Category: biking

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Omnipresent Seatless Bike with Snow

Backstory on this series: On February 26th, Minneapolis had seven inches of snow drop in a couple of hours. I ventured out in the evening with one lens: a 50mm f1/1.4 — ISO 320, wide open at f1/1.4 between 1/20 & 1/80 sec. With all the variables removed, I was free to explore all the compositional opportunities of shooting hand-held in the dark during a snowstorm.

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Biketrail Grafitti

I found this early Saturday Morning on the trail between Lake Calhoun and Lake of the Isles.  I've seen this style of graffiti on the Greenway, Kennelworth and the Cedar Corridor. It's usually in chalk and only lasts a few days. Kids: take a lesson, this is actually art grafitti. When people say they like graffiti, this is what they mean — spraypainting obscenities or "Compton" on buildings or public monuments is just being asinine.

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Westbound on the Cedar A Line

Another load of empty grain hoppers head out west as harvest grows near. Also, that's the Cedar Corridor Bike Trail on the left.

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Infrared Zen Bike

OK, OK, I'll give the infrared a rest. But since today in my "Moment of Zen" day, where I try to stop your thoughts with an odd image, it fit. Here's my TerraTrike. It's a recumbent trike, loads of fun and a joy to ride. The best part is that I can haul my big camera around in the saddle bag and use it as a table when I am setting up my gear. Plus it's funner-n-ell in the winter; I go looking for ice patches to slide on. This is Fort Snelling State Park just south of the MSP airport in the Minnesota river valley.

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Infrared Greenway Bike Trail in Minneapolis

Here's yesterday's location, only in infrared. I keep forgetting that I can do this. I waited all winter for the bright green foliage of summer so that I could take my infrared camera out. As you can see from these two photos, the foliage reflects infrared light so they appear as crystal white masses. The sky goes black and the clouds go white. There are special cameras for taking infrared, but a lot of point-and-shoots can do it. I'm using a Sony F828 for this. If your P&S has a "night mode", then it probably does a decent job of infrared. The easy way to test it is to point your TV remote at the camera lens and push a button. If you see a light coming from the remote on the screen, your camera see IR. Then you need a filter. Light colors are measured in wavelengths and the filters are numbered accordingly, 720nm, 820nm and 1000nm are the common ones. The first two do a good job, the 1000nm is hard to work with, with so little light, you need a tripod. If y'all like these, I'll take some more...