Since this is going out early today, I really hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. After I finish writing this, I have to take a shower and then begin cooking. How did I get the role as chef for the family now. Doesn't matter, I enjoy cooking anyway, and they have had no complaints.
A friend of mine gave me a flash drive full of photos of his for me to see what I could do with them in process. I'm helping out to try and become a better photographer and see things differently than he has in the past. I think he has an untrained eye for photography, and I'm trying to boost his level. I only choose a small number of photos that I could maybe do something with. I cleaned those up and as I was sitting back, I got an idea based on one of the photos that he took that I liked. The composition of it was ok, but there were issues with the background and things being out of order with angles and quite frankly the other objects in the room. Quick tip for you, if you are tying to shoot something sexy, take the time to straighten the pillows and the sheets on the bed. It may not seem like something all that important, but it distracts the eye away from what you want it to focus on. I took that photo, and added it to one of mine, and took away all that distraction, and I think it came out pretty good.
Believe it or not, it took over two hours to get that photo to look like that. That doesn't include what I did to clean it up in the first place. It was fun playing around with it, and I learned a few new things in the process. Things that have given me ideas for future photos, and ways that I can manipulate the images to come up with something that should be really cool.
Speaking of photography (like I haven't been talking about it the whole time so far). I went out to scout an area for shooting yesterday. I had originally planned on going to Universal, but then I got to thinking. It's a holiday, and people are in town visiting family, why not go to the theme park the day before. I don't like crowds, so I decided that I will put off my visit until next week. Instead I wanted to check out this area that isn't far from my house, but in order to get there. I have to go about 10 miles out of my way. It is literally about a mile from my house. The only way to get there is from the next town over. So I hoped on Saki and off we went. That was my first mistake. I knew it was on a dirt road, but I figured that wouldn't be that big of an idea.
I had no trouble getting there, but when I arrived and tried to park so I could take some test photos of the area, Saki's kickstand sunk in the dirt. I thought it was hard pack, but it wasn't. I stopped it from sinking in, and began looking for a better area. My first thought was, "I should just go home and call it a day." but this is where my second mistake comes into play. I didn't. I tried another spot, and it sunk, that is when I was looking at the lip of grass land on the side of the road. If I could get up there the grass might make it more solid and stable. This is the third and fatal mistake of my day. I know that when you try to go up an incline you need to go directly up and not at and angle. I went up at an angle, so when I reached the top with the front tire, the tire immediately folded because of the instant change in angle and Saki and I toppled to the ground. Saki landed on top of my left leg, but I couldn't worry about that, I had to turn the engine off as soon as possible so as not to flood it or starve it for oil. I then lifted Saki a bit and slid my leg out. I did a quick assessment as I was on the ground and saw that the left mirror was broken off, and that my phone had popped free. I had no idea what the underneath looked like and I was dreading it. I tried to pick Saki up, but it was till on the incline and I was trying to lift against it. It wasn't working. I started lifting the front and back separately to drag it to more level ground but it wasn't moving much. I called a friend to come and help me out, but he had to take a shower, and I really didn't want to just sit around. I took off all my stuff; helmet, gloves, backpack, jacket, and began maneuvering Saki around. It took about 15 minutes, but I finally got it moved out far enough on level land to pick it up
That photo is just before I got it the last bit of the way out so that I could lift it up. Once I had it up, I had a new problem. How do I get my stuff, and get out of there. I started Saki up and it fired right up, then I began riding to find a more solid piece of land. I rode and I rode and I rode. I ended up a half mile away from my stuff before I found that good land to park Saki. I pulled the keys and began the long walk back to my stuff. It gave me a chance to get the lay of the land and see that it was a perfect spot for some astrophotography or at least it should be. I won't know that until I get out there at night. It is an out in the middle of nowhere place and should be polluted by the light of the surrounding areas. I did get one picture with my phone as I got to my stuff. I took a little extra time to walk closer to the opening to the lake and snap it.
It's going to be a great place to shoot at, but only if I take the car out there. Back to the fiasco now. I gathered up my things and took the long walk back to Saki. I beat myself up pretty good for my dumb mistake and started thinking about what damage could be under all the dirt, and what I was going to do to fix it all. The mirrors are going to be gone, and replace with bar end mirrors, which is something I've been thinking about for a while. That was given, but I couldn't see anything going on with the fairings because of the caked on dirt. I did know that there was nothing broke other than that mirror, and my mini disco ball ( I have a dozen more of them). The shift lever was good, the foot peg was good. The frame slider did it's job and protected those essential items on the bike.
I rode home and began washing off the dirt to see what lay underneath, and it was mostly good. There was a little damage to the decals on the fairings, but that is nothing. The fairings weren't cracked and otherwise looked good. The frame slider was bent in a bit, but it was made to do that. It fully did it's job and protected the bike from the bulk of the damage that could have been done to it. I wouldn't have to buy new fairings or anything like that. it is all mirrors and block of plates for where the OEM mirrors go. Saki is going to come out looking more sleek and better when I get that all done, but until I get it down, Saki is garage bound. The lounge will be Saki's prison until I get the new mirrors on. It's not that I can't ride with only one mirror, it's just that I don't feel safe, because I can't see what's coming up from behind me. I can turn my head before changing lanes to see what is there, but when I'm at a light, I want to see how fast that car is coming up from behind me. I have had several times where I had to move forward because someone was screaming up behind me. If I hadn't moved, I would have been hit, and I don't want that to happen. I accept my own stupidity in what I did to put Saki in this state, but I won't risk it getting damaged anymore because I could't see some idiot cager coming up fast behind me.
The new mirrors will probably be here by Saturday (thank you Amazon), but the block of plates won't be here until Tuesday, so I'm hoping that Saki will be back on the road by Wednesday. I will have pictures of the new and improved Saki for next Thursday's post.
I'm a little sore from lifting a 450 lbs. bike at the wrong angle over and over again, but that is a small price to pay, and I'm turning this negative into a positive by making some changes that I was thinking about anyway. This just forced me to do it now instead of just sitting back and thinking about it. This also has me going back to the old idea of painting Saki. I'm putting new thought into that, and maybe going a little more simple that I was thinking before. I don't need a bunch of air brushing elements to make it look good. I just have to develop a paint scheme that takes the separate fairings and creates a dynamic look with solid colors. I got ideas, I just need to fully think them through first.
It's time to shower up and get to cooking. I'm going to have fun tonight taking pictures with a truly wonderful friend, and I hope you have almost as good a day as me. Peace in and Happy Thanksgiving.
I'm glad you and Saki came out of this adventure relatively unscathed!
ReplyDeleteMe too.
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