I was very lucky to be invited to Switzerland for three weeks in August - and while it wasn't explicitly a motorcycle trip, there was plenty to photograph from a motorcyclists perspective.
I was able to get a couple day's worth of riding and photographing on a borrowed motorcycle, and boy did it make me appreciate my luggage setup on my own KLR650! More on that later...
Here are a few of the photographs, a sneak preview.
I had no idea that the Swiss made motorcycles. Here is a gorgeous 1934 Condor 850 sidecar.
Love the "motorcycle" icon on Switzerland's road signs.
Vintage Husqvarna, vintage gear, vintage sideburns! This guy was racing with the modern enduro bikes.
My girlfriend's grandfather checking out a Moto Guzzi at what looks to be an auction or motorcycle show.
Somehow the Swiss license plate just looks right on this Steve McQueen edition Triumph Bonneville T100...
I was lucky to be loaned this BMW Ündersteer 1200. Not built for the Swiss twisties! I sure was happy to be on a bike though!
I was stoked to hear that the Wilkinson bros. over at the Good Spark Garage posted a review of the Motojournalism photography ebooks.
There are many good blogs these days featuring the latest motorcycle builds, but the Wilkinson brothers dig deeper than most into the history, the people and the beauty of motorcycling.
They are bike builders themselves, and through the Good Spark Garage they interview motorcycle racers, builders, artists, and riders.
“Men do not quit playing because they grow old, they grow old because they quit playing.” - Oliver Wendell Holmes
Fifty Years of Kicks is a 20 minute video documentary featuring Paul Rodden (right) and Larry Murray (left); two experienced motorcycle riders who continue to do what they love despite age and health issues.
Fifty Years of Kicks, is a collaboration between Motojournalism.com and Traction off-road e-rag.
We've seen too many videos with teenagers doing double backflips, so with Fifty Years of Kicks, we wanted to show older adults pushing their bodies to the limit. We were tired of saying, “I wish I could have tried that when I was young”, we wanted to say, “I want to be like them when I grow up!”
We would like to continue to produce episodes profiling other interesting characters in motorcycling and are looking for sponsors to make that possible. We want to tell the stories of the people who participate, the reasons why these people engage in a sport with inherent risks and dangers, and why they can’t live without these two wheeled machines.
Any overland traveller worth their salt loves a map. The excitement of a fresh paper map spread out on the floor, every mountain pass and izthmus, terra incognita promising adventure.
It's just as rewarding to revisit torn and battered maps on your return. The map looks different now, the terrain, roads and towns infused with memory of struggles and good times.
I feel the same way about electronic maps. Less romantic, surely. But everything has it's place and the flexibility of GPS software and Google Earth can really be an asset for sharing your adventure.
I'm not the type of traveller who enjoys pre-planning my route, road by road. I prefer spontaneity and flexibility, so I generally use my Garmin GPSmap 60CSx as a way of leaving "breadcrumbs, keeping the tracks as a record of where I've been.
That Chicken Bus came out of nowhere on my way to fly over the Darien, so I had to drag a bag on that apex... Say, are those Pelican cases?
Bill Dwyer of AtlasRider.com and Matthew Scott Johnston of Magic Rabbit Productions absolutely nail it. Whether you're a cruiser, a sport rider or an ADV rider this really is, Shit Bikers Say
Another quick update! I've been running around Ontario filming the missing pieces of the motorcycle documentary.
My producer, Dallas Shannon of Traction E-Rag has been pulling strings and calling-in favours to arrange the specific scenes that needed to be shot. Everybody from the vintage collectors to the motorcycle dealerships have been super accommodating scrambling to get the old and new motorcycles we need.
We've also shot three short interviews of people who know the two main characters of the documentary.
Motorcycle Travel Photography.
Motojournalism book one is about taking better photos of your adventures with the camera you have now. Written from a motorcycle travel perspective, but applicable to all overlanders, Book One teaches the foundational photographic techniques you'll need to come home with great photos of your travels.
Book One 41 pages - Just $10!
Motojournalism book Two is about how to choose camera equipment for your overland travel, how to pack it, and how to operate it. Manual mode, aperture, shutter-speed, ISO, exposure compensation, histogram, and heaps more.
Book Two 49 pages $15.
Read about the trip
Read about the last trip - Montreal to Panama - with plenty of words and photos.
as a way of leaving "breadcrumbs, keeping the tracks as a record of where I've been.
