20 Year Anniverrary Giveaway

June, June 21, 2023 to be more precise marks the 20th anniversary of mtbbrian.com, and if you don't believe me or if you want to take a look at what 20 years of my website looks like, check out the "Way Back Machine".

It's been an interesting ride this past 20 years, my site has evolved and de-evolved , from a really basic website that I built using basic web based tools that were hosted by the various internet service providers I have had over the years, to a full on website that I created using professional tools like "Dreamweaver" and were hosted by companies that do that sort of thing, to what it is now, what I call a "blogsite" hosted by blogspot.com (Google) where I have the blogspot URL pointed at mtbbrian.com.  

If you have been following my photography for more than 10 years, you may recall that at that time I was doing a book of my fly fishing photography and to celebrate that and the 10th anniversary of my site, I gave away a copy of the book.

So for the 20th anniversary celebration of my site, I thought I'd do another giveaway and give away not one, but two of my photographs, one fly fishing one and motorcycle one. 

The motorcycle print is one of my favorites of two Harley Davidson Softail Deluxe motorcycles that unbeknownst to me is a bit of a self portrait too.  Can you see me?  I have titled it "Too Deluxe" and is 11"x14". 

  

 

The fishing photograph was in my book and a favorite from that period, I titled it "Rod Holder" and is 8"x10".

 

Both prints were printed by me in the darkroom, on light sensitive, silver gelatin, photographic paper, in other words these are not digital prints.   

So here are the rules:

 

Make a comment (one comment per person) in the comments section below, let me know which photograph you are interested in, how long you have been following my photography, where you saw the post, or anything else you'd like to say about my photography (be constructive at the least, supportive at the most, flattery is great even, but won't get you anymore but one entry!).

 

If you comment using the Anonymous,Open ID or Name/URL options, please leave a name and email so I know who you are are and how to contact you. 

 

Due to shipping costs, I have to limit this giveaway to readers in the United States of America only. 

 

The giveaway begins on the date of the post and ends on June 21, 2023 at 2359 HRS Mountain Time.  

I will select two winners using the random number generator on random.org, based upon the number of people that enter, and announce it with another post shortly afterwards. 

 

All decisions are final and made by me.  

Feel free to  share this post if you like, and please do, but the only way to enter this giveaway is to comment on this post.

Thanks for reading this and if you have followed my photography for any or all of the past 20 years or more, thanks.

Brian

Bike Night..

 

Bike night, at a local Cycle Gear...

It's been a while...

 It's been a while since I have posted something to my blogsite, 738 days if you are wondering,  but I have been making some Holga photographs, it's just a little easier to do some with my phone and post them to my Instagram account @harleys_and_holgas_forever or on Flickr, where I go by "Red Holga Man" a nickname given to me after attending the Maine Photographic Workshops.. 

I have used both my regular Holga and my 6x12 PanHolga, but have had mixed results over the past while, so I thought I'd post a few of the best photographs I have made recently..

This first one is from a vintage motorcycle show, as I recall, these two guys were wondering how the builder had routed and configured the front brake. 

This is from the same bike show, you can even see this vintage Harley in the background of this first photograph. I used my square Holga and did a "Holgarama" with this one, where I made an exposure of the first half of the bike, then advanced the frame "17 clicks" and panned to the right for the second exposure. 

This next one is also from my 6x12 PanHolga, it's my wife on her bike, riding along the Bonneville Salt Flats.

This last one is from a ride I participated in earlier in the summer, at the Brian Head Ski Resort, that I did with my 6x12 PanHolga as well..

That's all for now, I hope to have more photographs before the end of 2022 and will post them as soon as I can.

Thanks for taking a look!

Brian

Ride On!

A few new photographs...

If your 2020 has been anything like mine, it has been filled with lots of unexpected adventures, head scratching moments, and other moments that have probably left you with a certain level of disbelief. Despite all of this, I have been doing my best to keep making new photographs that I have had on my Flickr stream, but I thought I'd post here as well.  

This first one is a portrait that I did of a good friend/Brother, that goes by the name of "Tripod".  He's a good guy, that has an interesting motorcycle story, I am grateful for his friendship and for the miles that we have ridden together so far.

If you have followed my photography for a while, and I know that you have, you'll know that I also have a 6x12 Pan Holga camera, that I love to use.  Over the summer, I met some of my Brothers for lunch before going on a nice ride through the mountains of Northern Utah and I was able to make this photograph with my Pan Holga. 

I like taking portraits, at least that's what I call them, so I will end this with another portrait of my favorite person to ride with, my wife...

Until next time, stay safe, and ride often.

Brian

Film v Digital

If you have followed my photography for a long time, you may remember several years ago, I started photographing these "inflatable characters", that you mostly see at used car dealership, then all of the sudden, I stopped seeing them.   Recently though, through a post that a friend made on Facebook of a picture of an inflatable duck that was at a car wash, I was fortunate enough find it there and went to photograph it.

I am not exactly trying to compare film and digital, because at this point, having the need to scan the film for this photograph, it's all digital anyway, but since I was able to make a photograph of the scene with both my Holga camera, using Fujichrome Provia 400 and the camera on my phone, using Pixlr to process the file, I thought I'd put them here together.

The first photograph is the one I made with my Holga:

If you have been following my photography, you'll know that I prefer to have a boarder of some kind  and in the case of my Holga photographs, the boarder looks something like this.

The camera phone image on the other hand, looks like this:

As I mentioned above, I use the Pixlr app, for my post processing and the camera on my phone shoots the RAW format, which is what I use for my more creative photographs.  My process is quick and easy, I crop the file to square, select the "sloppy" boarder, and use the app's "Sophia" effect, that's all. 

You can see my Holga photographs and other film based photographs on my Flickr stream, where I go by "Red Holga Man" or if you'd rather, you can check out my Instagram page, where I have my motorcycle photographs, which is a mix of digital and film photographs @harleys_and_holgas_forever

I like both methods, but ultimately my heart belongs to film. 

Brian

Goals, My next book

Winter is the worst time for motorcycle riders, because you can't ride; so the other morning I woke needing to hop on my motorcycle, but I was unable to do so, because snow had fallen the night before.  

Needless to say, I had a little pent up energy, that I was able to overcome, slightly anyway, through a creative type of outlet. So with a cup of coffee in my hand, I went to my computer, pulled up the BookWright software from Blurb.com and created what I am calling a very preliminary and potential cover for a photo book about my motorcycle photography, that I am thinking of calling, Harleys and Holgas Forever, after my Instagram handle.  

If you are fan of my photography, and I know that there at least 10 of you out there, you may remember my first photo book, Trout Dreams; I know that there are at least 10 of you out there, because 14 copies of it were bought, and I bought four copies myself.

I learned a lot doing the first book and hope to make this better.  It took me about six years to have enough photographs that I felt were worthy to be in the book and by the looks of my Flickr photstream, I posted my first motorcycle photographs in 2016, so it could be at least two years before I get to that point. 

So here's to more photographs and to more riding of course.  

If you are in the greater Wasatch Front area, in Northern Utah, and want to be a part of the book or at least photograph you and your bike, look for me out on the open road, contact me through here, or on Instagram: Harleys_and_Holgas_Forever. 

Let's Ride

Brian 

Rider and Bike

I like meeting people, I like seeing cool motorcycles, so naturally when I saw this cool "76" Harley Shovelhead ride in at an event a while ago, I knew that I had talk to it's owner and make a few photographs of it.

I usually like to get an over all portrait of a bike, but I think in this case the other two photographs that I made

I always like making a portrait of the rider and his or her bike, and I really think that this one turned out well. I'll say something like, "Give me your best, Yeah, I ride a Harley pose", which always tends to lighten the mood and enables me to get a good portrait.

I like to get a detail photograph of a bike a lot too, and this left side of this Shovelhead, with it's "suicide shift" and skull picture on the tank did not disappoint.

It's coming up on the end of 2019, so this will probably be my last group of photographs that I will post for a while. I am not sure what 2020 will bring, but I will always bring my Holgas with me, and even if I don't make any photographs with my Holgas, I am sure that I will at least make some pictures that you will probably see on my Instagram account, Harleys_and_Holgas_Forever. So check me out there if you already don't.

Here's to many more miles and smiles in the coming year and decade!
Let's Ride!
Brian