The Solitary Cyclist
This is an iPhone re-photograph of a slightly cropped 10X8" framed print under glass. The print was made more than forty years ago from a black and white 35mm negative, shot by a friend intending to depict me on my bicycle. At the time I had free access to a darkroom at my university, and there I attempted to 'reshoot' the scene my friend had transferred to my eyes, and turn it into something more graphic, abstract, and atmospheric. Effectively, I re-positioned his camera, changed its settings, and zoomed in a little.
(I like the fortunate speck of glint from the inside of each steel rim, just where the wheels would otherwise all but disappear against the grassy verge. What might look like a backdrop of cumulus clouds is actually dust left in my wake. 😉)
Negative not in my possession, equipment now unverifiable, though I am guessing the film was Kodak TriX, and less confidently, the camera a Voigtlander rangefinder. Geo tag only approximate. The location was somewhere below Mt Buffalo, in the region of The Buckland Valley and the small town of Porepunkah in the alpine area of Victoria, Australia.
I still use this, “my bike”, which is over fifty years old (if you allow it to be like the axe that has had three new blades and four new handles). It got stolen once. Parts were recovered but not the frame. With the insurance money I bought a superior Japanese double-butted Tange Champion frame around 1982. But this picture certainly predates that. If anything remains of the bike in the photo, it could only be the handlebars. The Tange has had every other fitting replaced with modern gear. I am a pedaller, but not a pedant... though I did have new wheels made for it in the original 27" size.
The Solitary Cyclist
This is an iPhone re-photograph of a slightly cropped 10X8" framed print under glass. The print was made more than forty years ago from a black and white 35mm negative, shot by a friend intending to depict me on my bicycle. At the time I had free access to a darkroom at my university, and there I attempted to 'reshoot' the scene my friend had transferred to my eyes, and turn it into something more graphic, abstract, and atmospheric. Effectively, I re-positioned his camera, changed its settings, and zoomed in a little.
(I like the fortunate speck of glint from the inside of each steel rim, just where the wheels would otherwise all but disappear against the grassy verge. What might look like a backdrop of cumulus clouds is actually dust left in my wake. 😉)
Negative not in my possession, equipment now unverifiable, though I am guessing the film was Kodak TriX, and less confidently, the camera a Voigtlander rangefinder. Geo tag only approximate. The location was somewhere below Mt Buffalo, in the region of The Buckland Valley and the small town of Porepunkah in the alpine area of Victoria, Australia.
I still use this, “my bike”, which is over fifty years old (if you allow it to be like the axe that has had three new blades and four new handles). It got stolen once. Parts were recovered but not the frame. With the insurance money I bought a superior Japanese double-butted Tange Champion frame around 1982. But this picture certainly predates that. If anything remains of the bike in the photo, it could only be the handlebars. The Tange has had every other fitting replaced with modern gear. I am a pedaller, but not a pedant... though I did have new wheels made for it in the original 27" size.