are of my Kawasaki, the rented Harley, and some custom choppers at a bar in Defiance, MO. Some of the pictures include both the "before" and "after". Hope they work!

Got a Nikon D200 with 18-200 lens on order. Can't wait to get some shots here in beautiful Aspen!

[bonedoctor]

Some more assorted photos. Some are from PC Hwy 1 California. You can see how the camera fogged the tops of some of the shots. I shot several rolls, but only about half were even salvageable with creative cropping, etc. The picture of the Yamaha with the bright orange trees was taken on Halloween in, of all places, Frankenstein, MO. I was heading home to Columbia, MO when I rounded the corner and was met with this blazing grove of Sweetgum trees. The sun was setting and hitting the copper color leaves--looked like they were on fire. Only had one or two shots left, but got this one.

That's me in the field, sitting on my helmet, posing with the Yamaha. Had the camera on a tripod. Missouri has beautiful fall colors.

The final shot of the Yamaha is with a pile of dirt (I think that's what it was--it was this gigantic pile of something left by a defunct concrete company near Columbia, MO). It had eroded over the years into the most interesting patterns. There were little canyons you could ride up into. It looked like the Moon!

[Mike Benzon]

Kent, I really enjoyed your pictures. I am not a photographer by any means, but I sure do enjoy black and white pictures and the texture they show.

[bonedoctor]

Originally Posted by Mike Benzon

Kent, I really enjoyed your pictures. I am not a photographer by any means, but I sure do enjoy black and white pictures and the texture they show.

Thanks for the compliment. They sure didn't start out that way--I used Photoshop to desaturate them and salvage them. About half were usuable since the fog extended down too far. Must have been a light leak or something. B&W can literally take any picture and make it interesting--you've right, they show only contrast and the eye isn't distracted by colors but rather drawn to textures. My father was an avid photographer, but he died when I was 12 before I really developed any interest.

I've been trying to teach myself (now 42). I've got his old Contax IIIa and Leica rangefinders from the 1950s. They shoot 35 mm film, but they're completely manual and I'm not to that point yet (I do set the Nikon on aperature priority and mess around with depth of field). True black and white 35 mm film is hard to come by and the processing is even harder to find, but you can get single rolls that are processed using color processing--I've seen it at the grocery store.

Haven't tried it yet, but think it'd be cool to use those old rangefinders with some of it. Gotta get them serviced since they haven't been used since 1976 (year he died).

The Harley was a pretty burgundy color, but really fit in with the old look of B&W.

[katana_ron]

Originally Posted by Mike Benzon

Kent, I really enjoyed your pictures. I am not a photographer by any means, but I sure do enjoy black and white pictures and the texture they show.

I have to agree. I really love a nice BW photo put in a black frame and white mat. Something so simplistic, yet rich about it. My favorite has go to be:



You can just feel the emotion of being the lone wolf, out on the ride, with nothing but you and the bike and the freedom to go where ever you want. Just awesome.

[Backmarker]

These were excellent. They were all good but my favorite non-moto has to be the old house in b&w. It's almost like it wasn't even taken in black and white and that's just what time has done to it. I really, really like those.

Thanks for showing all of them. Might have to capture a couple for the ever changing desktop if you don't mind.

[bonedoctor]

Originally Posted by katana_ron

I have to agree. I really love a nice BW photo put in a black frame and white mat. Something so simplistic, yet rich about it. My favorite has go to be:

Attachment 17938

You can just feel the emotion of being the lone wolf, out on the ride, with nothing but you and the bike and the freedom to go where ever you want. Just awesome.

Sometimes the most mundane situtation leaves you with a great shot. That's actually my female friend who rode on the back the first day. We were freezing over on PCH 1. We stopped at that store at Stewarts Point and I noticed the little road across the street--it was the road I'd read about on this site and it turns in Skaggs Springs Road. She wasn't having a very good time and we decided to use this as a shortcut back to Sonoma where she lived. Within about a mile or two, the fog was lifting, the sun was out, and it was way warmer.

We stopped here (this is a few miles inland) and I climbed up the hill with my camera to take a picture of the surrounding hills. She was really camera-shy and I shot this without her knowing. She's actually messing with her contact lens. Go back and look at the picture of the Harley's engine just above this picture. Look closely at the reflection in the air cleaner cover--that's her squatting down looking for her contact lens on the ground. I was just shooting pictures and didn't even notice that until I got 'em back--total coincidence.

[bonedoctor]

Originally Posted by katana_ron

I have to agree. I really love a nice BW photo put in a black frame and white mat. Something so simplistic, yet rich about it. My favorite has go to be:

Attachment 17938

You can just feel the emotion of being the lone wolf, out on the ride, with nothing but you and the bike and the freedom to go where ever you want. Just awesome.

Here's the original and the desaturated version. Losing the color really does change the mood of the shot.

[bonedoctor]

Originally Posted by Backmarker

These were excellent. They were all good but my favorite non-moto has to be the old house in b&w. It's almost like it wasn't even taken in black and white and that's just what time has done to it. I really, really like those.

Thanks for showing all of them. Might have to capture a couple for the ever changing desktop if you don't mind.

Enjoy! They were of an old house along Highway 100 east of Jefferson City, MO, on the south side of the Missouri River. The land is really flat near the river and probably pretty good farm land. This old house was sitting out in the middle of a huge, perfectly flat area so it really stuck out with its few surrounding trees. You're right, it almost looked black and white with the sun hitting it and all the years of weathering. The old barns and houses around there all have a bleached gray appearance to the wood from the sun and weathering.

[bonedoctor]

Here are some more assorted pictures. Some are from Highway 94 in Missouri on the north side of the Missouri River, heading towards Hermann (Missouri's "Rhineland" with lots of old vineyards and wineries).

The picture of the bike with the cool paintjob was at a biker bar in Defiance, MO. I think it's a Harley. The paintjob was of a eagle (look at the front fender), but I thought it looked like it was made out of stone. I had some fun with Photoshop in the second picture.

The pictue of Churchill is in Fulton, MO at little William Woods University. It's where he made the famous "Iron Curtain" speech in like 1947. There's even a section of the Berlin Wall there, too, complete with original graffiti and these human-shaped cutouts in the wall--an interesting work of art. The building in the background is a church designed by Christopher Wren and moved from England to little Fulton, MO.

The picture of the road with the shot up road signs is the entrance to Stewarts Point Road. Never in a million years would I have headed up that narrow little opening into the redwoods if I hadn't read about it here.

The silhouette picture of the cemetary was taken early in the morning when heading out for a ride. The sky was kinda purplish--I should have positioned the bike better so that it would have been silhouetted better along the horizon.

Some of the others are from PC Hwy 1 California, fall of 2004. A few of them have the 'before' and 'after' to see the effect of desaturating them to a faux B&W and cropping to lengthen out the horizon. They still 4x6 shots, just look like wide-angle with the cropping top and bottom.

Two of the pictures are from Highway 100, which is on the south side of the Missouri River. It was Halloween and I saw this little town called "Frankenstein" on my map, so I had to go. You can see in the background of the sign "Frankenstein" that something is really lit up by the setting sun around the corner. I came around the corner and the sun hitting those copper leaves literally made them look like they were on fire. I had two shots left and I've already posted the first one above. Here's the second one, and then I was out of film.