Monthly Archives: June 2014

Artist Series: NOA- Yalta from Chrome Industries on Vimeo. “The newest edition to our Artist Series features the original artwork of Japanese artist NOA-. NOA- is as humble as he is talented. Typically using oil and acrylic paint on canvas or wood, he’s known for painting live with a style that emulates Japanese line-making. Each piece of art is influenced by the music he chooses to play as he paints, with most of his inspiration is deeply rooted in hip-hop and graffiti. NOA- created this artwork based on the Japanese phrase “Kuromu” (sounds like Chrome!) and means Black Fog. These one-of-a-kind Yalta bags come from a 4′ x 12′ canvas and acrylic painting NOA- made. Each of the 8 bags represents a specific segment of the painting where the Black Fog takes on a unique energy of its own. Our Artist Series is produced as a limited run. Once they are gone, they’re gone.” – Chrome

Head over to Chrome Industries and check out the images and videos from the Japan launch. Looked like it was a blast.

I rode and skated with this little guy for a solid week! Super impressed on its performance to pump jams and clip onto my bag, belt loop, or whatever else you find to clip to.

I got this in, opened the box, and it connected to my phone seamlessly with several hours of charge in it already. I immediately jumped on my bike and rode through medium level traffic to the store. This sucker jammed!! I kept the tunes pumping through the store, needed to make a phone call, held the “call” button, said the name of who I wanted to call (iPhone), it connected and called away. The clarity of the phone call was solid, although I don’t plan on using it for an extension of my phone for phone calls… it did its job well.

Go to JBL Audio and check out other sweet details on the JBL Clip. For $50 you can’t beat it!

The more I shoot film the more I fall in love. Shooting with the Vivitar PS:30 is by far the most fun at this point in my film photo taking exploration education. It’s light and easy to use once you understand its limitations. I guess that’s where “knowing” your camera does the trick.

Go to our FOLLY x FILM site to check out all that made the cut on this roll. I hope you dig!

Photo by someone rad… not me

“Argonaut collaborated with Garrett Kautz of Strawfoot Handmade to make a simple, durable, elegant tool pouch. Made of domestically produced wax cotton, leather strap, and nickel plated buckle, these tool rolls are designed to carry all you need to fix your bike on the road. This tool roll can be carried in your jersey pocket or strapped to the rails of your saddle, it will keep a spare tube, multitool, C02, and some cash or cards dry and secure.” – Argonaut Cycles

This combo is pretty great! Go to Argonaut’s web shop and pick’em up while they last. I believe there are only 50’ish made. Jah blessed!

Ruckus Composites is a Portland Oregon based Carbon Fiber repair business, repairing thousands of bikes a year for customers, bike shops and frame manufacturers. Every so often a bike never gets picked up, and ends up in the dead pile. For several years we have been wondering what to do with these lost souls, this year we cracked the code. Working with local and national non profit organizations as well as grass roots cycling teams, Ruckus will

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For when the hardcore get hardercorer!

“Limited Edition Expandable Cargo Packs with COBRA buckle closure

Mission Workshop cargo packs feature a water-resistant main compartment which can be used in either “roll-top” mode, or in the traditional “flap-down” configuration. These expandable backpacks have the ability to quickly double in size, allowing extra cargo capacity when needed. This edition includes a removable AustriAlpin COBRA™ buckle closure made with a MultiCam Black 330D Cordura.

Additional features include multiple water-resistant compartments, urethane coated zippers, waterproof materials, and a carbon fiber reinforced internal frame suspension system. Front zippered pocket fits most 15in computers or any tablet. Shoulder straps are equipped with two Arkiv rails for attachment of additional accessories.

Made in the USA with a lifetime warranty.”

Go to Mission Workshop and check out these sweet bags. They look super solid!

It’s amazing how much you can learn in a couple rolls of film on a new camera. Really about photography in general whether it be film or digital (not iPhone). And as always… Chris Rost is down to ride, shoot, and be patient with me as I learn new skills.

On my first roll with the Canon ELAN 7E I used a super slow shutter speed. I didn’t grasp how light worked with a slow shutter speed yet. So… this roll I used a super fast shutter speed (1/3000) even though my meter said they would be -2 stops. My thought was… “I’ll just edit them to enhance exposure”… WRONG. Little did I know that that’s not how it works.

Although I’m super amped on a few of these (way more than last roll) I learned so many great lessons for the next round. Slow the shutter, maybe change from a 400 ISO to something more specific to the environment I want to shoot, how photos will turn out with -2 stops, and I’m sure a lot more that I can’t think of right now.

With all that said… I originally started a Tumblr page to reflect on my (Matt/Personal) learning of film photography but it turns out that everything I’m shooting is jam packed with the Ride x Create vibe! So, instead of filling our site with every shot… I decided to start FOLLY x FILM, fill that with all shots I dig, and share only a select few with you here.

I hope you’ll check out FOLLY x FILM as I continue to grow in my photography skills. I can promise that I will get better with time. My hope is that the images will encourage you to learn something new, accept your suckness at first, push through your doubts, and dominate!

Stay consistent x progressive

RIDE x CREATE

Shot with iPhone 5 using VSCO to edit (M6, Sharpen, Saturations, Exposure)

Shot with Canon ELAN 7E no edit (1/3000 , 4.0, ISO 400)

Round two getting film shots with the Canon ELAN. Although these two shots (top Chris Rost, bottom me by Chris Rost) are not film photos, it shows you the idea of what I wanted to capture yesterday. Can’t wait to see how the shots turn out (insert giddy school girl noise here).

RIDE x CREATE

5th Training Camp. Mallorca. from Angus sung on Vimeo.

“The 5th Floor London made thier annual escape to Mallorca in search of steep climbs, long decents and warmer weather.”

I view a lot of content. Some is better than others, but this… this nails it. This video took me away from my office for 6 minutes and made me smile. Very motivating to get away and explore new places to ride.

Dallas City Mural Created by Kyle Steed from Doug Klembara on Vimeo.

When I visit Kyle in Texas we always joke about how everything is “Texas Sized”… “that’s a Texas sized burger/truck/traffic/beer…” and the list goes on. In order to keep Texas “Texas Sized” he had no other choice than to paint this BIG ASS Texas Sized mural for the city of Dallas.

Here’s some info about it/him:

“Kyle Steed, a local dallas multi-disciplinary artis, has just completed his biggest work to date. Along wthe new Trinity Strand Mural, set back off Manufacturing and Farrington, stands the 16 ft. tall by 92 ft. (Editors Note: TEXAS SIZED) long mural. The mural is a play on words of the famous quote by John F. Kennedy, “Ask not what your CITY can do for you, but what you can do for your CITY.”

The Dallas CITY Mural explores the line we walk between individual consumers and community creators. It’s about building something bigger than ourselves.

Like the Trinity Strand Trail, this new mural seeks to help bring new life to the Design District and the city of Dallas at large. The large hand-drawn letters are a stark contrast to the cold commercial buildings and affluent boutiques that line the streets. But that’s the focus in all of Kyle’s work; to embrace the imperfections and bring a bit of whimsy to all his hand touches.

Artist Kyle Steed, “I was humbled at the opportunity to make a statement to my city on such a large scale. It needed to be relevant not only to Texas, but Dallas in particular. So whenever I sat down to sketch out some concepts, I played with the quote by JFK and changed ‘country’ to ‘city’ – it fit perfectly. My hope is that it will inspire people to think about ways they can do something to help make Dallas a better place to live, not just a simple consumer.”

Yup… radness acquired. If you are super amped on this and would like to get in touch with good ol’ SteedZ… feel free to contact him with questions (aka interview purposes) or to ask about working in your city.

RIDE x CREATE