Rolleiflex Roadtrip

today's episode is sponsored by [Music] Squarespace yep that's me you're probably wondering how I ended up in this situation well I guess it started many years ago sitting around the campfire in Yellowstone with these ass clowns like caveman recount their gazelle hunting stories and you know traditional unab banga anyway someone put on some music eventually some Lord hiron and at first I was pretty apathetic towards it but then I grew up and finally felt the touch of a woman and from there I began to understand the music more and more smash cut to now where I have all their albums and even their EPS on vinyl that I sit around all day and cry to I mean do push-ups to I've even been to a few shows over the years and it was time for another one this year in Albuquerque with the same crew that I was camping in Yellowstone with that fateful night of course I need to bring a camera with me as per usual but we'll that later if you're lucky I mean you read the title of the video so it's not really going to be a [ __ ] surprise is it before we left for our trip I did some very professional maintenance on the bike old rust bucket yep still works my totally platonic nothing sexual has ever happened between us I swear riding partner Tim and I would cruise on out east to meet everyone starting at the very ass crack of dawn a long day yeah longer now I'm looking at this anyway after drinking some burnt liquid diarrhea activator we hopped on our Hogs and set sail at the morning with chrome between our butt cheeks [Music] [Music] holy [ __ ] you can hear me I put a microphone in the helmet what a concept I guess now is a good time s and talk to you we have uh 5 hours and 347 miles to our destination speaking of destination brand the Phoenix uh ultimately our goal is to get to alquerque but that's 800 miles and uh that's just not going to happen in one day it's supposed to be in Arizona by about 1: p.m. today and LA traffic is uh world famous so we figured we kill two birds with one sound keeping early it's a good strategy the uh downside of course you got to wake up early and drink IHOP coffee uh looks like we're going into a cloud feels like it it'sing cold oh yeah little bit of rain wow I don't know if you can see up ahead but it looks like we're about to uh come out of uh this cloud cover be cool this is the kind of weather uh basa holds Simba up to you know what I mean oh wait no it's the monkey all right first gas St the trip lighting's good hopefully I can shoot something so I didn't shoot anything here that's the most beautiful Dollar General I've ever seen I mean it was the lighting but you [Music] know um in a Palm Desert now there's been a lot of uh dust kick up yeah damn feel like it's in my pants my ass is getting a little sore anyway anyway it was time to shoot at a gas station I've been to 13 million times I'm not at all exaggerating for traumatic effect of course I'm at nothing at all except it maybe annoying without a camera in hand so as you probably already know I brought one along with some ector Chrome pre-loaded in it the Roy Flex t a semi modular tlr camera that has been retrofitted to shoot 645 format for economy and just because I love to my [ __ ] up and can't have anything just be normal it fits really well into my tank bag and it doesn't really get in the way when the vibrations of the bike spur my enthusiasm if you catch my drift it's also perfect for shooting nothing but gas stations which is about all I shoot on these road trips because we have to stop at like six of them every day the Rolex is a camera that I am still getting used to we're still in the talking stage you know what I mean I like using it quite a bit and the results are always nice but it isn't always [Music] intuitive anyway these first few photos they ain't bad I suppose I could definitely hate on them a lot more this one is actually good except for the fact it's underexposed I just got a little lucky I saw this red bus parked in the distance I went over to take a photo of it and the guy who lives in it I guess happened to cruise up on his bike so I snapped a photo and then you know ran away like a good Street [Music] photographer what's up Arizona [Music] always got to have a good underpass shot otherwise it's not a motorcycle video eventually made it to Phoenix as the sun was starting to slow cook Us Alive on the bikes we sat down at a diner and had a healthy discourse and Dish course for lunch about whether or not we should continue onward and try and kill some miles towards Albuquerque I also took a photo of Tim on ACAC Chrome and there clearly wasn't enough light in there for it to happen I shoot my ocum through a heavy warming filter which essentially takes away like a stop of light making this effectively a 50 ISO film and 50 ISO with a 3.5 lens indoors isn't going to work out well for you nine times out of 10 and it's about time I learned that lesson I do like what it did to the light refracted through his triple Long Island IC tea here it makes it look like his hand isn't making contact with the glass and it's doing some Chris Angel floating [ __ ] anyway we decided 400 mil was enough for one day especially with it getting up and over you know 100° out there so we planted our sweet asses at the bar and had some victory beers followed by a totally sober and quiet night at the hotel [Music] hell yeah he's dead isn't scir the name of that squirrel from Ice [Music] Age you see they have a Waffle House yeah I saw that on the way in town oh oh yeah do you hear this Jason's audience this has been easy as I'm going to lock you out of this hotel room as soon as you leave where's mying Ranch didn't she give us like a sh ton of ranch who yours that's my Ranch I am Ranch you ever made your own ranch yes really yeah what's the B can it ever be milk like regular milk no Tim like breast milk what the [ __ ] would you put milk in ranch what kind of dumb ass are you videoing yourself eating pizza right now yeah do you ever feel ashamed at what your life has become constantly the next day the planned route was Phoenix to our friend's place in Albuquerque another 400 something miles which is pretty dumb up until this point I would say about 375 Mi was you know our record and I'd say by at the end of that day yeah we were to cranky jackasses so who knows what this day had in store for us I mean I do cuz I've already lived through this hell but you're just going to have to find out ear y damn just missed it you think that's going to mix well with coffee [Music] all right good morning although I don't really know what's good about it feel okay for you know having drank nine beers last night today we're heading to Albuquerque or up early because it's going to get really hot and uh kind of don't want to deal with that oh Cracker Barrel Tim sees it too we have another 400 miles to do and uh we don't want to do it in the heat uh this is potentially a problem H this is the road it seems like it's blocked all right we're going to figure out what how to get there all right real quick update can't figure out why 87's closed we we're looking at potentially trying to reconvene with it but ultimately we just don't know cuz there's no information about it at least that we can find so we're just going to go up to black staff Sedona area and reconvene with the uh I40 and just Barrel our way through to Albuquerque should get there around 1:30 damn hella abandoned buildings uh it was already going to be a long day 400 miles something like that now it's now it's a really long [Music] day most of the day was just whatever we hopped from gas station to gas station and stopped for lunch if you've ever been on I40 you probably know it's kind of just a lot of bullshittery actually some bullshittery would have been nice there ain't [ __ ] out [Music] there at one of the gas stations who [ __ ] knows where it's been a slog I whipped out the rolif flex why don't know it's not like anyone has ever gotten anything good in the middle of the harsh midday ass light on ocum so I took this photo of Tim and it's fine which is a generous word to use here Shadows are absolutely crushed into Oblivion I mean that is darker than the one time I left Douro in the oven for 3 hours it does make Tim seem like some mysterious and Anonymous person on a bike though so that's cool but maybe I'm just selling this photo better than it actually [Music] is 47 mil and we're done for the day let's get it whatever 400 long ass miles later we made it to our brother from another mother Brendan's house where my actual brother from the same mother was also that's man you go and hug him first you know I just want to make you jealous cuz I well it worked after pissing off all the neighborhood dogs with our exhausts it was time to settle in and settle down and by settle down I mean drink more beer and throw can I just film my beer in peace me and Matt it was like [Applause] lobster I took a nap on the way in yeah it's pretty jarring to wake up and realize you're on look at this douche he shoots film he's trying to be artsy what hey Jason yeah wonder if my is it still here toilet I'll drink to that anyway before we knew it it was barbecue time and I was prepared to stand over the grill shirtless with my pinky and my belly button making sure my Meats were cooked tenderly [Music] I also took this photo and this photo the latter being the you know better one I think the colors could be a lot better but compositionally you know it's working [Music] okay it's hella zoomed in yeah I'm far away on the side anything else this photo also sucks I don't know what was going on it couldn't possibly be me it was probably the camera or lens or maybe swamp gas refracting out Venus or something I don't think it was me at all it couldn't be [Music] me God I missed that you looking at I think so why there so many motorcycles in here we're starting a game you don't have enough room be sure to good you guys Count Me Down Yeah Yeah from 400 400 2 1 [Music] [Music] go good morning it is a good morning because today is the day of the concert and I'm not hung over which is some kind of miracle I don't know what we're going to do today but I do know we're not going to hop on the bikes so we actually did hop on the bikes that day hopefully shoot some stuff I finished the ACT Chrome last night probably going to put into black and white the clouds here in Albuquerque are very like fluffy and and like sprinkled across the sky which is always like very blue I think Caleb told me once that the cloud here were like really good he's a cloud professional I guess going to shoot it with the orange filter let's go ahead and load that up and get some coffee it's pretty early [Music] [Music] [Music] this shot is great it's definitely underexposed because of the you know backlight but I do like the tones quite a bit I don't know why I ever around with color black and white just always seems to work that morning was slow moving but at least my brother was awake and in a good and totally non-aggressive mood you sleep all right you give a let's steal stuff from Brandon like what I don't think there's anything value over here here there's a at the bottom of the fridge there's vanilla almond milk what' you say he's asking if the mug was clean not about the status of the almond milk oh yeah somebody's getting ripped off right now after some morning tow truck repo entertainment to pair nicely with our special coffee I attempted to fix my helmet you know beyond the electrical tape hack job that I had in place despite my ass being Rudder and flatter than ever before my brother and I decided to hop back on the Chrome and check out Albuquerque a little of course I was packing my rooll Flex because who knows maybe I'll finally take a solid photo though it wasn't looking good don't drink this don't it's gasoline it's 151 [Music] good all right what's up no uh helmet rattle at least right now see how it holds up when it we're going 60 I'm doing a little cruise with my brother we both have had motorcycle licenses for a couple years now and never gotten a chance to fly together I guess you could say so we're going to go to Oldtown Albuquerque and uh I don't know probably stop in take a walk around be a cute little date man on- man brother date [Music] [Music] why do you always have to ruin my footage man I can't use this now make your footage oh more of this I want to check out this hotel that seemed pretty cool and boy was it I think I could have shot it better but some photos like this one are actually kind of nice at first glance you know it's just a Lobby whatever but if you look at it longer the receptionist is about dead center and framed nicely inside this door and then you know inside this Al Cove the chandelier has some nice halation glow and the Highlight roll off outside the door is phenomenal however for every solid photo there's like three turds I don't know what the I was thinking taking this shot but I did and I must be publicly ashamed for it [Music] [Music] Daddy's home anyway with the show growing closer we decided to go get some food before we obliterate our stomachs with Biblical proportions of drugs and alcohol and we're glad we did because at the restaurant brandan found the nucleus chip back at the house and looking pretty fly for a pale ass white guy I busted out the rly and shot some hot bangers in the backyard like this one pretty solid but honestly this is the one for sure good lighting good layering and interesting to look at what more can you ask for on black and [Music] white anyway the show eventually started at like 10: p.m. or you know 20:00 for all you Europeans and yeah it definitely got hot swampy and sexy for sure [Music] wasn't let that first cup of coffee to set your uh bowel BS on track for the day you know I really don't need to hear this right now time are you flying out God I can't wait hopefully sooner rather than later on our down day strategically scheduled to recover from the concert the night prior Tim squared decided to hit the greens and I decided to come along for you know S's and G's I don't give a literal rat's ass about golf I grew up in a town that had a lot of golf courses and country clubs and it always seemed just you know boring as [ __ ] but I thought in the moment that tagging along would be an interesting exercise in pain and photography you know shooting something that I'm pretty apathetic about I do think it's really easy to fall into this hole of like nothing around you is very interesting and you need to go somewhere new and exotic to take good photos it's a Groove that I've personally fallen into many times but that's not a good approach I guess if you can't photograph The Familiar then how are you going to photograph the unfamiliar regardless with the Kent mirror in my camera absolutely ripped through in my naive I loaded some more ector Chrome for the job hello hey nice camera thank you kind of a pain in the ass to reload [Music] these initial photos are okay nothing too crazy there isn't much color out there worth shooting to be honest I think that's the problem maybe black and white would have been the move or hell even arrom if I was packing it's a lot of flex in this driver aren't they supposed to do that or no depends I'm not that experienced to know but I know this is definitely the flexi driver I've ever used basically a pool Nole [Music] this is probably the best photo I took there visually interesting for sure I don't know what the smoke was from I mean it's Albuquerque it could be a gender reveal explosion or it could be someone barbecuing up some downright filthy squirrel meat we'll never know I do wish I gave the shot a little bit more light all these shots actually it's passible as it is but yeah a fraction more Shadow detail would have helped which is tough because this was definitely the shot closest amongst the set to being good yeah here's the uh golf ball that i' hit this is why I don't play golf damn dude you got can anyway eventually I gave up on that Pursuit when I remembered ector Chrome is expensive as [Music] [ __ ] okay you're order is $400 [Music] [Music] that was unnecessary so remember not that long ago I was complaining about 470 mi in one one day well the next day the plan was to go from Brendan's place in Albuquerque to Las Vegas Nevada tomorrow's the big day 575 miles I don't know what we were thinking [Music] let's do it 5:00 a.m. time to wake up all the neighbors [Music] I guess this gas station is closed for some reason okay well I guess that's why I got spare [Music] fuel drop counts that ride out was pretty tough to say the least it wasn't a great start to a very long day we went up and in elevation on I40 headed west and boy howdy did we freeze our chicken nuggets off what the I know dude it got down to 38 really yeah I got a little a frost warning on my dashboard and it happened like instantly too let's get something to like eat and drink and let's warm up give it a time give it a little bit of time it's too cold yeah [Music] okay I don't know if you can hear it in my voice but it was getting kind of dicey there for a second the temperature rapidly dipped like we hit this cold pocket I don't know uh so we stopped at this gas station got some food coffee and uh we're back at it still cold but at least it's warming up all right [Music] all right another 80 or so Miles done we're in Arizona there an abandoned building here that somebody is in probably we are in Holbrook just outside of the Petrified national forest and uh not freezing anymore so it's a win for us let's gas up and keep it moving I was on the highway we're probably going about 80 and I look down and I see this uh this tank bag here the zipper on the bottom was open so I reached in there and make sure the tlr was still there and the uh and this phone and they were both there which was good I just needed to find a way to zip it up and secure it so I reduced speed put on cruise control took my hands off the bars and zipped it up real quick years of uh riding bikes with no handlebars uh paid off or something glad nothing flew out realistically you should probably just pull over that's what I'll do next time I promise still have about 350 Mi to Vegas [Music] all right we are on the final stretch we have uh 63 mil to uh our spot in Vegas is currently 94° so we're not having the best time we go the temperature on the dash is saying 99° now and Bo does it feel like it 38° 99° love that for us I could be wrong but I think the Hoover Dam is over there somewhere yeah I'm guessing it is based on all these people well we made it to Vegas only have 12 miles to go but of course there's traffic it is 101 degrees on the dash it's been a uh a very long ride and a lot of it's been through the heat kind of ready to just experience the miracle of air conditioning [Music] oh holy sh [Music] anyway finally out of the extreme heat and extreme cold I guess we took a moment and realized we were in Vegas and currently sober which is like dividing by zero it just can't happen we decided to reward ourselves from the long day with White Castle even though I think our bodies have been through enough already [Music] the next morning I decided to kick the hang over by grabbing my rly Flex and taking some shots of the signs around Fremont Street I mean what else are you supposed to do in Vegas at 11:00 a.m. am well I don't think I did them Justice I do think I got some okay shots which eventually led me to this it's great probably the best from the trip and it reminded me of why I do around with color you know sometimes the one good shot amongst like 30 is a tough cell the lady in the shot is framed perfectly the contrast of her against this like Dark Void in front of her is pretty nice and the gold mixed with the red colors are straight up just hitting it feels like she's alone in some apocalyptic empty Las Vegas setting or something I also attempted to take some nighte photos but I didn't really get anything good I know I could do better and someday I will though this is like my sixth time in Vegas and I haven't gotten it done yet so I don't really have High Hopes rest in peace b anyway we went to the Heart Attack Grill that night possibly because we were hungry or possibly because I was hoping a greasy burger might finally kill me once and for all I'm ready to [ __ ] die if you don't finish your meal or your big ass drink they shame the [ __ ] out of you so naturally Tim and I being freaks we left a few drops behind anyway that span sesh was Transcendent we woke up the next day reawakened with spiritual enlightenment like a Rena era philosopher ready to put in some deep thinking about the consequences of our actions Vegas didn't really need us anymore and we had gotten what we needed from it I grabbed my now empty roly flex and we hit the dusty trail back home to LA with swollen asses but at least we could rest a little bit easier knowing that our money makers weren't you know Crayola jazb Jam red because of the bikes you know this time anyway before we hear my closing thoughts on everything I'd like to first thank today's sponsor Squarespace for their ongoing support need a website that stands out from the crowd and fast let me introduce you to your new best friend Squarespace Squarespace is an all-on-one website building platform that features the ability to truly unlock your creative potential start with one of hundreds of professionally designed templates or get started crafting your Visionary website with something called blueprint AI a new Powerhouse feature in squarespace's building toolkit blueprint AI is an automated way to generate the foundation of your website by answering a few simple questions at the get-go and letting the algorithm figure out the rest for you with 1.4 billion potential design combinations and the brand new fluid engine a Sleek new way to drag and drop elements of your website wherever at your disposal you can build the website of your dreams faster than never before and best of all if you run into any snags at any point you can get in touch with squarespace's awardwinning 24/7 customer support or find the answer you need amongst the always available help guides so what are you waiting for if you're ready to build a website you can start a free trial today it's squarespace.com grainy days if you use the code graany days to check out you can get 10% off your first purchase anyway that's that I don't really think I got very many good photos from my travels this time around maybe after finishing the video you would also agree sure there are some that I really like and maybe that's good enough this go around really felt like it was more about the experience in the camera was more or less supplementary if you come home with several shots that you're excited about then perhaps it's worth it overall and almost makes the expense of film semi- worth it and you know what [ __ ] it we broke some personal distance records I don't think we'll ever come close to 575 m in a day ever again because that [ __ ] sucked but hey at least we never complained once we actually complained like 10 times one thing is definitely for sure though I need to stop taking pictures of gas stations everybody does it and they all do it better than me whatever I like the royy flex quite a bit it's a good travel companion and you know everyone on the street has to say something when they see it so that's kind of cool the lens is definitely a little bit dreamy sometimes but I ain't hating it I believe photographers call it character you should get some sometime anyway that's about it I hope that you gain something from this video I don't know what it would be but I I'm hopeful nonetheless