50 Frames Journey Week 1 Self Portrait

if you haven't heard of 52 frames its a weekly photography challenge

on a Monday they email you and say your challenge is X and you have until Sunday night to take, edit and upload the pic to 52 frames.com

its a great idea and I have done it a little in the past

the idea is you will do 1 full year so 52 weeks without a break

due to work commitments and family stuff or just generally forgetting I've always done 4 or 5 weeks and then missed one

now that I work Monday - Friday instead of any 5 out of 7 days I decided to give it a proper go

So the new year comes around and I see the 1st challenge, Self portrait. Speaking to other people it turns out this is always the 1st challenge of the year. I'm not camera shy so no issue there. I grab my K-1 camera and a few other little bits and decide to head out. due to poor health and a temporary condition I have been without a motorbike or other modes of transport

that has now changed and I have my beautiful YBR customer back in my life. My amazing GF has been so supportive while I have been off the road. Now that im back on it she has helped me so much. She bought me near gear for Xmas and helped me get my confidence back.

I really wanted a shot with me leaning on the bike like they seem to have in lots movie posters like fast and furious and other vehicle heavy films

I didn't want a car park or a drap area like that I wanted something else.

I decided to scout a few areas. I tried a field near my work but the surface wasn't right for me. In the end I used a road that is almost always empty. The Idea was me leaning on the bike (not all my weight but some) a nice low depth of field to get all the focus on me, a nice calm background but not boring.

I ended up using my 15-30 F2.8 for its super wide 111 Degree FOV

I had my camera on my tripod and I used a 2 second delay to give me enough time to press the shutter and get into position.

the day was slightly overcast so I had to bump the ISO to 400

I wasn't going to be moving so I didn't need a massively fast shutter speed

I didn't want too shallow or too deep a depth of field so I settled for F6.3

I took a few shots with different angles and amounts of the bike in.

I wanted to look deep in thought, I was sort of aiming for a film poster without it being a film poster. If it was all me me me I knew I would loose my bottle and get shy and not do it. I wanted to get at least 1 week into this project.

I ended up with a pic I was happy with and headed home.

I love my motorbike. I have too much gut to get on a sports bike and they don't interest me really

for me I love how mine looks like a classic bike without being a classic bike. It reminds me of the olden days when people rode motorbike cause cars were out of the reach of affordability but they still needed transport. It reminds me of my youth when I would see motorbikes in music videos.

The title came to me while editing the pic.

I had music playing just shuffling through them and some old music came on.

Bon Jovi - Wanted Dead Or Alive.

I won a competition last season with an image called "runaway" also Bon Jovi.

I decided to use a lyric from the song Dead Or Alive "oh I'm a cowboy on this steel horse I ride..."

I like the image, it shows me, it shows something I'm passionate about, it shows my style of clothes (boring)

So thats 1 week done 51 to go.