I was first introduced to the Sturgis rally back in 1967. Though my dad was not a motorcycle rider he had friends who were. He introduced me to a Jack Pine Gypsy, one of the founders of the Black Hills Motorcycle Classic. I met George, a pipefitter and hill climber on a family vacation in the Black Hills. George had stories of motorcycles, hill climbs and rallies.

I made a couple attempts to get to Sturgis in the 70’s but was not successful. That’s probably a good thing because I don’t think my Suzuki would have been very well accepted. Then in the 80’s I tried again on my Triumph, but didn’t make it. Finally in the mid 90’s I made it as a regular event first on my Superglide shovelhead and then my Road King twin cam– it just took 30 years. Now, my son has carried on the tradition. I’m proud of him. To get to the Sturgis rally this year, he rode all day through rain and cold while his traveling companions trailered their bikes. Kelsey proved that he is not a merely a motorcycle owner, the possessor of garage candy. He’s a rider, a biker.

I’m actually a bit surprised that Kelsey is the first of my children to carry on the motorcycle tradition. I can’t take credit for any influence there, though I’m sure there must be some. He fell in to a group of blue-collar, fun loving friends who ride; guys he grew up with. His girlfriend, Allison also has motorcycle riders in her family; I’m not prepared to say they are bikers, but they are certainly motorcycle owners. (That’s her on the back of his Fat Boy riding in to Sturgis after we made a run to Deadwood and back.) Kelsey is an adventurous soul, a kind-hearted, hard-working, risk-taking, hockey playing biker. Tall and lanky, 6″4″ as you can see how he towers over my 5″11″. He is a smart, sensitive and sensible macho gentle man. Even if he were not my son, I’d be proud to have him riding next to me.

In addition, he rides one heckuva cool bike – one that I just had to practice my camera and photoshop techniques as the picture up top of this blog shows.

His entrance in to the biker lifestyle is another link in the bonding between father and son – a link that sadly was weakened for many years. I feel blessed to have the children I have and the bonds we share, each different, but in this case, it is the bond of a lifestyle.

Do you just breeze through the touristy little shops and say you saw the community where you’ve just visited?  Aw, come on, you know there’s more to even the most tourist-oriented towns than just the stores with gee-gaws and gadgets, and if you take the time to find out, you may find your own little oom-pah-pah band.  I did. On Main Street Red Lodge.

Thanks to local historian and retired librarian Bob, I learned why the brass band was entertaining shoppers at the farmers market on Main Street Red Lodge.

Bob told me that Red Lodge is a hodge podge, a melting pot of nationalities who came to the region to make a fortune at mining.  Italians, Scandinavians, Scottish and Germans settled in the area.

On their own, back before the days of tax-supported humanities and cultural programs were mandated, the folks of Red Lodge, on their own started a Festival of Nations.  Each ethnic group featured their native dress, food and music to bridge the cultures with the other ethnicities.

Now, on Saturday mornings, such as the one in which I was there in September, bands such as the German band are tooting their horns while customers shop the food stands at the farmers market.

Underneath the evergreens, next the big mural of a map of the Red Lodge area I found the German band with their shiny brass instruments.

There among the flowers and the brick, I found a perfect visual sample of what it means to travel on two-wheels on two-lanes with one camera.  It’s something you don’t find in the convenience stores or tourist traps. It’s authentic history alive today.

More of the photos are on my website, mykuhlsphotography.com

Oh, and don’t be surprised, if you’re a biker and some elderly and classy lady pedals up on her little bicycle and parks it in between your motorcycles for protection.

It’s a peaceful friendly little town.

If the weather allows, I’m vacationing when you are home for the season, and vice versa. When you’re on vacation, I’m home.  You see, some of my best trips are before Memorial Day and after Labor Day – those two holidays mark the “official” tourist season.

This year, as in previous years, Yellowstone was calling.  It took two days to get there. Day 1 was to Red Lodge, and Day two was to Cooke City, Montana. Day 3 was the big park.

Cooke City, Montana—the last incorporated city before the northwest entrance to Yellowstone, about 4 miles down the road.  Normally Cooke City is a tourist jump off, but once the tourist season is over, it returns to its normal personality.  The first night there was just after it had rained, and the streets were wet. Bikers were still exiting the park and stopping in town for fuel and to get on more wet weather gear.

They moved on without getting to know a few of the locals. Their loss.  Because if you visit Cooke City after tourist season, you’re likely to meet friendly young folk at the Miners Saloon, or at the coffee shop, or at the Beartooth Café.  

Nights are like any other small town until the full moon glides up over the mountains, and the city’s lights take on a ghostly glow.    I had no idea what that glow was over the mountain until it made it’s full appearance.

I had only my monopod with me; a tripod would have been better.  So I gripped it against the post on a covered porch, took a deep breath and eased the shutter open – then held my breath for 15 to 22 seconds for the camera to soak in all the light needed to record the images you see here.  I like shooting at night with cooperative natural light such as the moon and the city glow.  You’ll find more photos like these over at http://mykuhlsphotography.com and soon, even more from the German band at Red Lodge!

It’s a peaceful friendly little town.

If the weather allows, I’m vacationing when you are home for the season, and vice versa. When you’re on vacation, I’m home. You see, some of my best trips are before Memorial Day and after Labor Day – those two holidays mark the “official” tourist season.

This year, as in previous years, Yellowstone was calling. It took two days to get there. Day 1 was to Red Lodge, and Day two was to Cooke City, Montana. Day 3 was the big park.

Cooke City, Montana—the last incorporated city before the northeast entrance to Yellowstone, about 4 miles down the road. Normally Cooke City is a tourist jump off, but once the tourist season is over, it returns to its normal personality. The first night there was just after it had rained, and the streets were wet. Bikers were still exiting the park and stopping in town for fuel and to get on more wet weather gear.

They moved on without getting to know a few of the locals. Their loss. Because if you visit Cooke City after tourist season, you’re likely to meet friendly young folk at the Miners Saloon, or at the coffee shop, or at the Beartooth Café.

Nights are like any other small town until the full moon glides up over the mountains, and the city’s lights take on a ghostly glow. I had no idea what that glow was over the mountain until it made it’s full appearance.

I had only my monopod with me; a tripod would have been better. So I gripped it against the post on a covered porch, took a deep breath and eased the shutter open – then held my breath for 15 to 22 seconds for the camera to soak in all the light needed to record the images you see here.

I like shooting at night with cooperative natural light such as the moon and the city glow. You’ll find more photos like these over at http://mykuhlsphotography.com and soon, even more from the German band at Red Lodge!

No, they are not some contraption that connects one hawg to another.  But hawg riders have used them for about as long as there has been a Sturgis Motorcycle rally.  They are wooden bridges that wind under or over themselves to give traffic a gentle slope on the steep inclines of the Black Hills.   You’ll find several on highway 16a directly south of Mount Rushmore and the town of Keystone.

Pigtail bridges are one of the attractions on Iron Mountain Road, a favorite ride of bikers.  Its twists, turns, tunnels and pigtail bridges are unequaled anywhere in the U.S.  A few years ago, I rode the Black Hills with a group of bikers I met on a large bridge project in North Dakota. We rode down to the Hills, and to Iron Mountain Road.  They had to stop to inspect these engineering wonders.

The rustic log work is impressive. When riders take a moment to pull over and read nearby signs, they will learn the logs were cut from stands nearby, shaped, treated and put in place about 80 years ago.  The piling, the piers, the pier caps, the deck supports and the deck railing are all treated wood cut from just a few yards away.

They were designed and engineered in 1932 by Cecil Clyde Gideon who was the superintendent of Custer State Park. (That’s the park at the south end of Iron Mountain road where bison and other wildlife thrive. You’ll see photos here of Custer and the bison in my blog archive and on mykuhlsphotography.com.)

Gideon called the bridges “spiral-jump offs”.   His goal in designing the bridges was to preserve the natural beauty while building a scenic highway on Iron Mountain. The corkscrew design is eye-catching, and every rider ought to stop at least once to check them out.   I mean, after all, they have to slow down anyway to traverse the tight turns. I recommend checking out this impressive design that blends engineering into modern traffic – a kind of early contest sensitive design.

If you get the chance to ride Iron Mountain Road and experience the corkscrew twist of a pigtail bridge – stop! Get off the road a bit, get off your bike, and look at how they are put together.  And if you’re really brave and physically fit, take a climb up the nearby rocks to see how the road and bridge wraps around – a simple fix to a complex problem.

No, they are not some contraption that connects one hawg to another. But hawg riders have used them for about as long as there has been a Sturgis Motorcycle rally. They are wooden bridges that wind under or over themselves to give traffic a gentle slope on the steep inclines of the Black Hills. You’ll find several on highway 16a directly south of Mount Rushmore and the town of Keystone.

Pigtail bridges are one of the attractions on Iron Mountain Road, a favorite ride of bikers. Its twists, turns, tunnels and pigtail bridges are unequaled anywhere in the U.S. A few years ago, I rode the Black Hills with a group of bikers I met on a large bridge project in North Dakota. We rode down to the Hills, and to Iron Mountain Road. They had to stop to inspect these engineering wonders.

The rustic log work is impressive. When riders take a moment to pull over and read nearby signs, they will learn the logs were cut from stands nearby, shaped, treated and put in place about 80 years ago. The piling, the piers, the pier caps, the deck supports and the deck railing are all treated wood cut from just a few yards away.

They were designed and engineered in 1932 by Cecil Clyde Gideon who was the superintendent of Custer State Park. (That’s the park at the south end of Iron Mountain road where bison and other wildlife thrive. You’ll see photos here of Custer and the bison in my blog archive and on mykuhlsphotography.com.)

Gideon called the bridges “spiral-jump offs”. His goal in designing the bridges was to preserve the natural beauty while building a scenic highway on Iron Mountain. The corkscrew design is eye-catching, and every rider ought to stop at least once to check them out. I mean, after all, they have to slow down anyway to traverse the tight turns. I recommend checking out this impressive design that blends engineering into modern traffic – a kind of early contest sensitive design.

If you get the chance to ride Iron Mountain Road and experience the corkscrew twist of a pigtail bridge – stop! Get off the road a bit, get off your bike, and look at how they are put together. And if you’re really brave and physically fit, take a climb up the nearby rocks to see how the road and bridge wraps around – a simple fix to a complex problem.

It’s all about light – that’s not too heavy, is it?  I don’t mean the weight of the motorcycle, but the light reflecting off the machine.  In a staged studio set-up large amounts of very soft light is positioned above the motorcycle such as in the custom motorcycle shoot at the Sturgis Motorcycle rally. 

However, out in the field, you won’t have that much control, unless you choose the setting and the time of day.  Some of your best images of shiny motorcycles will NOT be on those bright and glorious days when owners like to show off their scoots.  Instead, an overcast “verge-of-rain” days are best for capturing the bright colors and reflective surfaces.   It’s about as close as you can get to a staged studio set up.   It was what I was blessed with when I shot vintage motorcycles in South Dakota a couple years ago. (Tip: a good software program such as one of the Photoshop or Corel programs can enhance dull colors if it’s too overcast of a day.)

 

Of course that bike caught your eye when you were standing, but can other angles give you a better shot?  Crouch down, sit down, or even lay down to get that scooter from a different angle, one that can highlight its unique features.  Decide this: What is the key element you want to shoot? Is it the paint job? The chrome? The entire vintage machine?  Get in on that part of the machine.  Is it a 1957 Indian, then shoot the identifying features? Is it a 1964 panhead Harley-Davidson?  Shoot the pan, the rocker covers, shoot the wheels, shoot the paint, shoot the leather – but focus on that element that sets this machine apart from others.

red custom and chrome

Light my fire

It’s all about light – that’s not too heavy, is it?  I don’t mean the weight of the motorcycle, but the light reflecting off the machine.

In a staged studio set-up, large amounts of very soft diffused light is positioned above the motorcycle, such as  in the custom motorcycle shoot at the Sturgis Motorcycle rally.

However, out in the field, you won’t have that much control, unless you choose the setting and the time of day.  Some of your best images of shiny motorcycles will NOT be on those bright and glorious days when owners like to show off their scoots.  Instead, an overcast “verge-of-rain” days are best for capturing the bright colors and reflective surfaces.   It’s about as close as you can get to a staged studio set up.   It was what I was blessed with when I shot vintage motorcycles in South Dakota a couple years ago. (Tip: a good software program such as one of the Photoshop or Corel programs can enhance dull colors if it’s too overcast of a day.)

You can also use a neutral density filter, but my choice is a circular polarizing filter. However, if your light is soft enough, as mentioned above, you can probably save yourself a few bucks and shoot without.  If you already have one, though, use it!

Watch out for shadows on the motorcycle you are shooting. These can come from trees, people or the bike parked next to it.  They can be hard to minimize or eliminate – except by asking the biker to move his machine to a better location.  Of course, that’s not always possible if you’re shooting that one bike on main street parked next to a few thousand others.  It is possible to carefully use a speed light, but then you run the risk of getting those nasty overblown reflections.  (Again, a good program such as Adobe an merge those two shots, or parts of them in to one evenly lit subject.)

If it’s one bike parked uniformly in a row with others, look for patterns that might enhance the image you’re shooting.  Is there a kind of infinity mirror pattern?  Is the bike next to it is the same color, or a different color?

Get down

Of course that bike caught your eye when you were standing, but can other angles give you a better shot?  Crouch down, sit down, or even lay down to get that scooter from a different angle, one that can highlight its unique features.  Decide this: What is the key element you want to shoot? Is it the paint job? The chrome? The entire vintage machine?  Get in on that part of the machine.  Is it a 1957 Indian, then shoot the identifying features? Is it a 1964 panhead Harley-Davidson?  Shoot the pan, the rocker covers, shoot the wheels, shoot the paint, shoot the leather – but focus on that element that sets this machine apart from others.

Avoid the stadium shot.  You don’t need to shoot the whole football stadium just to show off one player.  The machine you’re shooting should fill the frame – or some would say, fill three-quarters of the frame.

I can see for miles and miles and ….

What is that in that chrome? Is that you standing there, all distorted in the curvature of the chrome?  Sometimes reflections are desirable, such as the bike next to it, but are you sure you want that beer sign reflecting in the air cleaner cover?  Are you in the reflection?  Notice that guy crouching down in the air intake elbow in the top photo of the red custom bike?  Or how about his guy in the headlight bucket?  Oops!

While we’re on the subject of unwanted images – check the background before you click the shutter.  Are you sure you want that fat lady in the fluorescent green pant suit standing behind that motorcycle?  (Yeah, what’s she doing at a motorcycle rally anyway with that green polyester 70’s left over fashion?)

One more time

Like always, especially in photography, just get out there and do it. Practice, refine, and practice some more. You may not get it right the first time, but that’s okay because it’s not your last time.

What good is it to have an interest, a business, a skill or a talent and not use it to improve your region? In my humble opinion, we’d need less government oversight and government involvement if we all chipped in where we could – grassroots, ya know.

Enough political talk – lemme tell you about a group I like to help out as I can. It’s the Domestic Violence group in Bismarck and their annual Spike Out Violence volleyball tournament. It’s a fundraiser in July to support programs to combat domestic violence.

This year, I couldn’t shoot the whole two-day affair as I did last year; I had to fly out to Pittsburgh on Sunday, but Saturday’s shoot was the perfect environment. Outdoors, action, interest and people.

Shooting volleyball isn’t a tough job if you follow some basic tips. Keep track of the sun, and keep it at about a 90-degree angle to the shot direction. Keep one eye on the viewfinder and the other open to follow the action. If it’s an outside sunny day, you should have no trouble shooting a fast enough shutter speed to freeze action. If it’s inside or not sunny, you’ll need to adjust your ISO and or your aperture. However, if you open up your aperture (smaller f-stop number) you’ll also decrease your depth of field and could get a bunch of out-of-focus shots. So, play with it, to find what works best when the light isn’t cooperating. That’s the shooting technique.

How to find the right organization. That depends on your motivation. If it’s truly an altruistic motive, find what interests you – usually an emotionally touching subject – one that makes you smile, frown, or growl. Maybe Domestic Violence isn’t exactly your bag for contributing your time and talents. Perhaps it is the Labor Day telethon for MDA, or a local flea market to raise money for a new playground, or a walk-a-thon to raise money for a “youth at risk” program, or may be it’s the local zoo, or animal shelter. I think you get the point.

In my day at the sandlot volleyball courts in Bismarck, I got to hang with some cool people. Their endorphins were raging and they were having a good time, the mood was upbeat. So, I got to enjoy not only the weather and the opportunity to do what I like – take photos. However, I also got to hang with and meet some happy, outgoing folks. That was my reward. The keeper photos got posted on my website, http://mykuhlsphotography.com

And oh, along the sideline, there are also some good shots to be had. Don’t forget to take a few model releases with you, cuz you don’t know when you might find a willing model such as Annabelle! More about photographing kids like Annabelle another time.

What good is it to have an interest, a business, a skill or a talent and not use it to improve your region?   In my humble opinion, we’d need less government oversight and government involvement if we all chipped in where we could – grassroots, ya know.

Enough political talk – lemme tell you about a group I like to help out as I can.  It’s the Abused Adult Resource Center in Bismarck and their annual Spike Out Violence volleyball tournament.   It’s a fundraiser in July to support programs to combat domestic violence.

This year, I couldn’t shoot the whole two-day affair as I did last year; I had to fly out to Pittsburgh on Sunday, but Saturday’s shoot was the perfect environment. Outdoors, action, interest and people.

Shooting volleyball isn’t a tough job if you follow some basic tips.  Keep track of the sun, and keep it at about a 90-degree angle to the shot direction.  Keep one eye on the viewfinder and the other open to follow the action. If it’s an outside sunny day, you should have no trouble shooting a fast enough shutter speed to freeze action.  If it’s inside or not sunny, you’ll need to adjust your ISO and or your aperture.  However, if you open up your aperture (smaller f-stop number) you’ll also decrease your depth of field and could get a bunch of out-of-focus shots.  So, play with it, to find what works best when the light isn’t cooperating.  That’s the shooting technique.

How to find the right organization.  That depends on your motivation. If it’s truly an altruistic motive,  find what interests you – usually an emotionally touching subject – one that makes you smile, frown, or growl. Maybe Domestic Violence isn’t exactly your bag for contributing your time and talents. Perhaps it is the Labor Day telethon for MDA, or a local flea market to raise money for a new playground, or a walk-a-thon to raise  money for a “youth at risk” program, or may be it’s the local zoo, or animal shelter.  I think you get the point.

In my day at the sandlot volleyball courts in Bismarck, I got to hang with some cool people. Their endorphins were raging and they were having a good time, the mood was upbeat.  So, I got to enjoy not only the weather and the opportunity to do what I like – take photos.  However, I also got to hang with and meet some happy, outgoing folks.   That was my reward.  The keeper photos got posted on my website, http://mykuhlsphotography.com

And oh, along the sideline, there are also some good shots to be had. Don’t forget to take a few model releases with you, cuz you don’t know when you might find a willing model such as Annabelle!  More about photographing kids like Annabelle another time.