And my favorite shot of Giuseppi, pulling a giant weed!

Everywhere a cane

We ran into a sheep herder in the town of Airola

Giuseppe demonstrated his “candid” photography techniques to me, using Jenny as a model. He is a former wedding photographer, imagine that.

Naples? Rome? Florence? No, a little town called Airola on the way to Benevento. Spectacular. Not really on the tourist map.

Finally a couple random night shots of commuters in Sorrento

I decided to try to ride my bike though. Leaving the garage, I had to do the old, “press the garage door button, RUN out, and lift each foot over the imaginary line, the child safety sensor, without banging your head”. I let out a laugh when I actually made it. It was not a pretty hobble but the fact that I beat the garage door seemed like a good sign. About a block from home I could really feel the hamstring.

I wondered if this was a good idea after a 5-year-old girl passed me on her training wheels. I tried to hold onto her draft, but she hammered up the block and dropped me. I shook my fist into the air and yelled obscenities at her.

But good news to my wedding clients, I’m totally mobile and this won’t effect your wedding photography!

Anyway, I am ordering some new prints for the studio and today I found myself browsing through my photos from Italy. There are so many I haven’t even looked at yet. To be honest it’s a little tough looking through them… I wasn’t planning on broadcasting this on my blog but people keep asking me about my wedding coming up and you should see how embarrassed they look when I tell them it’s off.

Our last day at Castillo de Modanella there was a beautiful sunset. Here are a couple sunset shots. There’s no place like Italy. It’s the most genuine place in the world. I really don’t know how to describe it in words, so in the next couple weeks, I’m going to just try to describe it through photos, if that’s OK with you.

Sunset at Castillo de Modanella, Siena, Italy…

“Sii te stessa.
Soprattutto, non fingere affetto.
Né essere cinico di amore;
nel volto di tutti i aridità e disillusione
è come perenne come l’erba.”… Max Ehrmann 1855

I love that it’s also an iPod, that’s great. I also love the big screen. But for a guy who hates talking on the phone, aside from business, I MUCH prefer to send a quick text when it’s convenient. The typing on the iPhone is clumbsy and it always tries to correct my spelling and does a horrible job of that, too.

Oh and don’t even get me started about battery life. And I think it’s boring from a design standpoint, too. Oh and the voicemail feature is awesome… but I bet anything the Blackberry can copy that feature no problem.

So as soon as it comes out, I’m getting rid of my iPhone. I can’t wait! Check out the new Blackberry BOLD:

You can see that the design is iPhone inspired, but they upped it a notch, it’s got curves! It’s like a sports car. And it has a black leather back to it that looks so chic!

Finally I can type again. Does this make me like the fat guy in all the apple commercials?

The BBB is in UK undergoing beta testing. I think it’s great that they are doing that and I’ll wait patiently. It will be able to store all my music from iTunes, too so I won’t have to dig up my old iPod, either. And it has a much more advanced voice GPS system than the iPhone.

Well now I have probably offended all of my friends. I walk alone.

But as I have mentioned throughout the past 6 months, I have been working on a new experiment in lateral thinking, and next Thursday I’m presenting my idea to some Corporate Folks from Seattle. So I have been very busy and it’s an exciting chapter in my life… but I still can’t tell the world about it.

But here’s a hint. I hope you will see more of this in the near future, and not just on my blog:

I know, how do I expect you to be excited about this when I can’t even talk about it. It’s getting hard to keep it on the D-LOW!

Anyway, after next Thursday I may be better about blogging more often!

Well then it dawned upon me that well being that I am not racing yet it would be silly to drop the $15K or whatever it is to buy a bike like that. So then I had this great idea. I had this road bike that I used to race in High School. It was a really great Schwinn Paramount. In fact Lance Armstrong refers to a Paramount that he also used to race in High School… but anyway, I traded the bike to a friend for a stereo once. Bad decision. I missed the bike, the frame was superb. Heavy by today’s standards but stiff and responsive. I had to practically beg for it back but I got it back.

I had it stripped down to the frame and fork. It had been scratched up pretty bad over the years and with a few crashes, getting hit by cars, etc. So I had it powdercoated black. My goal is to bring it back to life and make a heavier replica of the De Rosa that I am so much in love with. I consider it my “training bike”. Someday I’ll get a DeRosa when it’s more “Financially Convenient”.

So anyway I had it painted new wheels, cleaned and tightened up, and it’s getting close. I plan on getting a carbon fiber fork so that I can get a nicer stem and handlebars. I also jst realized that I need black bar tape, a black seatpost, and a new crankset. THEN it will be “close enough”.

Coming right along… my old Paramount! Thanks again, Salvagetti for all the help. I recommend them to everyone who needs work done on their bike. Everyone is really nice, except for one guy but he keeps to himself and just works on bikes. haha

OK so it’s a long shot, but it rides really nice. It feels funny to have a freewheel again. One of these days I plan on riding from Denver to my dad’s place in Monument, maybe come back the next day. It’s about 50 miles each way.

While I’m at it, I wanted to talk a little about personal training. OK so last year I lost 30 lbs. This year has proven to be awesome because of it. I look and feel younger, I can bag 14ers with much less effort. My running has improved from 11 minute miles to 7 minute miles. My trail runs are strong, my knees feel great, I have more energy and am more productive…. BUT

BUT… I have finally hit a plateau. I can’t run up Mt. Sanitas in less than 22 minutes. Which is still GREAT, because my previous best, even when I was training for the Pike’s Peak Marathon (before I got fat the first time) I could only do it in 26 minutes. But I REALLY want to do it in sub-20 minutes. Also my body fat% is 13% and like so many people, I dream of having it under 10%. But even though I am doing everything “right”, I just can’t seem to break through.

So I met with Adam from TesseraFitness…

Adam’s like one of these guys you see on the cover of Men’s Health. Tall ripped guy. Real nice, too. He sat down with me and asked me all sorts of questions about my exercise routine and diet. So he changed up my routine. Now when I run, I am running for intervals, 20 seconds HARD, then 1 minute slow… repeat. He added leg lifting to my routine to increase power and stability, which I didn’t want to hear, but I know he’s right.

He then put together a nice new eating schedule for me. I’ll be drinking fewer protein shakes and more lean meats and vegetables, etc… but timing is really important. Like when to eat what, according to when you work out, etc. It’s really a science.

Finally he tells me I should TRY to give up all alcoholic beverages.. just for a month to see if I notice a difference. I’m not a heavy drinker, but I love having drinks, especially on splurge day. Oh by the way he didn’t seem that my splurge day is all that bad of a thing to do. But anyway I never give up anything for Lent. I’m not Catholic. But my dad and sisters all do so this year all give up alcohol. Why not. We’ll see how that works. Until then… BOTTOMS UP!

So I am really excited. I already set a new Personal Record on Mt. Sanitas since changing my routine.

If you are interested in personal training, or even just some advice, I recommend you give them a call, even if you are not in CO, I am sure he could put together a nutrition plan for you. It wasn’t even all that expensive. If you stick to his plan you’ll see incredible results. I feel pretty sure about it for myself. www.tesseraperformance.com - go there, call them!

I ran into Adam last night at the Denver Broncos Cheerleader Swimsuit Calendar Release Party at Invesco Field. Thanks Rob for the VIP Pass. Rob is the official photographer for the cheerleaders and also a good friend. Oh and speaking of Adam from Tessera fit, click on rob’s link and his abs are featured right there on Rob’s splash page.

Finally, check out these awesome results from just 2 weeks since utilizing Adam’s new work out and nutrition plan!

BEFORE:

AFTER!!!

OK that’s my plug for Tessera Fitness. But I wouldn’t say anything if I weren’t excited about them.

Have a great weekend, I’m off to shoot an awesome wedding at Pastures of Plenty!

That’s my random post for the week.

While my racing days are a thing of the past, I am still one who loves to ride so I was really excited about hanging out with these two.

This is a special SOTC wedding. Straight Out of The Camera. I pride myself in being able to shoot a whole wedding without having to do any photoshopping. Other than picking a few BW’s, these are all straight out of the camera.

Meet Josie and Matt: They are tall.

They hired me to photograph their rehearsal dinner, too. I don’t normally photograph the actual rehearsal, but I was happy to be there to see everyone practicing.

Shortly after, we went to Josie’s aunt’s home, a BEAUTIFUL mountain home! There were Margaritas…

Babies (Don’t worry, there’s a baby)

Cornbread (mmmmm…)

Colorado BBQ

I even had some serious competition.

I LOVE Matt and Josie’s dog! A BEAUTIFUL Weimariener. I have never been able to spell that right! But they look GREAT in photos.

Getting Ready. This room had beautiful light… and an awesome view of the Mt. Evans summit from the window!

More of the dog. Awwww (there are more still to come!)

This is Josie’s mom, and she is one of the nicest women ever in the world.

Bridesmaid series. She’s trying to ignore that creepy guy with the camera.

Josie’s father, and my main contact person for this wedding. A really nice guy and I learned that we both graduated from UNC.

Old bikes with ribbons. My kind of wedding!

And the guests brought their tents and camped out, right outside the reception area. Again… MY KIND OF WEDDING! They invited me to bring my tent. If I didn’t have another wedding the next day, I totally would have taken them up on that. Looked like so much fun!

Everyone knows I love being a fly on the wall, getting awesome guest shots as they mingle.

This is the second wedding in two years that the bridesmaides arrived in a mint condition collector’s pick-up. I love it.

This is the FIRST time I’ve ever seen the bride roll in on a Rickshaw!

Someone’s genuinely happy.

The dog had never seen Josie so dolled up and frankly, he was NOT happy about this. It was so funny, he started barking at Josie like, “What are you doing with all that white stuff!!”.

Looks fun, huh? Fun for Josie!

But he was happy to do it.

The bridal suite.

Salmon!

Congratulations, Josie and Matt! Thanks again for having me out to your beautiful wedding!!!

Meet the couple!

Kim:

Here’s a nice series of Jon doing “The Robot”:

They had a cocktail hour before the ceremony, I love when couples do that for their guests. It gives me some time to get some fun candid shots of the friends and family who have traveled so far to be there. Here are some random guest shots that I liked:

It’s time for a wedding. Jon is pumped.

What a backdrop for a wedding huh?

He THINKS he got the good shot.

There was a really special moment when Kim gave Jon a special wedding gift. I tried to stay un-noticed but I knew this would be a memory they’d want to keep. So I stood off in the distance and fired off a few rounds.

Happy couple!

I loved the dramatic clouds but it made me a little nervous about my Challenger and Kit Carson trip. Lightning will end the fun on the summit of a 14er quickly!

The reception was a blast, all sorts of games, cocktails, mingling, a perfect party.

Can you imagine being the only girl with FIVE brothers?

More clouds. I love photographing clouds and mountains!

Everyone gave great toasts, but I especially loved this one by the maid of honor. She got everyone all choked up.

Meanwhile outside, some volunteer athletes from the school that Kim teaches at, volunteered to keep the little shavers entertained. Looked like fun.

“I love this song. It makes me want to snap my fingers and sway back and forth…”

“Hey, I think that photographer is taking my pictures!”

“Yep he IS!”

(I have that keen effect on ALL the gals)

I’ve been talking to this music producer from the UK, who composed a disk called Lux that can be found on the bed side tables of all of the St. Regis Resorts. I picked up mine a while ago when I stayed at the St. Regis Dana Point. I emailed the guy (his name is Steve Miller) and he writes me back! We exchanged a few emails and he’s one of those guys that just offers instant inspiration to me. A really passionate guy who followed his talents and made a career out of doing what he loves. His music is played at exotic resorts and clubs in many oceanside vacation spots, mostly in a really cool looking place that I WILL visit soon called Ibiza.

He agreed to make a loop for my web site, which he actually made a policy never to do that, so I feel totally honored. His web site if you are interested in checking it out is: http://subatomicuk.com

By the way, when I travel, I tune into Lux on my iPod and put it on loop, I sleep so well on airplanes and the music makes my travels even better.

Now don’t go bothering him for free music, that’s not the point of this post, check it out and buy a disk, can also be found on iTunes, heres one of my favorite tracks which is part of the loop he made for my web site: NSANGU

I decided that I love jazz flute. It’s strange and interesting to me. It always seemed like such a silly instrument but sometimes people jam on the flute and I love it. And even more, I LOVE this scene in Anchorman when Ron Burgandy fulfills a dream of randomly getting asked to perform jazz flute conveniently in front of his hot date and of course totally wow’s the crowd. AQUALUNG! Enjoy!

But I got word that one of my clients, a PGA golfer had an even bigger weekend himself. I haven’t met Chez personally but his wife, Amanda is awesome. Really down to earth. I can’t wait to photograph their wedding at the Royal Palms Resort in Scottsdale, AZ!

Reavie nabs first win at the Canadian Open

What an amazing milestone, I loved reading the articles, it’s fun to imagine how that must have felt, competing in one of the most competitive sports in the world.

Congrats Chez, see you in March.

Terence will already be at the alpine lake, Willow Lake. After backing up my wedding photos, I’ll be dropping off my heavy photo equipment with a friend in BV and head straight to the trailhead. I’ll probably get there around midnight or 1. Then at 4 or 5 AM I’ll hike out to Willow lake, my goal is to get there by noon. The next day, Terence and I will attempt Challenger and Kit Carson, hoping for good weather! And back the next day.

I always enjoy getting email from Terence (he usually starts by calling me “Dood” with a first paragraph, applying just a touch of high school humor/lingo, then proceeds to simply cut and paste text from an online reference he found, trying to fool me that he wrote it all out himself):

Hey Dood. I’m psyched for our trip.

Here’s a down and dirty description of our objective:
Kit Carson Mountain is a large, complex massif with two summits above 14,000 feet and another reaching 13,980 feet. The name Kit Carson Peak applies to just the highest, 14,165-foot summit. Challenger Point is the 14,081-foot west summit of Kit Carson Mountain. Serious cliffs guard all sides of Kit Carson’s summit. Kit Carson’s easiest routes sneak through the cliffs on surprise ledges.

Our game plan: West Ridge, Class 3 From Willow Lake: 4.2 miles, 3,600 feet From Willow Creek Trail head: 11.6 miles, 6,300 feet.

This unique tour also allows you to climb Challenger Point. Hike around the north side of Willow Lake and proceed onto the benches above the waterfall at the east end of the lake. Climb south for 1.0 mile up a long, steep slope to Challenger Point. This slope steepens near its top and involves some Class 2+ scrambling. From the summit of Challenger Point, you are only 400 yards from Kit Carson’s summit, but the fun has just begun.

Descend east from Challenger Point to the 13,780-foot Challenger Point-Kit Carson Peak Saddle. From the saddle, do an ascending traverse south on a large ledge called “Kit Carson Avenue.” Continue on the ledge, go around a corner and cross a tiny, 13,940-foot saddle between the top of the Prow (Kit Carson’s south ridge) and Kit Carson’s upper cliffs.

Do a descending traverse east on the continuing Kit Carson Avenue ledge (Class 2+). This large, remarkable ledge system is the key to this route. Avoid any temptation to leave Kit Carson Avenue too soon and head for the summit. Follow the ledge down until you are east of the summit, then scramble west up a Class 3 gully to the summit.

High-country rock rapidly becomes more difficult as it becomes wet, and a route becomes a different climb entirely when snow-covered. Therefore, the ledge system increases with difficulty if it is wet or snow-covered. - T. Bone

Anyway, I’m excited for this trip. For those who don’t know, Terence and I go on these trips every year. Last year it was Shavano and Tabeguache with an interesting descent down the Tabeguache face that is usually not recommended, then instead of taking the trail back down, Terence wanted to do like “Bear Grylls” from Man vs. Wild and bushwhack along the creek side. Which did actually make for a fun adventure. To Terence’s credit, he is an excellent person to enter the wilderness with. I’d never go on trips like this with just anyone. Off I go!

Here’s a shot I took of Terence at the summit of Mt. Snowmass, ridgeline connect to Capitol Peak, two years ago. Can you find him?

I’ll be back in the office Wednesday.

First, meet the newly married couple!

There’s that creepy guy with the camera

Everyone was getting all primped and pimped!

A little Crown to kill any butterflies.

One of the bride’s maids drank too much and had to run back to the restroom.

Just kidding, she spotted her husband! Sweet!!!

Kyra looked fantastic!

I expecially love this shot!

The turtles were sunbathing in the pond. Look like red-eared sliders. That’s me being a turtle expert, but really I have no idea what I am talking about. But I did have a pet turtle as a kid. It’s name: what else, but “Shelly”!

Well hello ladies. Many of these girls also went to my High School, Air Academy High, which is actually located on the US Air Force Academy. Yes, we all fly jets. Go Kadets! Give em the BEAK!
“Give em the BEAK, Give em the BEAK, Give em the BEAK, WHERE??? IN THE NECK! IN THE NECK! IN THE NECK! THERE!

Now allow me to sing a little diddy for you:
We are here to cheer our team on,
To WIN as you will see.
We’re behind you
We want to you
FIGHT FOR VIC-TOR-Y (Rah Rah Rah!)
Cheers for dear old alma mater
Raise our banners high,
FIGHT FIGHT TRUE
For the silver and blue
we are Air Academy HIGH! YEAH!

Vincent. Sometimes Vinnie, but not on his wedding day. Vincent! He’s a serious baseball player

The boyz! Oh, and excuse me, one Groomswoman!

I love this shot of Vincent.

This couple also got married at this venue. They didn’t have any guests, or a photographer, so I thought I’d shoot a few for them. But they failed to even say Thank You. Just for that, I’ll be sending them an invoice.

I have never seen a cherry tree in Colorado!

I saw the officiant reviewing his notes.

I love photographing guests as we wait for the wedding to start.

This is little Reed. His parents, Steve and Cara are good friends of mine.

Things are about to happen!

I love the series I got of the groom and his guys as we waited for Kyra to come walking down.

Tears of joy, I love it. We Italians are known for getting a little emotional sometimes. We’re also known for being totally rad. So it’s always all good.

I love this shot of the wedding party. What a cool bridge!

A little back light kissed their hair.

And then they kissed!

Still kissing!

Reed, Steve, and Cara. I like this shot of Cara. Steve is a really loud and crude guy and Cara is always telling him things like:
* “Steve, talk softer!”
* “Steve, stop showing off for your friends”
* “Steve, that is NOT NICE.” (then Steve proceeds to laugh)

Getting announced…

This guy was awesome.

What do you serve at a wedding when the groom is Italian? What else but LASAGNA! Mmmm!

I’m not like a lot of wedding photographers. If I see a guest acting crazy. I shoot. I would love to know what was going on here. I’ll take a guess, “Yeah I’ve been working out. The other day I filled my wheelbarrow with bricks and ran around Wash Park, just like this! That’s right!”

This little shaver really loved the sound of his voice in the hollow hand rail.

Don’t worry, there’s a baby.

He’s still talking into the hand rail. Hours of entertainment.

“What’s that ya got there… Cake???”

I love this shot of the place!

Hey thanks again Kyra and Vincent, that was such a great great time! I loved every second of it and you were so awesome to work with! CONGRATULATIONS!!!

The verdict on Mt. Yale: a perfect 14′er in the Collegiate Range. This was a really great day trip. We started not too crazy early, 6:00 AM. We actually got up at 3:30 AM but by the time we ate and drove from Lenny’s cabin to the trail head, 2 hours had gone by.

The hike was really nice. A little steep in parts, but Lenny and I busted up the mountain, passing several people on the Ascent. We both felt to be in great shape. Lenny and I both ride our bikes instead of driving cars and they say that you use the same muscles in your legs riding and hiking upward. This was also my first 14er since losing that 25 lbs of fat so I could totally tell a difference!

At the summit ridge, there were a few Class II+ moves as we decided to leave the trail and go straight over the top. Nothing death-defying, but enough to give us a good sense of adventure. You can stay on the right or left of the ridge for an easier route to the summit.

Here are the photos!

This is Lenny, who is a great friend of mine from College. We are also business partners, as he’s the one responsible for building www.ganderproofs.com. I admire his commitment to the minimalist lifestyle that he and his family live each day. Lenny has not driven to work in over 7 weeks, prefers to ride for the fun and exercise like myself. He’s huge into gardening and you should see his backyard, they hardly ever have to go grocery shopping for food, it’s really amazing. They even have chickens for pets/eggs, which live happily in their huge backyard. Talk about living within your means! The 4 chickens cost them $2.00 each and they will be popping 8 eggs each day. So when our economy takes the toll and gas prices are freaking everyone out, Lenny and his family will be enjoying a nice quiche, or maybe some deviled eggs, perhaps a fluffy omelette, yada yada yada.

At the summit, he was striking a few poses for the camera. Somebody get him on America’s Top Model! I love the extra grainy sepia!!!

I love being so high, you can totally feel the thin air at 14,000 feet. I love being right there in the clouds. That’s about 2.5 miles above sea level! Awesome!

Next week is the biggie: I’m meeting Terence at the base of Challenger Point and Kit Carson Peak for my second attempt at those. Get ready for an AWESOME post!!!! Ta-Ta For Now!!!

Anyway, sometimes I get to photograph weddings of friends! Well, Dan is my friend from college. I often get inquiries from friends and family so I put together my famous “Friends and Family” discount. Dan just barely qualified. Luckily Angie is super sweet and so I reconsidered.

Seriously this was a lot of fun. Angie is from this teeny tiny little town in Northern Idaho called Lewiston. It’s a charming little town, which features a river and they look at you funny when you order dry toast and an egg-white omelet. And when I went to the country store I asked for a protein bar, and they had NO idea what I was talking about! It was sort of funny!

The trip was quick. I got into Lewiston just in time to shoot the rehearsal dinner, and I worked a good 14.5 hours on the day of the wedding and then drove straight from the reception to the airport in Spokane, WA. I picked the 5:50 AM flight though because I wanted to be home for SPLURGE DAY!!! The splurgin’ looked great in ID, but I have been traveling a lot lately and it seems like forever since I have been to some of my fav places in CO. So it was the longest short trip ever!

I loved shooting this wedding because Angie is totally laid back, and I love her personality. She reminds me of my little sister, Katherine. Dan was a fraternity brother of mine (Sigma Chi) from college, so I felt really comfortable with him and had fun goofing around with him and the other guys from my fraternity who came. On top of that, I think I counted 7, that’s right SEVEN couples at the wedding, who I photographed, so that was REALLY cool!

Are you ready for some photos? I sure am!

Getting ready at the salon…

Someone is excited!

Dress details

There’s that creepy guy with the camera again!

Dan and Angie had a private moment before the wedding. Private, except for the creepy photographer, spying on them!

My favorite shot of Angie

Dan requested a special photo with no double chin. He looks quite dapper.

The girls!

Excuse me ma’am, you are right in my picture! (Lucky she’s so cute or I would have called security!)

Don’t worry, there’s a toddler.

Dan and his guys had to chill out in the church nursery for some reason. I think he requested it. Dan is a cat owner and he loves stuffed animals. See?

Then he found some macaroni salad. Don’t spoil your appetite for the buffet, Dan! I hear it’s all-you-can eat!

Dan’s brother was also enjoying the nursery.

Wedding time! Angie has gone to this church since she was a little girl!

…then they do a little smoochy schmoo…

It’s official!

Someone’s excited again!

These are out of order. Instead of correcting it, I instead choose to type about it and point out my flaw.

The sun was out full force which made things totally hard, but I found a little nook with this awesome, silky fresh light! Love this shot!

Check out the getaway car.

Angie was running because her cell phone in her purse was ringing, TRIPPED, and fell backwards onto the hood of the car and I actually caught this amazing candid moment!

And how about THIS candid moment! So “photojournalistic”! (I LOVE CHEESECAKE!!!)

i love this shot of Vince (who was also in my fraternity) as Dan gave the maid of honor a hug, almost spilling her wine everywhere. Vince is very expressive.

Dan’s brother crossed some sort of line with his bride, I think.

I had to be in just one photo. 11 Sigma Chi fraternity brothers. I photographed most of their weddings, too! For all you photographers getting ready to start your own business. I suggest you join a fraternity.

Hey Congratulations, Dan and Angie, that was a lot of fun!!!!! See you when you get back from your honeymoon! Thanks again for having me!!

I finally had a chance to edit some shots from NY. Thanks again to Squid (check out his WEB SITE) and Kennedy for their help. I never got to meet Squid, I just talked to him on the phone and emailed him. I will be coming back to NY if not just to get some shots of him! And I just ran in to Kennedy at City Bike near Time Square who was super helpful, too.

Now for some photos. I got lucky, as there was a race among the messengers on July 4. They have these races often. It’s a race of more than just speed - there are about 15-20 checkpoints that the messengers must find, before they can head to the finish. At each checkpoint, there’s a person waiting who signs their paper, and off they go again. I was shooting the hot dog comp in the AM so I missed the start, but I made it to the finish.

We’ll start with some bike detail shots

In NYC, you might need more than just a cable lock to protect from thievery!

Sometimes you might see a bike with all these cards in the spokes. They get these from the races they enter. It’s sort of a pride thing, sort of a camaraderie thing. A conversation piece.

Here’s how you lock your bike in NYC.

Let me tell you about the bikes these guys ride. Most of the time they ride fixies, which are often old road or pista (track) frames. They often don’t have brakes. Their gear is fixed (you can’t coast; as long as the rear wheel is moving, your crank is moving). So they stop by adding resistance to their pedal stroke, or they can skid or hop to a stop. A huge part of this project for me is getting great detail shots of the bikes, because they often are an extension of their personal style. I personally own a Gios Pista that’s been decked out with a Campagnolo crank, Mavic Ellipse wheels, cowhorns, and a nice Fi’zi:k saddle. It’s clean, quiet, smooth, simple and fast!

The crumpled up paper that has been signed at each check point.

Everyone knows I love a good puddle shot!

in NYC, maps might be a good thing.

Stretching after the race. The race lasts 1-2 hours! The guy in the front is the winner.

How about some portraits. This is a great American subculture, consisting of a melting pot of old, young, guys, girls, and every race imaginable.

After the race, everyone went to the Rockstar Bar, which is kind of away from the mainstram NYC clubs. It was seedy, gaudy, and totally awesome!

Sorry my commentary was weak on this post, I have 14 hours of wedding to photograph tomorrow, so I am anxious to go to bed!

Have a great weekend!!

I just planned a cool climb up Mt. Yale, another Colorado 14,000 ft peak in the Collegiate range for this coming Fri, which should get my legs ready for my double-banger, Challenger/Kit Carson, the following week! Here’s a nice photo I found on the Internet:

The NYC Messenger photos are coming up next, within 24 hours. Come back.

Adios!

Imagine riding the crowded streets of NYC on a bike with no brakes, one gear, a package in your mess bag, a destination, and a deadline. I plan on capturing the bikes, the city, the scars, tattoos, and even some stuff outside of work. It will be a lot of fun!

I have LOTS of cool shots coming your way!

Stay tuned!

I was so excited to meet them and they are a LOT of fun to work with. Very easy couple to photograph. They have a BEAUTIFUL place right in NYC. Living among the stars, like Jennifer Anniston, but I was really excited to see that famous celebrity fine-art photographer Annie Leibovitz has a place in the same building. How cool is that.

We tried to get some shots that show off a little bit of NYC.

These first two were taken on the roof of their apartment building. It was a really cool place!

Tragically, in one of our more “advanced” poses, Jamie suffered a deep splinter in her finger. But she went on with the shoot with nothing but smiles!

They resisted (like any normal person would!) and we settled for 7 AM, and it was almost perfect!

We had a lot of fun, shooting these in Boulder, CO by the Kayak Park. Jason here has performed the phoenominal achievement of climbing all of Colorado’s 54 14ers, to which I say, “DANNNNG!”. Strong work on that! He climbed many on his own, which can be a little sketchy!

I hate it when my subjects smile for engagement photos. Therefore this one is the best.

Erin and Jason are going to have a really cool wedding in Boulder with this chef who apparently is amazing, and even an artist who will be doing some fine art, just for the entertainment of it! It’s going to be awesome!