Don’t Hesitate

Black and White Film Photograph of Suzuki DR650 Dirt bike — **Suzuki DR650/Tusk Dsport Rear/Pirelli MT21 Front**

I clamp my bare hands around the idling exhaust of my motorcycle to feel my fingers again. It’s fuckin’ cold. A winter storm just towed freezing rain and sleet over everything from Texas to Maine. I stuff my Pentax back into the front pocket of my hoody underneath a red, sherpa lined, flannel coat. My hands are warm again, so it’s time to continue looking for good shots downtown.

Businesses are closed, but there’s still activity. A dad walks ahead of his daughter who got distracted by a pile of snow along the road. A few unphased drivers splash by in the slush doing who knows what: grabbing gummies from the smoke shop. Heading to Walmart on a blind hunt for a soldering iron to work on a DIY project they weren’t prepared for. I think they’re en route to a Coinstar with a mason jar full of quarters.

Black and White Film Photograph of Man on a Four Wheeler — **The Homie, Nick**

I stop at an intersection. A block away in an empty parking lot, I see my camouflaged neighbor stopped on his Honda four wheeler taking pictures with his mirrorless camera. He’s trying out a new 35mm prime lens on his R7. The last time I rode in these conditions was with a set of 80/20 Shinko tires. By the time I finished that ride my brake pedal was bent, handle bars were turned, and clothes were wet from capsizing into the road too many times.

Black and White Film Photograph of Snow Covered Building — **The Meat Locker**

This year I have a mixed set of knobbies and I'm hitting drifts around the gym. It’s a white square of cinderblocks with a rubber roof. There is a garage section called the “meat locker” where you can go workout with your shirt off if you want. The garage door opens to a concrete pad next to an alley where a group of girls normally push a weighted sled back and forth. It's my favorite place to hit some jump rope or flip tires. The white walls merge seamlessly into the ice covered concrete, and those giant black tractor tires don’t seem to mind the snow one bit.

It was days ago that I bought my first film camera for $110: a Pentax K1000. My dad said, “I had that exact same camera. Awesome camera”. I took it to a shop to get some film and a battery, hoping the light meter would work. It didn’t. The clerk told me that it's still great and to just use a separate meter (like an app on my iphone) to set the exposure. After pulling up a PDF of the repair manual, I started to diagnose the power disconnect from the fresh battery to the galvanometer. Immediately I found a wire disconnected from the battery holder. I tried to reconnect it and melted the metal prong straight through the plastic carrier. Oh well.

This was right before the weekend turned arctic, but I had to get out to see what shooting film was all about. You can only watch so many videos and read so many articles before you have to try, fail, and try again. I woke up Saturday morning and peaked outside at a town which looked like it had seen a ghost. It was time to burn a roll.

A Journey Begins