RIP and a Helmet Rant

So sad I had to dig up this photo. I had a all too short moment to meet and photograph SJ Harris at the Beautiful Bikers ride this fall. It’s easy to see though that she was a gorgeous, fun and sassy – as she’s pretending to drop her bike here.
She was the first black woman professional road racer, a professional stunt rider, beloved by the bike community and inspiration for women riders of all races.
She was killed on the set of Deadpool during a stunt on Monday. No helmet. My respects to her and her loved ones.

Thank you Hollywood for showing women bikers and women of color being awesome on the big screen. Now we ask that you take responsibility and stop showing riders without helmets.  Helmets save lives and people all need to see and accept it’s simply a MUST wear item and not a fashion choice.

Those Diner and Motorcycle Guys

Radio is alive and well in this age of podcasts. Those Diner and Motorcycle Guys bring together the holy alliance of diners, motorcycles and talk. Its like fries, salt and ketchup – or like wind, leather and motor oil. Its like Garrison Keeler is your old riding buddy sitting with plate of eggs and tales of the road sprinkled with name droppings of moto celebrities.

I’ll have the pleasure of being in the company of moto adventurer Tiffany Coates (on last weeks show), photographer Sara Laliberte and Grizzly Adams! Tune in early Saturday morning to catch ME live on :  http://thosedinerandmotorcycleguys.com/podcasts.cfm  (the podcast will then be posted for listening at any time).

If you’re an early bird – maybe hitting the road for a great Saturday ride – call in to the show (323) 417-6788.  Go ahead and ask me the burning question- “are there any naked chicks in your book?”

I’ll be talking about how my book Chicks On Bikes made and how I’ve seen the imagery of women motorcyclists change over time. If you still haven’t got the book – now’s the time as its discounted $5 over buying through Amazon.

Also, learn about the inspiring and beautifully made book of motorcycle women in Montana who conga lined across the country to grass roots raise money for cancer. Author Tamela Rich combines her wisdom with full color pages of my photographs in “Live Full Throttle: Life Lessons from Friends Who’ve Faced Cancer”. Check it out here or on Amazon: Live Full Throttle

Here’s the charming host Garrison Leykam and Ralph Deluco:

LA Motorcycle Film Fest photos

by bikers, about bikers, for bikers… The 3rd Los Angeles Motorcycle Film Fest was a hit. They also raised money for the outstanding organization Riders For Health

I missed a lot of films as I wondered around shooting. But I’ll cast my vote for “Left Side Story” as my favorite. Its about 48 y.o. racer Alan Kempste who looses his whole left side arm and leg in a crash with a drunk driver. He goes on to rebuild a bike and race again. Its awesome spirit and amazing to see him taking the turns with no leg or arm.
And always a highlight to me seeing those East Side Moto Babes out on the town. Check them out in their bitchin’ jean jumpsuits riding electric bikes.
AND NOW on with the photos… (click a photo and you can scroll through the gallery)…

 

Live Full Throttle – Life Lessons From Friends Who Faced Cancer

If I were independently wealthy this is what I’d do. Work with a terrific writer like Tamela Rich photographing books about fascinating and compelling subjects like Live Full Throttle: Life Lessons From Friends With Cancer. I’m honored to be the photographer of this beautifully written and produced book.

The heart of this story is a ad hoc group of mostly middle age and beyond women – conga riding around the country in blinged out bikes and pink bra’s strapped on every-which-way. They were independently and boisterously raising money for cancer. Writer Tamela Rich joined up with them two years ago and collected such inspiring stories and life lessons that a book had to be done. The riders culminate the summer of conga fundraising in the tiny town of Shell, Wyoming which embodies the western ideals of both stubborn individualism and close knit comminity.  This principles resonate and parallel with the spirit of bikers as well as the wisdom to be learned from cancer survivors.

Go to Tamela Rich’s website  directly to learn more and buy an signed copy. Or get it at Amazon.com

author Tamela Rich

Photographer Christina Shook

112 full color pages

8×8″

$24.95

 

I want to be a part of it, NY NY – FREE TIX & after party

We’ve got a posse of west coast moto girls coming to NYC next week with me. We’ll spend our days at the International Motorcycle Shows. But our nights, hahaha, are ours!

IMS will be at here at the Javits Center. I hope the sky will be purple.

Here’s when I’ll be speaking at The Hub: “Who Are Women Riders Today.  A Visual Presentation.”

Friday 1/22 7pm

Saturday 1/23 12:30pm

I’ve got 4 free tickets to give away to the IMS so if you want them show me the LOVE.  To win a free set of 2 tickets (worth $50) do one of these things:

1. comment on this blog and tell why women bikers rock.  Or….
2. twitter this: I want FREE TIX to NY International Moto Show @cshookup

And I’ll buy the winner a beer at our after party. Whoohoo!  Chicks On Bikes book is having a get together after party.  We’re cordially inviting all women bikers who we know and love or would love to know. Guys are welcome on extremely good behavior.

Chicks On Bikes – IMS After Party 6PM Sunday 1/23

@ The Hudson Yard Cafe – a short walk across the street.

There will some very honored guests coming out.  I tell you just one, the funniest moto blogger of them all FuzzyGalore.com – really witty and whacky stuff. And to make Fuzzy just too perfect, she’s a girl. I’m pretty excited about meeting her. I’m giggling thinking about it.

Heck, I’ll tell you one more revered guest of the night: my other favorite NY blogger of prolific and clever words on motorcycling and beyond –  www.steadyonthehumble.com

Let me tell you where I really really wanted but cannot have the after party: American Trash. Its a biker bar open to all – sporty or cruisery, clubs or solo. The owner is an avid Ducati guy who’s owned the place for 22 years and dishes up superb clam chowder.  Alas, it on the upper East Side. Which is fine if you aren’t bringing all your friends along from Javits Center halfway cross town. So it is not there.

 

My pick for NY biker bar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

BIG photos of chicks on bikes at IMS, Elena Myers, Sue and Joan run the show…

BIG. BIGGER. BEST.  I love seeing my photos so big gracing the Women Ride center at the International Motorcycle show. But best is that the people who run the show put the thought and effort into really improving women’s presence and honored us by having real women shown.

BIG photos of my real women bikers set the tone at the women's center.

Do I look pleased?

The women center looked great and Joanne Dunn and Sue Slate deserve huge credit, slaps on the back and rounds of drinks bought for them.

See Joanne right there setting up the ever aggravating AV.

If you want unbiased and thoughtfully critiqued review of motorcycle products from a savvy womans point of view – go to Joanne’s website www.gearchic.com

Sue Slate speaks engagingly on any motorcycle topic at all.

Sue is a terrific speaker. She’s like a favorite auntie who comes to dinner and can mesmerize the whole family dishing up wise advice peppered with tales of the road. Her relentless enthisiasm to encourage and share information is as well as sheer energy of doing this ALL DAY every weekend in every city is formidable.

Here she is showing me how a 5’2″ woman rides a KTM 900. She is a entire foot shorter than me and I find that bike to fit be perfectly. The trick? Custom made SUPER TALL SOLES on her riding boots so her feet can reach the ground. Maybe 3 extra inches there.

Sue Slate shows her custom made TALL boot for short rider.

Here is one of my heros – Elena Myers. Only 17 and the racing queen. I saw her win last summer at Infineon Raceway as the first woman to win a pro AMA race. She’s a tad bit shy and seems quite modest signing photos while awash in admiration of a crowd of fans.

Elena Meyers at IMS

That admiring fan on the right is Lil’ Red Riding Liz and you can check out her blog too.

Fast, young and beautiful Elena Myers

If you’re going to one of the next upcoming International Motorcycle shows, use this online code to get a discount on your ticket: COB   (as in Chicks On Bikes, ya know).

International Motorcycle Shows -cool new Women’s Center

Last year the International Motorcycle Shows did their first Women’s Center and this year they’re making it better. They’ve got these big structural panel all through it with huge photos of women riders.REAL women riders. Not stock photos.  And best of all they are mostly MY photos.

Womens Center Design

The folks who put on the International Motorcycle Show are savvy business people who see that the women’s market is the place to grow. Our numbers are booming as while the boomer generation declines.

Use this coupon code to buy your ticket on line and save $ and help track women riders: COB    Click here for the International Motorcycle Show Website.

Come hear me speak and my images projected on the big screen at San Mateo Show this weekend: Saturday 2pm at the Hub. And Sunday 1pm at the HUB.  If you don’t catch me there come see me at my book table by the Women’s Center.

I’ll be at NYC shows too – Jan. 21-23. Stay tuned for schedule.

If you don’t know what The International Motorcycle Shows are, what the heck? Its just about everything you ever wanted to know or see in the world of bikes and bike products.

And if this all weren’t enough – this weekend  – Nov. 19-21 at San Mateo will be Elaina Meyers the first women to win an AMA pro motorcycle race, and only 16 years old. Gracing the Women’s Center and giving autographs.

Elena Meyers

Here are the Show Dates across the country:

 

Nov 12-14 2010     Dallas Texas 

Nov 19-21 2010      San Mateo California

Dec 10-12 2010       Seattle Washington

Dec 17-19 2010       Long Beach California

Jan 7-9 2011            Novi Michigan

Jan 14-16 2011        Washington DC

Jan 21-23 2011        New York New York

Jan 28-30 2011       Cleveland Ohio

Feb 4-6 2011           Minneapolis Minnesota

Feb 11-13 2011        Chicago Illinois

Feb 25-27 2011       Greenville S.Carolina

Mar 9-12 2011         Daytona Florida

Bikers fill Pismo beach – fantastic photo

After a rocking day of bike rally and a Saturday night of god knows what –  well over 500 bikers still got themselves down to Pismo Beach for the grand panoramic photo.

I shot it with a funky old vintage Widelux camera. Film is at the lab as I type. Ah the old days of waiting for film at the lab.

1948 Widelux

And I fired off a few frames with my Nikon D90 and a fixed 50mm lens. I was feeling old school and all I brought with me was that 50mm sharp as a tack 1.2 lens which wasn’t nearly wide enough. But I know you’ll be dying to see something so I will post them here.

I’m really counting on the group photo master Jeff Ellmore who was the real brains behind the operations of coralling people into the right spot with the right perspective with the right camera (a medium format panoramic Fuji) and a very tall ladder.

I know from 20 years of shooting that many things can go wrong and even the simplest can take you down. The first few frames he shot with the lens cap on!

Kicking off with a proper National Anthem sung by a local highschool girl and words by luminous dignitaries.

But you all really want to see the BIG photo so I’ll get to it. It sure looks TINY on this blog.

But it was a beautiful thing to behold from 30 feet up a ladder, all those shining happy biker faces making a moto moment. This is a rough composite from my digital camera. The fog swirled around and camera exposures wobbled. But here it is:

so how many people are there here?

Afterwards as people milled around I found a few more moments. Starting with a bunch of girls, you know I can resist a women’s photo. I believe this is a mix of southern cali ladies.

chicks take pix

And then there was this guy who cut quite a jib (is that an expression?)

John Paul Duffy the Offical Interlocutor of the Roadrunners

Here is 92 year old Vincent Anslinger and his 1941 Harley he bought as a 22 year old young man. He never thought he’d own it for the next 70 years.

"I waited 3 months after ordering the bike and remember very well the day I rode it off the lot."

Some of the good people who helped pull the epic photo together. Wish I had got a shot of PMC road captain Todd Hodge who I vote the hardest working guy on set.

Tegan Hetzel, first woman president of SFMC

Thank you to SFMC and PMC for pulling it all off. Lets do it again next year!

Be part of history at Pismo Beach

In 1929 hundreds of motorcyclists headed to Pismo Beach to take part in the Western Federation of Motorcyclists (W.F.M.) Rally, where this panoramic photo was taken. This year the San Francisco MC and Pasadena MC are re-creating this historic photo with the Pismo Beach Motorcyle Classic. Riders will leave from both So Cal and Nor Cal, meeting in the middle for an block party on Saturday Sept. 18th and panoramic photo on the 19th.

And who’s shooting this photo?  Me on a vintage panoramic camera called a Widelux where the lens mechanically moves across the image. And two other excellent photographers using digital and large format cameras. Everyone is welcome to be in the photograph and prints are included with those who sign up for the rally in advance or can be purchased there.

I can’t tell how many are women in this original photo. But I know there’ll be plenty this year. Come on out and join us, here’s more info.

LA part 2

The East Side Motor Babes called out the troups and the Cretins opened their doors for a late Thursday night roof top party with Chicks On Bikes. I rolled up the ramp to their rooftop clubhouse with rows of styley bikes parked under the black starless city night sky. With a perfect, truly perfect shining backdrop of the downtown skyline.

I did what I love to do best: photographed hip chicks on bikes. And here they are:

Presidente of ESBM Stacie B. London

This woman is in my tall girl club - 6'1" like me.

throw your arms in the air like you just don't care

on your knees, gentlemen.

sometimes its gotta be black and white.

yep, black and white.

I'm really taken with her look.

and that sassy look.

What I see here is that long lovely leg. And the simple red bike.

even the bystanders were iconic babes.

I broke my rule and shot a sexy girl on a bike who doesn't ride.

The power trio of ESBM. Who needs freaking Charlie?

ESMB forever.

"Its a process" Words to live by.

I have a special place in my heart for women who wrench.

President of the LA Cretins, Wayne was my endearing host and AV guy.

Me and Wayne. Looks like I'm going to backhand someone.

Thank you Cretins for a great night.

You want to see more? See the whole shoot at this link.

And you can buy your own East Side Moto Babe tshirt Here.