Monthly Archives: March 2016

Matt Blease is a man after my own heart. LOVE his illustrations. REALLY love this collaboration.

“DEAL WITH IT. A collaborative three pack with Matt Blease is our first deck series of 2016. To celebrate the launch, Matt will be at our London pop up store on Saturday 12th March to create a live large scale collection of illustrations in the store. It’s kinda like the closing party for W1. The three graphics are Manufactured in the USA by Schmitt Stix. £40 each inc grip and hype DEAL WITH IT pin badge.”

Go to Flatspot to check out more on this goodness!!

OFFICIAL Park Ragers from OFFICIAL on Vimeo.

Sincerely love this. Perfect stoke builder for this season of riding and camping.

“This past spring Official was honored to participate in one of John Cardiel’s long time aspirations of riding bikes from our homes in Sacramento, CA to Yosemite National Forest (around 180 miles in 3 days). The bike tour was inspired by John’s childhood trips to Yosemite with his father and his ever inspirational need to challenge and push himself. Official Park Ragers is a fun play on the original Yosemite Rangers, birthed completely by John and as a way to commemorate the epic three days of riding and camping with our bros and also to poke a little fun at the time honored rangers. This collection celebrates everything that is classic, perseverant and awesome about John Cardiel and we couldn’t be prouder to have gone on a small piece of the journey with him.”

DyoungV and DZR from DZR on Vimeo.

Pretty sweet flat pedal sneakers from DZR. The Shift’s look right up my alley for my summer time kicks.

NEW SHIFT FLAT PEDAL LINE

“The Shift line of footwear is a natural extension from DZR’s existing offerings of the original clipless urban bike sneakers. The design is rooted in urban street style, yet still maintains all performance elements that are non-negotiable for the urban dweller. The Shift has been co-designed among three world-renowned artists, Burrito Breath, Wakako and D Young. Each artist has designed the interior of the shoes in order to compliment the exterior design of the new Shift silhouette.

Design features include a stiffened midsole for power transfer while pedaling, a counter-griped gum rubber outsole that is durable and provides optimum grip on a variety of surfaces, as well as a strategically placed directional tread. The toe portion of the sole is able to grip the ground and the mid foot is lowered for the best pedal grip, while the heal-tread sheds dirt and optimizes traction. The well thought aspects of the outsole have been designed for the balance of stiffness and all day comfort while being wrapped in a sleek urban profile.

Additional features include custom chain link eyelet and hand stitch detail on heal cup, 12oz canvas, reflective heal badge, ventilation ports and a low profile design that fits seamlessly into toe straps.”

I use to think shooting film required a focal hit to miss ratio. This always made me nervous to shoot important things (paying gigs, personally interesting people/places/things) since I really wanted my shots to nail it. I had the right composition, light, vibe, subject, etc. but always found myself in a position of missing shots due to focus issues. If I shot digital I would nail the photograph every time; so why should this be any different with shooting film?

After exploring several different styles of film cameras I’ve come to the conclusion that in some cases, what I’m shooting with (camera/lens/film) will affect the quality of the photograph that I’m trying to achieve. Now… I know this may seem very obvious but I love finding the underdog in cameras to present great shots without having to invest in high dollar equipment, I mean… shooting film is already expensive enough as it is.

These were all shot with my Yashica FX-3 Super and Carl Zeiss Planar 50mm f/1.4 lens with Kodak’s Tri-X 400. Absolutely amazing lens! Not so great camera body. Killer film! The camera body doesn’t really let me shoot any faster than f/4 if I want to actually hit the right focus. Although the focus hit on these shots pretty solid, I’m going to switch over to my reciently revived Canon ELAN using the same lens utilizing manual focus as well as the Canon 50mm f/1.8 STM lens that’s really killer.

Lets talk about good ol’ Canon for a minute. The Canon ELAN is so underutilized in the film shooting community. I mean, it’s large and plastic, but light weight and super effective. You can easily pick one up for $100, throw a solid lens on it and be confident you’ll capture some amazing images.

When I first started shooting film I shot with the ELAN. The first time I took it on a ride (like I said, it’s surprisingly light) I was hit by a car and thus the Canon was no more… so I thought. Really the crappy lens that was on it was no more. The body survived the impact while I went through a cars window; so although the camera body is plastic, it can take a punch.

OK… now lets talk about the best kept secret in Canon’s arsenal of lenses… the 50mm f/1.8 STM. SO. GOOD!!! And can easily be found for about $100. If you can put aside the build quality of both the Canon ELAN and the 50mm f/1.8 STM, and focus on the precision and quality glass you’d be shooting with, then you’ll have a VERY nice film shooting combo you can be confident in. I know I am and super excited to have discovered it.

Thanks for reading my take on some fun topics. Here are some of my favorite photographs from my recently developed roll of Kodak Tri-X 400. Cheers!

Well… like, 98% American. Sometimes you work with what you’ve got; thus encompassing Squid Bikes intention, I believe.

I kinda love how punk rock this is. I first got a glimpse of Squid Bikes about 2 months ago. Then to find out they paired with Gevenalle and a couple other rad homegrown folks to display their “BANANAS” CX build at NAHBS, I was pumped. To level up further, I find out that Matt (owner of Blevins Bicycle Co.) just completed his “All American” garage paint job Squid build; I txt Matt “Photos ASAP” and here we are today.

I was excited to get my hands on this build. To be honest… I’m more impressed than I thought I would be. Light, strong, solid; it just felt good. Even outside the lore of creating your own paint job for a truly aesthetically custom build, Squid Bikes can rip, I’m assuming from my first impression. Only time will tell after this summer and hearing about Matt’s experience. I’m predicting the results will be outstanding.

Follow along on @BlevinsBicycleCo and/or @SquidBikes Instagram to catch Matt’s riding review in the coming days.

RIDE x CREATE

DOSNOVENTA RUNS WEST COAST from Dosnoventa on Vimeo.

Always building the stoke. Always in love with videos from DSNV. Time to ride!

RIDE  x CREATE

I’ve done no research but I can guess that I’m not the first person to digitally enhance a film captured image. This isn’t something I particularly enjoy doing but when a camera mishap takes place and the beautiful color rendition of VSCO enhances my visual experience of an image that brings a smile to my face it’s hard to justify not taking the next step.

I shot this on a Rollei 35 S. I’ve never had a result like this with the Rollei; even at very low shutter speeds, which in my mind, makes this photograph special and should be viewed as such.

The ghosts of cyclings past presented themselves. We high-fived. I smiled.

RIDE x CREATE

IT’S ALMOST SPRING!!!

Oh man… I can’t wait! Lately I’ve been a weekend warrior at best due to many reasons; but one of those reason will soon be eliminated. That being; dark, cold, wet winter. In 3 weeks Spring will officially be sprung. The days will get longer and the weather a bit warmer. I’m looking forward to getting back out there and enjoying it throughout the busy week as well as the relaxing weekends.

RIDE x CREATE