Rattling Creek Singletrackers POV GoPro Video

A little ride from a RCST ride this past fall. Yes... I know there is a smudge on the screen. I need to get a new housing since I have a big scuff on it right where the center of the lens would be. (unless someone knows of a good way to fix it....)

IMBA credited these trails with the "Epic" status for 2011. Read more about this great riding area here.

Rattling Creek Singletrackers Bridge Replacement

Stopped by the RCST club today to help them replace the bridges washed away by Hurricane Irene. Luckily, there was quite a team that was on hand to help with this task. It really makes you appreciate all the hard work that people put into these great trails so that we can ride them!

Thanks everyone that does what they do!

Inspired By Passion

I love all sorts of cycling photography. It’s such a simple, elegant machine. One guy that inspires me is Cycleangelo (great moniker!... what else would you call a cycling artist?) He has a great site and a couple really cool series of images he’s worked on over the years. I’ve always loved his “bike portrait” series. http://cycleangelo.cc/tagged/pron . (anyone know how he gets some of these bikes to seemingly stand on their own? Photoshop? Magic?)

This series inspired me to capture a similar portrait of my new ride (profile, drive side, captured in the location where it’s ridden.) I realize it’s far from a fixie (3x10) but hopefully Cycleangelo would approve ;-)

"I'll miss ya, Old Blue"

I was out riding the mountain bikes with friends and I tossed the LX-5 in the CamelBak figuring I might capture some cool shots at Rattling Creek Single Trackers amazing trail network up in Weiser State Forest in South Central PA. The ride did not turn out so well. I started off with a nasty "ting" sound and finally diagnosed a busted frame. Sadly, it was terminal. I'll miss that old bike.

I did manage to capture a few shots in one of the tougher boulder fields though. I hope that GnatLikes.com enjoys one of the bikes featured here ;-)

Bicycle commuting begins - Outdoor photography season close behind

Today was the day I'd been hoping for for a few weeks now. Bicycle Commuting Season officially opened today. The weather was nice. Actually it was downright warm this evening. The ride to work was a little interesting, I broke a spoke on a fast descent. The wheel wasn't TOO bad out of true to ride it. It did slow my pace to make sure it was stable though. A quick stop at the bike shop on the way home for a spoke and trued wheel fixed it all up though. (see missing spoke pictured above)

This also makes me feel smile that it's going to be outdoor photo session time. The trees still have the winter bare limbs and the grass isn't quite as green as my saturation slider makes it look... but we are getting there.

It was also a good day to do some scouting with the LX-5 today on the ride for an editorial shoot I want to do showcasing Harrisburg. I think I'm going to be focusing on Riverfront park for my project because it falls in line with my fitness interests of late. It's an attractive location (just not yet... still wintery looking.) 

I'm also testing my Eye-Fi card in my LX-5 and I'm waiting for the announced "direct mode" feature they announced at CES. This would have let me port these images from my LX-5 direct to my iPhone while on the trail without needing a WiFi hotspot and then I could have social shared them right away.

For the photo above, I had a little fun with the processing. I took the LX-5 RAW file into Lightroom and did some basic exposure adjustments and a "little" creative settings. Nothing major. Then I ported those JPGs back into my iPhone and used the app Diptic for the layout (cool little app for multi-panel images). That image was then imported into Instagram for some final finesse and sharing to my flickr feed, facebook wall and twitter. It's a fun little experiment to see what all you can do with iPhone apps when you are using a little better source material then my iPhone 3G camera.

Let me know what you think. Drop me a comment.