I was going through our library of images for a new DVD project I'm working on and came across some pics taken at the Crazy Horse Memorial in South Dakota.  Normally, I don't do the "tourist thing" during the Sturgis rally,  but there are a couple of places I routinely visit.  One of them is the Crazy Horse Memorial.  I enjoy going there each year to see the progress on the sculpture.  It's quite a site and if you haven't seen the film about the making of the memorial, you should see it.  The whole experience is pretty inspirational - not only the Crazy Horse story but also the story of the man who started the whole project Korczak Ziółkowski.  Mr. Ziółkowski (and now the family foundation) refuse to take any money from the government to aid in the project.  Essentially, they don't want the government coming in and screwing it up by putting their own "spin" on the project.  He (they) envisioned a project beyond just a sculpture and one that would provide educational and cultural experiences for the larger population.  Of course, with government financing comes government obligations and they feared that with government financing, the government would abandon these larger goals.  Crazy Horse too resisted the US government which eventually lead to his death in 1877, but not before he had established himself and one of fiercest (and deadliest) opponents to the US government.  He gave his life for the preservation of his culture.  Both men are symbols of resistence and independence and, think about it, isn't that what the real biker culture is all about?  I encourage everyone to visit the memorial during the rally.  For the price of one beer in Sturgis, you can support the memory of two men who share a strong kinship with bikers.

An upcoming issue of HOT BIKE magazine will feature another bike by DD Custom Cycle, photographed by us.  The white Heritage softail is another one of Dave's great modifications.  We got some great shots of this bike so keep and eye out for the next few issues.  For any photogs out there, this bike was shot with the Canon 5D Mark II and a 135mm f/2.0 lens.  A killer combination.

Renegade Wheels will be using some of the pics from our recent bike shoots to advertise their wheels.  Below are a couple of layouts from a bike built by Tony Starita of Big Tony's Chopp Shop.  This bike is soon to be featured in American Cycle magazine.  Another layout using the bike recently featured in Hot Bike Baggers that was built by Dave Dupor of DD Custom Cycle.

Check out the March issue of Hot Bike Baggers for a shoot we did of "Thug Life."  The bike is an '05 Road King done by Dave Dupor of DD Custom Cycle and another example of his great work.  The bike was shot in downtown Aurora, IL back in September of '09 along with another bike built by Dave that may be coming up in Hot Bike.  Downtown Aurora has some great shooting locations that are, unfortunately, not always in the best section of the city.  The bike attracted a lot of attention from some of the locals (homeless people) who regularly inhabit the area.

"Thug Life" featured in Hot Bike Baggers March 2010 issue.  Built by DD Custom Cycle.

For you Sturgis fans, ever wonder what Sturgis Main Street looks like in the winter?  We are in Sturgis doing some business for a couple days and decided to post a winter shot of Main St.  We just missed the giant Christmas tree that was in the intersection of Main and First St (where the Victory MC building is.)  This shot of Main Street was taken today, which was a couple weeks after a huge snow storm hit the area.  For reference, I was standing in the middle of the street across from Gunner's.  The streets are still snow packed and side streets have snow piled 8' high and over.  They are expecting another few inches tonight along with below zero temps.  

Take away the snow and cars, add a few hundred bikes, and raise the temp about 90 degrees and you've got a Main St rally photo.

I'm repeating this post from our old blog because it has been one of the most frequently read posts. 

No, I don’t mean bike painter.  While in Sturgis last summer, we did some photo shoots of girls who were body painted to match the paint on bikes. We worked with Mark Reid who is a world renowned body painter.  Mark travels worldwide giving body painting workshops and also maintains a studio in Albuquerque, NM.  Mark, along with his assistant (sorry, his name escapes me now), was set up at Monkey Rock (the old Thunder Dome) and spent all day during the rally body painting women – many of them to match custom bikes brought in by builders and/or customers.  We’ve seen a lot of body painters at various rallies, Mark is hands down the best we’ve seen.  Check out some of his work on his website or visit our Sturgis Picks 2009 gallery in the Featured Galleries section of our web page.

I traveled up to Milwaukee last Sunday to do a shoot for American Bagger and DD Custom Cycle.  This was another bike built by Dave Dupor of Lake Villa, IL.  Dave continues to turn out beautiful bikes and this one in particular is a little different in that it's a bagger built on a chopper frame with a 300 rear tire.  We went right down to the wire on this shoot because a snow storm and colder weather was moving in that evening.  Steve, the owner of the bike, had to ride a few miles to get to the shooting site but luckily the temp hovered around 30 and we got it finished.  Good thing.  They are predicting somewhere around 12" of snow followed by below zero temps.  We picked a great location along Lake Michigan and the pics look like they were shot in some fishing village in New England.  Keep an eye out for this bike to be featured in American Bagger magazine.

With the new year comes a new blog.  We were looking for a new blog design that was clean, easy to navigate, and didn't look like 2 million others.  We'll be reposting some of our more popular posts along with our older videos.  This blog supports flash video but personally I don't like the quality of video on flash sites.  In a few days we're going to be posting a few "Best of 2009" images.  Some you may have seen before, most will be those that didn't make it to our main site.  On that note, here is one of our favorites.  "Family Reunion" has gotten a lot of attention and is one of our most popular images.  Nothing like promoting family values for the new year.

One of my all time favorites.  A shot by Deb from the Little Sturgis Rally in KY.

Still waiting for the arrival/ship date for Canon's new camera. Supposedly, it was to ship at the end of December. Looks like that's not happening. This camera is the replacement for the the 1D Mark III - a great camera for bike photography and one that I used exclusively for action/riding shots. My only complaint about the camera was the low megapixel count which didn't allow for much cropping. However, it was (is) FAST, FAST, FAST and produced some razor sharp images and great color. For still shots (bike spreads for magazines) I preferred the 1Ds Mark II, 5D Mark II, and now the 1Ds Mark III due in part to the high megapixel count and full frame capability. The new Mark IV has approx 16mp (finally) but still a 1.3 crop factor frame. It's supposed to be just as fast as the Mark III (10fps), so I'm looking forward to working with this camera. It also has full HD video capabilities - a feature I've been using more and more with the 5D Mark II.  Hopefully, it will arrive in the next few weeks so I can check it out at the upcoming January bike show in Chicago.

Fusion video from Bikes, Blues, and BBQ in Fayetteville, AR.

Springfield Mile Flat Track video made for Toyota.