It’s still a bit chilly for me, but the first trees that I normally use for photos bloomed late last week.  While I was out location scouting I remembered this time of year would be good to get product shots of my photo books and products in the natural environment that I shot the original portraits in.  Since I’m getting back in the groove on posting to my blog/journal I’ve realized I’ve missed many a random post.  The ones that got lost in the endless scrolling in everyone’s feed.  I’ll always be taking pictures for my own creative purposes and enjoyment, and hopefully this is still the best and simplest way of showing work.  Sure I’ll be missing out on staying relevant, but at least here whoever wants to view my work can do so in peace and quiet with no distractions, ads, or algorithms.

In the evening we lugged the vintage Japanese road bike that we fixed up last year to these spots for photos.  I still don’t know the make and model of this bicycle, it could be a Miyata, Takara, Centurion, or many other brands.  The frame is definitely made in Japan steel and from the early 1980s maybe late ’70s.  The thing about bicycles, even the expensive ones, is that all they really do is buy the parts from overseas and paint and assemble them and then put the badge on it.  I’m really happy with the way it turned out, since I’ve always wanted a pure white bicycle for photos.  The frame is an iconic design, much like how the Camera icon in a phone OS is going to depict it as a rectangle with a large circle and pentaprism hump in the center (SLR).  Even if folks have only known a camera as the one on their phone, the traditional camera look is something that is perfect and timeless.  Same thing with the structure of a road bicycle frame.  It draws well in natural spaces and a testament to great visual and industrial design.