Written by: FOLLY

Kyle Steed Creates for His City

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

The Struggle of Learning

MotobecaneMirror SurlyKyle and I push ourselves to ride more, create more, learn more, and I’ve found myself wanting to unlock the beauty of film photography; to creatively capture the beauty of riding, nature, people, and the story that surrounds them. As I am finding at the age of 31, there is quality with analog that you can not find digitally (i.e. vinyl records, film photography). Can you take amazing shots or listen to rad jams digitally… absolutely, but it won’t have the soul of film or vinyl.

With that said… I’ve been using a Vivitar PS:30 for about a month and its opened my eyes to film. It’s a simple point and shoot that doesn’t take much thought other than simple depth to field and lighting. 

Kyle has been in the photography game much longer than myself. Because of this he has fun toys for me to play with and learn as I go down this film road. I was talking with him 3 weeks ago about the Vivitar and that I loved the feel of film vs. digital. He pops in with “I’ve got a Canon ELAN 7E if you want to use it?”… [immediate response] Um… YES! He ships, I open, pop in film, go shoot… in that order. WELL actually, I read instructions for the better part of 3 hours, waited till the next day, and blew through a roll of film shooting randomness.

With each shot I took note of the shutter speed and aperture. I shot indoors and outdoors with low end Kodak 400 UltraMax (not getting good film until I get a handle on what I’m doing). I learned the importance of shutter speed and although the exposure may be spot on… if you have a slower shutter speed, shooting by hand, and the object is moving… things are about to get blurry. This is where the right film comes into play. The appropriate film will allow for the proper exposure at a faster shutter speed keeping a nice crisp image BAM!

Onto the point. I thought I was capturing some amazing goodness this first round of using the Canon ELAN 7E. Out of the 24 shots, I nabbed 5 that are ok. The two photos above are the only ride related images. They both are “good” because the outcome was exactly what I was going for. The second photo is a bit over exposed (on purpose). I took the proper exposure and increased it by +1 to see how overexposed it would make it. I kind of dig it.

When I got these photos developed I was frustrated. I spent a good bit of time researching, taking notes, and taking my time with each photo taken. 19 of the 24 turned out horrible. I was frustrated. My initial thought “this is tough, time consuming, and costly”. I wanted to throw in the towel and just work with point and shoot film cameras and the iphone I’ve been using for many moons. What I did instead was take a step back, evaluate the big picture, and grip reality. This first round wasn’t going to be good. It shouldn’t have been… it’s my first roll of film on a legit camera. To be honest, I’m suprised any of them turned out… for that I should be overly ecstatic!!

Moral of the story, don’t be afraid to fail. If you want to be good at something accept that you’re going to suck at first. Stay consistent and progressive; educate yourself and all will work out just fine.

RIDE x CREATE

Leader Bikes x Vans Collab

LEADER BIKES + VANS 2014 S/S COLLABORATION COLLECTION – “A Day in L.A.” from BROTURES on Vimeo.

LMAO!!! This is so effin rad!! I’m giggling as I type. LEADER AND VANS!?!?!?! NAILING IT!! Two very rad companies doing epic things together. I can’t wait to check this out in depth.

Great job guys! AND! I love how Matt Lingo snuck in there.

Stanridge Speed // Part 1 / Evan Murphy

Stanridge Speed Bicycles Part #1 – Evan Murphy from DONTDO on Vimeo.

Adam know’s how to pick’em. Great perspective from Evan Murphy! I get pumped each year when Stanridge releases the team’s custom track build with new artist artwork all over it. There are so many rad elements to the combination! Can’t wait to catch Part 2.

Ride x Create

NoLifeLikeThisLife // Adventure Cam Preorder

NLLTLAdventureCamWe’re making analog photography fun again!!” – NLLTL

I love this! If you’ve never shot film before, now’s your chance to do so and support the rad people over at NLLTL.

Go to NoLifeLikeThisLife and check out more goodness with this beautiful analog film project.