Ghost Bike

I was making my  usual Sat morning breakfast dash and traffic forced me to find an alternate path home. When I pulled up to the intersection of Silver Sands and West Avenue I first thought someone was trying to sell a White Bike but then thought why here? 

Then I saw the sign and quickly understood. I had no camera so I went home and reflected about what I had seen and decided to photo document the bike. I took several frames and then came home to reflect and do research.

Devon Smith used to ride to and from work, 10 miles each day on his bicycle. He was an avid bicyclist and took all the usual precautions including wearing protective gear. Then on

Sept. 26, 2012 his life suddenly ended. 

A teenager driving way too fast hit Devin on his blind side. The force of impact caused Devin's helmet to  come off as well as his shoes and Devin was dead just like that. The truck that hit Devin then hit a road sign, kept going north and then hit a utility pole, which broke in half, then went about another 50 yards before it stopped.

This bike has been repainted white which is why I call it the ghost bike. And across the street was another memorial - a white bicycle rim and tire with flowers in it. Traffic was too heavy for me to safely shoot that angle so I saved that frame for another day.

Now if you study the frame you will see three signs. The obvious one we have already talked about it is the other two that are driving me crazy. The one up high is a faded garage sale sign and the yellow one on edge by the front wheel is a open house sign or something similar.  Where I am headed with this is that the price of a human life has gotten very cheap in SA. One would think they would not desecrate a memorial such as this one. Shame on them..

Lastly please take extra care and watch out for bicycles. They seem to be everywhere and some riders do not understand  how they can "disappear" in shadows or tree lines. I recently watched a rider in the hill country. My brother was with me and he also rides so I pointed out the obvious problem with the riders attire. It was a clear day around 1:00 PM and the rider was wearing very dark colors on a dark bike. In the open the rider was very visible but when he passed into some shadows cast by the trees he disappeared! I knew he was there but only because I had seen him out in the open.

Keep on Clicking,

Fred

Legal Notice: This blog and the content of including the images posted are the work of Fred Gerhart and are copyrighted material. Please do not copy anything off this site. You are most welcome to hot link to my Blog pages and please feel free to comment.

A Rose of a Different Color

Walked the upper river walk this evening and took some interesting photographs. I decided to try my hand at black and white conversions of a red rose.

First the photograph with the color...

And now the conversion to black and white..

On Location Portraits $50

Now offering one hour of on location portraiture for $50. This is for one person. Proofs will be posted online for review and then the customers choice of five images will be post processed and delivered on a DVD. Each image on the DVD will be sized to print beautiful 8X10's. A usage license that allows printing at a lab of your choice will be provided to you or you can order prints thru my lab.  I retain all copyrights. Offer expires December 1, 2011.

For a Limited Time Only $100 Event Photography

I will do birthday parties, corporate events, weddings, Quinceanera's, Sweet 16's, reunions, and coverage of team sports events for $100. This is for one hour of coverage at events with one photographer only. Post processing limited to basic color corrections and cropped to print 8X10 with images on DVD and a usage license that allows printing at a lab of your choice. I retain all copyrights. Offer expires December 1, 2011.

 

 

 

The Most Important Photograph in a Models Portfolio

The one thing most models forget is the single most important image of their portfolio and the first image of their portfolio should be a very strong headshot with minimal retouching. 

My good friend Lupe grew his hair a tad out and wanted to update his book with his new look. We worked on location at the Japanense Tea Gardens in that magical time of day just after Sunrise. And here is his best shot.

New Policy for Any Bookings

People do not seem to value each others time anymore and I have been left hanging one too many times. This morning I thought I had a model booked for a trade shoot so I loaded a brand new roll of ILFORD Delta 100, installed charged batteries, cleaned lens, and double checked all the gear and props. I then see we are going to be blessed with the most perfect of all light I have seen in some time in San Antonio. I double time it to the shoot so I can setup in order to avoid wasting the light and wait and wait and wait. Half hour past the appointment I give up and call it a day. No call no email no nothing by the model. I go home and drop a note into the models Model Mayhem account and she replies immediately that she thought the shoot was canceled. Never mind the fact I confirmed the appointment by email four days earlier.

My new policy for bookings of any nature is that the booking will not be on the calendar until email addresses and phone numbers are exchanged. Rest assured I will not call unless an emergency occurs that requires cancellation.

Fortunately some backup models were provided by Mother Nature of which a few are shown below. Enjoy the photographs.

Family Portrait

Water Flowing Into the Main Pond of the Tea Gardens

Who Are You Looking At?

One of Many. What Kind of Bird is Unknown.

Portfolio Shoot with T Ritz MM 1886008

Here is slide show with music and contains a brief sample of my services for on location portraiture and model portfolio development.

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

A Big Thanks to T Ritz for his part in our collaboration effort.

Legal Notice: This blog and the content of including the images posted are the work of Fred Gerhart and are copyrighted material. Please do not copy anything off this site. You are most welcome to hot link to my Blog pages and please feel free to comment.

I am available for hire.Please visit my website at Life Event Photography by Fred