Shooting Pics On Morris Ave

Last Saturday Ian and I finally were able to get together to go shoot some pics of his bike for a couple of upcoming projects. We headed downtown to try and get some cool industrial type backgrounds. The plan was to meet at Sloss Furnace, but once I got there it was decided that it wouldn't work because they had already set up too much stuff for their Halloween haunted house. Ian and I decided that Morris Ave would be a cool place. We still shot a bunch of pics of Ian riding across the 1st Ave. bridge past Sloss, but the stationary shots were done on Morris Ave. This street used to be where all the cool bars were back in the day. One of my favorites was there, good ol' Jekyll & Hyde's. Saw many cool bands in that place, sadly today it has been turned into lofts. Most of the buildings there now have been converted to offices and lofts. The only cool bar still there is Mathew's where we had the after-party for the first Dixie Roundup. It's still a cool area with the cobblestone street and old architecture. It seems that Saturday mornings are prime time for photographers to play there since we saw about 10 different groups taking their pics. One of those groups came down to where Ian and I were shooting and asked if they could take some pics with Ian's bike. Of course he agreed, he's a nice guy like that. There were two young ladies taking photos for their Senior portraits or something like that. One of the girls Mom was with them and helping to photographer where she could. The photographer was Tiffanie from Bae Davis Photography and she was really nice. We talked shop for a bit and then she got to work. I took a few shots while she was working, that's the price of using my props in her pics ;-). I brought the cool bike and Biker, she brought the young ladies and together we got some good shots.

While we were taking the last pics Loaf arrived and we hung out for a bit before deciding it was time to go eat. As usual when Loaf and I get together his bike decided to act up. He's got some kind of electrical gremlin but he'll get it sorted out, he always does. We ended up going to a cool BBQ place to eat then Ian took off to get ready to go to the Alabama game and Loaf and I headed over to Conte Kustoms to hang out with Raf. While we were there I took a few pics of Rex's shovel and Loaf borrowed some space to trouble shoot his bike. Rain was moving in by now so we went our separate ways to try and get home before the rain hit. I've had some more adventures since Saturday, but that's a separate post. Catch ya Later....

We parked on Morris Ave to walk around and scout the best spots to shoot.

Watching a pro at work and trying to pic up tips. Tiffanie was super nice and gave me some clues I have to follow up on about using reflectors.

The young ladies who were shooting some senior pictures. Of course I didn't get their names. Why should this day be any different from the rest of them.

That's one of the girls Mom holding the reflector, Ian was Instagraming pics he took of them.

Tiffanie at work again

Sitting pretty

You can see she was looking at HER photographer, but I still took the shot.

The 2nd young lady of the pair. Both were really nice and seemed to be having fun posing with a real chopper.

The best thing is that neither one burned their legs on the pipes.

 We moved into the lower parking lot to get some pics with the trains in the background.

 Loaf made the scene after riding up from Montgomery. You know it's bad where he lives when he'll ride 2 hours just to hang out while we take pics.

 Leaving Morris Ave. for lunch.

 Going back past Sloss.

One again a great day was had by all. Can't wait for this weekend!!!

Last Sunday's Ride

So with Larry and Ashley out in California for Born Free and the fact that it's over 100* around here lately not much happened on Saturday. Sunday however a few of us got together to take a little ride and have some fun. Ian, Whitey and I decided to meet at the old Garage Co location and work from there. We ended up heading out Shelby County 11 towards Chelsea and looping back around past the new Garco location. Ian split off about halfway through to do the family thing, but it was still great to get out and do a little riding with good folks.

The meet up at the old Garco.

Ian waiting for the damn light to turn green. He has this bike looking RIGHT. Now he can concentrate on the shovel he's building.

Whitey on the most kick ass modern Triumph I've seen waiting for the damn light as well. I'm going to do a real photo shoot of this bike one day soon.

Ridin' the back roads.

Saw this in someone's yard. I LOVE riding out in the country.

More tree lined roads.

We pulled over to discuss directions and I snapped this one of Whitey's bike.

Ian talking to Whitey about what way to go. I don't know the roads in this area so I was just following where they led.

I thought y'all might like to see my master cylinder.

Another reason I like to ride in the country. Folks are still patriotic out here. This wasn't just a July 4th deal this was a permanent display.

The driveway next to the display.

From across the street.

This was just down the road and really caught my eye. I love this stuff!

Just Whitey and I at this point.

We stopped at a cool little cemetery to take a drink and ended up walking around a bit. Really cool place that I may use for pics some other time.

So that's it for this time. I'll have more pics later. Gotta do the family thing this weekend so it may be a little slow with the posts for a bit.

75 XLCH From Back in the Day

This bike was built 20 years or so ago and then kept through the years to be given to the builders son recently. I haven't met the owner yet but I got the story and wanted to share this beautiful bike. It still runs after all these years and other than a shifting issue (bent shift fork?) it is ready to ride right now even after all these years. The bike is a 75 XLCH with a bolt on hard tail, springer fork and of course my favorite upswept fishtails. Hopefully this bike will stay in the family and see many more miles of fun on the road.

Classic style!

Diggin" those pipes!

Sweet Ironhead Chopper

Last weekend a guy brought this bike in. Unfortunately I didn't catch his name, but I did get to talk to him for a few minutes. Basically he picked this bike up in NC and has since added the chrome rear fender, sissy bar and this BADASS tank painted by Shane who is a tattoo artist at Non Stop Art here in Birmingham. Shane just started painting not too long ago and is already doing some incredible work. This was actually only the 2nd tank he has painted. Check out the pics and enjoy!

The sissy bar was made to work with an old style bobbed fender. Spenser cut off the mounts and made it work for this style set up instead.

Nice clean lines on this bike for sure.

I think the bars are from Biltwell, but I can't remember for sure.

A nice clean example of a '75 XL done right.