scooter races, part one, special moments:

went to the scooter races. there were motorcycles there too, so we brought eva in order to show her even more american redneckery. shot with the special moments camera, so there's some good shots, but if I really wanted to do it right, I'd cheat, scan at high res, zoom in, recrop, that sort of thing. but here's the ones that came out alright without all that whatnot. jesse's in there somewhere.

the beach! featuring hippy and alicia

all the wild and crazy stories you've heard about hippy? some of which you've heard from me? here's the best thing you need to hear about hippy: he's one of the raddest kids in the world. not to sound like an, um, hippy, but the positive energy that comes out of andrew schrock could power a rocket, no doubt. what a fucking sweet heart. I'm so glad he came to portland, I hope he had fun.

sunday! downtown! awesome!

what else is there to say? here's some pics before the big hill that killed everyone.

ted "theodore" logan (and alicia)

when ted first started hanging out with us, he was twelve, and was still wicked awesome. but, being, like, nine years old, he hadn't ever seen bill and ted's excellent adventure, and was therefore confused when we called him "ted, theodore, logan". so we made him watch it one night. I think his response was something like, "that movie kind of sucked". kids, huh? alicia's to the right. I know little about her. she's from richmond, is funny, and seems hella nice. so, that's good, right?

and so begins sunday:

and that mess you see is minus the 25 or so seattle kids that didn't go on the ride. so many friends!

saturday, overcast can't stop the river magics

so, we split the group for the saturday ride. half to the beautiful multnomah falls, half to barely survive the cold of the sandy river. i stayed at the river. it wasn't really that cold, and it was fun broing down, and trying to cheer up the people with the broken bikes that couldn't make it to the falls. could it be cold with this many people it? plus some overhead bridge shots.

saturday ride:

some pics. catching the pack, in the lead.

I promise you this:

you will buy ANYTHING this man is selling. I have never met a better story teller, or a better salesman, or a more enchanting creature than this (and not like a creature of the loin, but like a mythical beast). mike is a force of nature. if one could harness this kid, and put him to good use (which it seems like erin is doing now) one could rule the world. mike could do better than sell ice to an eskimo, mike could sell ice to god, and god would leave the room feeling like he'd just made a hell of a good deal. great hugs, great mustache, and now, for a potentially limited time, great hat.

mysteries revealed:

the jew squid's not a jew, and peter's not an asshole in real life. there, I just ruined the ending.

creature breakfast club

there's no way I'm gonna remember everyone's name at any rally, but I thought I could do better than this: LtoR: syriah (new friend crush!), that girl that rode bob's cobra with sweet face paint, annalise (who we may have sent back to sf more awesome than we got her, and who is amazing), andrew (that dude who I didn't like at first, but who em said was cool, then I realized that maybe I just wasn't getting his sense of humor, and later I decided was actually cool), josiah (in blue, who I think I bummed out kicking out of the party friday, but who knows, I can't read him very well), maggie (who I've known was cool since day one), I can't even tell who's behind maggie, was that someone at our rally? sorry if my fail memory bums someone out, dom (saint, and voice of reason, total sweet heart), allen (granpa jokes and moped rally cursed), heather (made me feel truly loved the first time I met her, and it was a time where I needed it. someone I would happily get my ass kicked over, any day of the week), jessica longo (okay, you know how you think longo's a sweetheart? I heard her tell a dude that she was going to rip his face off and throw it in the street. seriously. don't tell her I told you, I don't want her to fight me).

saturday morning twinsies.

mattw was a better sport than I'd think to give him credit for. he and his little brother pose for pictures around breakfast time rally saturday.

friday night lights, or, lack thereof,

god. not great photos friday night. but here's one from the rally. lighten it if you want, see the moped kids. stupid special moments was blowing it.

miguel, the lumberjack photo.

not the best picture I've ever taken (though maybe the best picture from the meet-n-greet at our rally, I was pretty off that afternoon), but I wanted to include it because to me, it makes miguel look 100 feet tall. like he's about to go spend the evening drinking paul bunyon under the table. maybe it's the beard, maybe it's the shirt. either way, I like it.

cutter magic bryan robertson:

it is without hesitation that I will say that bryan is the funniest guy I've ever met. the reason why you don't know about it is because he's only really funny about once a week, but wrapped up in that one sentence is more amazing than the rest of us can muster in a month. his comedic timing and wit is amazing, and if only he could write it all down, and once a year, do some sort of stand-up comedy thing, the world would be a better place. aside from being funny, he's also wicked smart, and a hell of a nice guy. plus, he's responsible for the name "dudes of chaos" from a bmx gang he was in. what more could anyone ask for?

chad burke:

this man is attempting to own more mopeds than I own comic books. he's a beer snob, in an endearing way. and he's a hell of a good conversation waiting to happen. his jokes are very 1960's tv show, also in an endearing way. I wish he'd get the hell out of michigan, a hope I have for most of my friends that live there. I still would buy a moped solely because chad burke doesn't have one like it, and I encourage all of you to do the same.

another almost pepsi challenge.

I really do like both of these cameras, Lomo on top! when side by side, the Lomo shot looks way too dark, but if I just look at the Lomo, I like it better. eh, both pretty, the end.

nature!

I keep getting really bored at work, and therefore taking way too many pictures in an effort to keep myself entertained. Some of the results are good, some are mediocre, it's to be expected. but it's getting way too expensive, and I should really just download some books on tape or something. the top is my favorite, Gresham, then a hill that was AMAZING to moped down, between Estecada and Sandy, then a picture that I can't stop looking at because I can't tell if I like the yellow line being wonky like that, or if I hate it, and some sweet field action.

Eli is Amazing

the kid loves squirt guns. Also of note, he shot about half this roll, and I was kind of worried about paying for pictures of feet and the floor to get developed, but luckily (?), none of them came out at all. like the negatives are just blank. photography gods teaming up with the pitiful wallet god? he did take one headless shot of his dad that did come out, so credit for the one of Double does not go to me.

special moments indeed!

so, now that I'm amassing a camera collection, I was thinking that I would have them seperated into categories on my blog. I'm not really sure how to do such a thing, but I'm going to give it a shot. So here's what we have so far:

LOMO
SPECIAL MOMENTS ($.25 cent camera)
and the new Chinon that I haven't developed anything with yet, and so I have no idea what's going to happen.

I'm also thinking other categories might be nice, and assuming I can get it worked out, I'll go back and categorize all of the old pictures too.

So here's a test run. View from my window, I think it looks strangely flat, like I'm taking a picture of a model, and not of real trees. Hm.

$.25 camera vs Lomo LCA+

I mean, head to head, we're either going to have to admit that the cheapo dude is somehow an accidentally good chinese camera, or that the extra $99.75 was all for some cool shadows, right guys? I really, really love my Lomo, and I'd pay at least $120 for those shadows. also, not totally fair, in that we're dealing with kodak 100 speed Elite Chrome film in the cheapo, and fuji 200 speed whatever chrome in the Lomo. I'll do some more side-by-sides in the future, we'll pepsi challenge it, sure 'nuff.