Light in Abstract

Light vs. night sky. No digital manipulation. Enjoy.

The Long Table Party

Every year my wife Sophie and I have an outdoor party in our back yard that we call, ‘The Long Table Party’ – it’s a great evening under the stars filled with great friends, delicious food, decadent wine, hundreds of candles, fairy lights overhead, good music in the air and laughs all around. Here are a few photos that capture the feel of a special night – enjoy!

Das Macro

The USS Bowfin Submarine – a photo essay
Location: Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii
Ambient light, 1600iso, digitally shot, rendered B&W in post production.

Scott Kennedy – Reissued

I was using my typewriter today – I have a strange fetish for the old beauty and I was reminded of this piece that I wrote a few years ago. It’s all about my Olivetti… in the time since I hammered out this piece Polaroid has discontinued making film – makes the story all the more relevant if you ask me….

Risking Reward
Originally written in 2003 (previously unpublished)

I have made a rather amazing purchase. I was at the recycling centre in Wanaka looking around for hidden treasures within the various bits of junk. As I was sifting through the crap something caught the corner of my eye. From ten paces away I could see exactly what it was. I stepped closer and my heart skipped a beat. I had found what I had been looking for. There it was in all its mint green glory, an Olivetti Lettera 22 Typewriter! Pre-dating the computer by a decade, this classic sports the little arms that WHACK the page, the death-star style ball was still a wave into the future for this beauty.

I scoped the masking tape that stuck to the top. One dollar. I fished through my trousers and came up with the coins to buy my new toy. Wrapped with excitement I sped to the stationary store to get the necessary supplies. First a ribbon, the one on the machine was installed when Christ was in short pants so needless to say it was dry as dirt. Second was paper, typewriter paper.

Once I got home I set up the machine. And there it sits just to my right, on the desk beside the laptop. About the same size actually, but no cord, no instructions, no sound effects, except of course for the resounding DING at the margin and the ever present CLICKCLICKCLICK of the keys striking the page.

It's amazing I thought that it would be a hoot to type out shopping lists and type the odd letter for a laugh. But it has grown into something quite different over the past couple of weeks since that fateful day at the recycling centre. The typewriter has begun to symbolize something deeper, something I have been striving for.

A few months ago I purchased a Polaroid camera and this typewriter is very much on the same spirit as it. In our ever-boring world there seems to be something lacking. The safety net of technology has cradled us to a point where we have been washed clean of our character. Sanitized of what makes us who we are.

Take this article for example. Before you read it, Word will automatically check the spelling on it and correct all the mistakes that I will make as I peck away. And you will never be the wiser; in fact you will assume that my spelling is in fact perfect. All my imperfections removed in one simple click of the mouse. Thanks to my computer all my little rough edges will be smoothed out for the benefit of everyone and I will be just like everyone else.

There is no delete key, no spell check, when you get to the end of the line and the word doesn't quite fit it doesn't get picked up and put onto the next line, it stays there, half finished. When the power goes out I can hammer away by candlelight, striking the keys with a force that propels the words onto the page. Everything I type, every letter is embossed onto a page, forever. In our throwaway world of email over letters and txting over phone calls, these words are permanent; there is a sense of commitment. Everything that is typed is there for the world to see, no second thoughts, no second-guessing.

Maybe that's what we all need, maybe that's what some of us are looking for, and maybe, just maybe some of us have found it. A return to a world that has consequence, where you are responsible for your mistakes. A world where reward and penance are earned, not electronically transferred into our accounts.

For some it's the risk of climbing a mountain or surfing a giant wave that re-touches them with the primal desire of responsibility. Maybe that same feeling can be achieved with a risk of a different sort. Maybe that risk can be a social risk, like daring to use the wrong 'there' in a letter or daring to ask someone to dance. It's that risk of failure, regardless of the consequences, that makes us human. From my point of view, that very thing that makes us human is being taken away by the technology we have created.

Do something today that scares you, you know you need to.

it's just like being there....

Hello blogland, I felt the need to pass this video along as soon as I saw it. It was shot and edited by an old friend of mine, Josh Rhea. Josh and I go way back; back in 2001 we were interns together at Powder Magazine in good ol' San Juan Capistrano, California. Good times back then, we both learned heaps about the publishing world, how to catch waves at San Onofre and all sorts of other stuff not safe for public consumption.

Anyway Josh just sent through this great little mountain biking video that I’m happy to pass along. It’s full of great helmet-cam footage – check out how steady it is, that’s mega hard to do.
Enjoy!
Sk


Ohio Freeride Fest from Josh Rhea on Vimeo.

Bikram Yoga and me

For the past three years yoga has been an extremely important part of my life. As an athlete, I was first drawn to the physical side of yoga – through yoga I was able to take 30minutes off of my best marathon time and prepare for the 60km Kepler Challenge mountain run. For the last 18months I’ve been practicing Bikram yoga and have successfully integrated it into my training program. Bikram Yoga has been a huge part of my Tour d'Afrique training program.

for those that don't know Bikram Yoga is a style of yoga that is practiced in a room heated to about 40c. at first the heat is nearly unbearable, but eventually you get in tuned to the environment and you let go...

For this expedition my training has consisted of many hours on the bike but also a regular dose of Bikram yoga. Bikram is the perfect preparation for this adventure for a variety of reasons. First off, it gets you strong. My legs are stronger then ever, and that’s thanks to Bikram. The second thing Bikram Yoga is great for is heat preparation – during my ride I’ll likely encounter temperatures in the 40c range. I’ll have to bike up to 130km a day in that heat – Bikram has taught me how to handle that heat and has helped prove to myself that I can actually exercise in it. The third aspect that Bikram has brought to my training is endurance. By endurance I’m referring to the root word – endure. Through Bikram I’ve learned that I can push myself to the very limit, and at that edge of supreme effort there is a moment of calm and clarity. A crystalline moment of thought that can only be achieved when you’ve pushed yourself to the limit. Yoga may have started as a physical element to my training regime, but now more then ever it has evolved into training for the mind. The mind is after all the strongest muscle in the body.

I've been lucky enough to have the support of Studio Sangha during my TDA prep. I am full of gratitude towards Peggy and the whole Studio Sangha crew – it’s really felt like a team effort to get ready for this adventure. It’s going to be an amazing experience, and thanks to my Yoga practice, it’s going to be an achievable dream.

if you live in Queenstown be sure to go and support Studio Sangha - you can find a link to their website on the righthand side of this page - if you're reading this from elsewhere in the world, have a look at http://www.bikramyoga.com/ for a class near you.

~Namaste
Scott

One Revolution

Have a look at this trailer for a pretty inspirational expedition on Mount Kilimanjaro. I know I’ll be following along this March when Chris attempts Killi – it’s going to be mega inspirational stuff! You can check out his webpage and blog HERE.



Also have a look on the vid for my great friend Sarah Wallis doing her bit in Tanzania. Longtime followers of this blog will know all about Sarah and her work with The Plaster House in Arusha, Tanzania. It’s an amazing project and has been my charity of choice for a while now. Have a look HERE and HERE for more about the Plaster House and do what you can to help them out – the work they are doing for the kids is awesome!

SK

5 easy steps to hating Robert Plant

How could you possibly hate Robert Plant? He’s the frontman of Zeppelin! Ramble On, Whole Lotta Love, Stairway… They rock with the force of some sort of mythical Gallic troll (I’m assuming that’s what Robert would have said). So how can you hate the guy? Easy – follow these five steps.

Step one – Jimmy Page, Jason Bonham and John Paul Jones start practicing music together. They enjoy it. They get excited about rock and roll.
Step two – Robert Plant makes an album of really mellow folk stuff with some chick you’ve never heard of.
Step three – Plant declines, yes, says NO!?! To a full on Led Zeppelin reunion – he claims he’s more into mellow music now and doesn’t want to play rock and roll anymore. You must forget of course that he got on stage with Pearl Jam earlier this year and rocked the shit out of some Zep covers.
Step four – Page, Bonham and Jones recruit the guy from Alterbridge to sing with them on the rumored reunion tour.
Step five – this opens the door for the remaining members of Alterbridge to reform with their former lead singer. Scott Stapp. Yes, because Robert Plant, possibly the best frontman in the history of rock declining to reform perhaps the best band ever we have to endure the ultimate kick to the guts, the reformation of Creed – the worst band ever – and by ever I even includes Nickelback.

Why Robert? Why?

Same same but different

I came across this amazing surf photo today and it was a great reminder of how varied a sport can be. Surfing, skiing, climbing – they all share the idea that you can participate at so many different levels that the high end vs. the low end doesn’t even resemble the same sport. That’s what I love about outdoor sport – even though all of us fit somewhere into a vast line of experience and expertise – we are all doing the same thing. All of us are after that moment of freedom where it feels like we can fly. Forget about pre-conceived notions of expectation and remember the pure joy of doing what we love to do. Although, I’m not sure how much Flea is enjoying the end of this ride at Wiamea…

Tour d’Afrique – Giving Back

I’ve struggled for a long time to come to terms with my philanthropic strategy for my African adventure. My trip will pass through some of the most economically disadvantaged areas of the world – and there is no doubt that I want to do something to give back and help these people. And I want to encourage all of you to help. But where I encounter the rub, is the idea that I am somehow doing this trip for the sole reason to raise awareness or funds. To say that would be a lie, a lie that I couldn’t live with.

The first reason why I am doing this trip is for the pure adventure of it – when I first learned of the TDA I was blown away by the potential of it and that aspect hasn’t diminished one bit. This is wildest dream sort of neighborhood for me, this isn’t some exercise in deprivation for the sake of a charity cause. I’m not running laps at the local YMCA or starving myself for 48hrs to implore you to dig deep into your pockets and help those in need. I’m not going to strong-arm you into writing a cheque just because I’m going to ride my bike in forty degree heat. I’m choosing to do this; I’m not looking for your pity.

That’s not to say that I don’t want you to help out the cause – but I want you to help out for your own reasons. I want you to help those in need because it’s something you feel is important to do – not out of obligation. Too often charities do little more then open up their hands and ask for cash and offer too little in the way of accountability. Likewise, expeditions funded under the thin veil of charity head to the far corners of the globe to fight disease, but the reality of a fully funded expedition looms just below the surface. I’m not going to go down that road and I don’t want you to follow me.

The charity I’m working with on this trip is the Tour d’Afrique Foundation. Every year they raise funds to by bicycles for doctors, outreach workers, teachers and others of influence in need of transportation. With these bikes, these valuable members of the community can get into the far reaches of the countryside and help those in need of their specialized brand of help. It’s a fantastic charity that I hope you’ll support, for the simple fact that they are doing amazing work for those truly in need. It is my goal that through my adventure and the telling of the tale I can encourage you to see the value in this charity. It’s a fantastic organization that is really making a difference for those who really do need outside help in order to survive.

Have a read of their website and do what you can, not for me, not for you – but for them.

http://www.tourdafrique.com/foundation/projects.html

sk