1722 MPG

That’s the miles per gallon equivalent my dad’s electric bike gets, based on the EPA’s conversion calculation. Of course, the battery won’t actually last long enough to go that far on a charge, but that’s what the numbers say.

My dad built this bike this spring, basically from nothing. He put together all the components based on his research and it runs like a dream. It’s a blast to ride too. He used a relatively small motor, so the speed will max out at 20 mph, which is plenty for a bicycle and right where he wanted it (although it would be sweet to have it faster). After you hold the throttle where you want it for a number of seconds the cruise control kicks in and you’re really rollin’. He mainly uses this bike for running errands and really loves it.

The only thing he’s not sure about is the frame it’s on. He’s not all that comfortable on the mountain bike frame so he’s thinking of swapping all the components over to a classic 3 speed which would give him an upright riding position. I think it’s a great idea and would look really cool on that kind of frame. Maybe someday I’ll build one of these, but I need to build a fixie first. This is a really cool bike.

Chicken!

Mmmm, I love chicken.  I can’t eat enough of it. It’s a great source of protein, low in fat, no unnecessary carbs; just a quality food item.  Let me take a minute to confess something to you.  I pretty much eat chicken at least once a day.  Can you imagine how many chickens I’ve eaten?  By the time I’m done eating chicken, I’ll have singlehandedly made a dent in the ever growing chicken population.  And grilled chicken is clearly the best kind of chicken.  And grilled chicken on a pesto pizza?  Come on.

But you know what I don’t like?  The way most chicken is raised.  All cooped up in these barns?  Wallowing in their own filth and other dead chickens?  Disgusting.  Free range chicken is the way to go.  Chickens with names.  Do they name chickens?  I don’t know, but its beside the point.  The point is, chickens shouldn’t be raised all crammed in a barn like sardines in a can.  If I wanted to eat some meat all packed together, I’d eat some sardines from a can.  Or maybe a hamburger; that’s a bunch of cows pressed together.  But only if they’re grass fed cows.  And that’s assuming I can get a hold of some grass fed beef.  But if I could do that, I’d just eat a steak.

Birthday Day!

Happy Birthday to my dad!  If you know him, wish him one too.  If you don’t know him, wish him one anyway.  Just don’t be creepy about it.  Weirdos..

This is more film.  Fuji Pro 160S.  Loving this stuff.

Halves on a Pie?

There’s something I really love about this picture.  I can’t put my finger on it, but it’s there.  It’s also my first 35mm film photo!  My dad gave me his classic Olympus OM-2n, which is supposed to be a pretty great camera.  So far, I agree.  My first roll was Fuji Pro 160S.  I really enjoy most of the shots I got on this roll.  I think I’m going to be shooting quite a bit more film in the near future.

Put Him In!

Today’s bonus post is a crossover, not unlike popular TV series such as Homicide: Life on the Street and Law & Order, which have also done crossovers.  Last summer I went out shooting in Wichita with my Cousin and as I was taking this picture, unbeknownst to me, he was taking my picture.  As a cross-promotional endeavor, we decided to post each of our perspectives of the same scene.  I wanted to get a different angle on this statue that is in front of Wichita State’s Eck Stadium where they play baseball.  It isn’t always easy to set up for certain angles, and as you can see on Matthew’s page, this was one of those times.  As you’ll see, I’m pretty sprawled out on the concrete to get this angle.

Check out my Cousin Matthew’s take on the scene at http://matthewwellsphotography.blogspot.com/.  While you’re at it, check out his other work too.

Edit: Damn!  He outdid me in the humor department.. this time!

Exif information
Model	Canon EOS 20D
Original date	2009:09:05 14:19
Exposure time	1/200 sec
Focal length	10mm
F-Stop	f/10
ISO speed	ISO-100
Exposure Bias	0

Flag Man

I thought about holding on to this photograph and posting it on either the Fourth of July or Memorial Day, but those are both too far away, and I don’t want to hold back any content.  Uncle Sam has been sitting on our front porch every summer since I was in High School.  He has seen better days, but is still looking pretty good.  He used to have an American Flag in his hand, but that’s gone, and although you can’t see it in this photograph, he has an accompanying firecracker the size of his head.  I actually took this when I was at home this last Fourth of July, but by the time I got it on my computer and processed, the holiday was well over.  I knew I wouldn’t be able to share it on that Fourth of July, and what’s wrong with a little patriotism in the beginning of October?

I took this picture at this angle to symbolize the proverbial Uncle Sam’s power over all of us, and his imposing size in America today…  No, just kidding; none of that is true.  I took it at this angle, because in my head, this is what I saw.  That and I thought it looked cool.  The outcome is pretty much exactly what I was going for.

WSU Baseball

Last time I was in Wichita I had a little time to kill one afternoon, so I grabbed my camera and wandered down the block to Eck Stadium at Wichita State University.  I grew up just a block from this stadium and have watched countless games there.  In high school I even went to a few WSU baseball camps and played some games there.  They have a good baseball program historically, but I think their longtime coach has sort of lost it the last few years and the team is suffering as a consequence.

I wanted to try something a little different with this photograph.  Sometimes new perspectives don't work very well, but I like what I got with this one.  I figure the only way I can grow and improve my photography is by trying new things.

Black and White Flowers

I took this photograph quite a while ago in Wichita while I was home from college one summer.  As I was playing around with the post-processing I wondered how it would look in black and white.  As I converted it, the background magically disappeared and I loved the resulting image.  A few more adjustments and tweaks and I was done.  I took this photo outside in the bright mid-day sun, but you'd be hard pressed to know that from this photograph.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Summer!

Well it's finally warming up around here, after what seemed like an eternity of winter. Although I enjoy the winter, I mostly enjoy it in Colorado while skiing. I much prefer the summer, so I'm pretty happy it's warming up. I'm fairly certain that I need to just move to somewhere in Florida. Somewhere in Florida that is Sarasota or one of the keys right there. Now all I have to do is win the lottery. If I was going to live there I doubt I'd want to do any actual real work.

There isn't much to explain about this photo or about anything I did in post-processing this photo because it is basically straight from the camera. I did a very little bit of color and exposure adjustment in Photoshop and I cropped it a bit, but other than that it's just how I took it. To me this photo exemplifies summer. A bright blue sky, bright green grass, and of course, the clothes line.