2015 Hollister Rally

3rd of July brought me down to Hollister, CA again to people-watch and ride vintage bikes into the modern Harley show chaos. We started the ride from pal Jason's house in Morgan Hill, and were led 30 miles by his 1972 Bonneville. Tony was on his 1969 Aermacchi / Harley-Davidson and his pal Keith rode Tony's 1973 Yamaha dt250, while I rode my 1971 bmw r75/5.

truck is great for three dirtbikes, way more sketch for precious vintage bike cargo..

Sunscreen is a very important part of Hollister

So Cal in tha house

red white and blue... and leather vests

plenty of tee shirts to buy

Loved this lady!

Jason and Jesse see something awesome...

almost married this guy, almost

those little dogs have matching pink sunglasses on!

made this guy stall about 10 seconds later #tippytoes

The ride back home

Velo Labs - Skylock

Last weekend I had my second opportunity work with the great crew at Velo Labs. They wanted to create a bit of a lifestyle look for their Skylock, a solar-powered bicycle lock that has a variety of electronic features within, controlled by your smartphone.

Using San Francisco's mission district as our backdrop, we shot a variety of cool shots of Skylock. Mad thanks to Jack, Jeremy, Jeff and Lizzy!

awesome dog walker!

 

 

 

fortuitous balloon baby passerby

Velo Labs crew and Lizzy!

Babes in the Wood: Chantelle

  Spring is here and I've been psyched with the warmer weather and sunny mornings. Finding a super-top-extra-secret fern grove spot, Levi was kind enough to let me photograph his big sister Chantelle for my ongoing Babes in the Wood series. 

Wesley, Chantelle's Daddy, proved to be a whiz with a piece of ultra-suede and scissors. Hence her fashionable tunic:

Chantelle has a strong aversion to a spider walking on her foot

running with shoes on was much more fun than dancing with spiders

These guys were fun to hang out with for a couple hours, and of course we had to shoot a couple family shots as well. In the super-top-extra-secret fern spot....

I-80 : Donner Pass

Continuing on my I80 series, this is the latest portrait near Donner Pass, CA.

Often under snow at this time of the year, this field is usually part of the Donner Memorial State Park's cross country ski trails. But last week it was very warm.

Donner Lake, 1866 (photo Library of Congress)

The most notorious history about this area is the infamous winter of 1946, and the Donner Party's failed attempt at crossing the pass in late November.

 

More about Donner Lake history:

http://www.legendsofamerica.com/ca-donnerparty4.html

Babes in the Wood: Lincoln

Inspired by direwolves, I am continuing my Babes in the Wood project with Atticus and a three-week-old little Lincoln.

 

Trying to find a spot away from poison oak and close enough for everyone to walk to, we found a good spot near an overturned tree trunk. I scouted a bit beforehand, and looked on the Palo Alto University campus next door. Funny enough, my cousin Sara came out to visit a couple weeks later to look at that school and we got to visit Lincoln again in the pouring rain.

Sara feeding the horses...

Lincoln, skeptical that he was ever allowed to sit under Atticus.

Lincoln, skeptical that I can hold him correctly.

I-80

(the series finally has a real title)

On a cold day in mid-January, we decided to bail on skiing for the day on ice and rocks (very little snow this year in Tahoe) and focus on exploring the nearby structures. 

This corrugated steel structure is an enigmatic guardian to something we can't figure out. It has a bit of an overhang in the front, looking almost like a loading dock for loading up a truck bed with road salt. But there's no trap door, the window is boarded up and it's pretty much seemingly unremarkable. I set up a couple lights, moved a couple giant logs and did my thing by the lone pine tree and window in back.

 

 

The next day the sun came out and we rode the gondola:

Babes in the Wood: Michael

Last weekend I shot photos of little Mike, son of the awesome Mary Ray and Mike Zyracki.

Having lived in San Francisco now for 17 years, I have somehow neglected to ever explore the Mount Sutro Open Space Preserve. The scene here at 9am on a Saturday was fairly generic: dog-walkers, the occasional mountain biker, a few joggers, then me and a large cart of photo lights, props and camera gear.

Borrowing some animal pelts from my pal and local punk rock taxidermist Beth Allen, we wrapped Michael in furs and made him wild, wooly and a little bit haunted.

Ray-Zyracki Team Expansion!