Dangerous Spouse Pics

[Danno]

Had an outing yesterday with my local camera club. We went to High Point State Park at the top of, and highest point in, New Jersey. Got special permission from the Park Service to bring in two of my dirt bikes, and some performance cars for a photo shoot in a portion of the parking lot. A beautiful day, and a lot of fun. The highlight for me (and a lot of others!) was the replica AC Shelby Cobra 427 that one of our members built. It's the Superperformance kit, if you're familiar, and took about 130-thousand dollars to build from the rolling chassis. I trailered up mine and my wife's competition motorcycles and set them up on rocks, which is their natural environment. A great time was had by all!

View attachment 379744

View attachment 379453


View attachment 379459


View attachment 379455


View attachment 379456

View attachment 379457

View attachment 379454

View attachment 379458

View attachment 379460

View attachment 379461

Is your wife a competitive Trials rider? That is an amazing sport. When I was young... Late 60s early 70s young I was amazed by that sport. All you could find about it was magazine articles and the guys that road in in it were amazing to me.

 

[Dangerspouse]

Is your wife a competitive Trials rider? That is an amazing sport. When I was young... Late 60s early 70s young I was amazed by that sport. All you could find about it was magazine articles and the guys that road in in it were amazing to me.

Hey Danno, yes she is! A 4-time New England Womens Champion, as a matter of fact. It's actually how we met. She was living in KC, MO competing on the midwest circuit, and we used to chat in a trials chatroom. That Beta motorcyle you see in the pics above is the one she gave me as my wedding present the morning we were married - she was ashamed of the old Yamaha I was competing on at the time, lol. We got married on our bikes in the middle of the woods (she wore a full wedding dress!), and then honeymooned at the Trials Training Center in Sequatchie, TN. This girl is REALLY into trials, lol!

Wow, I'm impressed you know what Trials is! It's such a relatively minor motor sport in the US, which is a shame. As you say, it's pretty amazing to watch. My dad was a top national rider in the 60's and 70's, which is how I got into it myself (and all 4 of my sisters learned to ride as well). If you're ever so unfortunate as to find yourself at the top of New Jersey, give me a call - we'll give you a demo!

Here's my little lady doin' her thang:

Our official wedding pic. She's holding up her skirt hem to show the grease stain that happened when it got caught in the chain as soon as she dropped the clutch. Almost threw her over the bars, but she saved it. A true champion, lol!:

Messin' around in our yard on MY bike. The nerve!

 

[Danno]

Hey Danno, yes she is! A 4-time New England Womens Champion, as a matter of fact. It's actually how we met. She was living in KC, MO competing on the midwest circuit, and we used to chat in a trials chatroom. That Beta motorcyle you see in the pics above is the one she gave me as my wedding present the morning we were married - she was ashamed of the old Yamaha I was competing on at the time, lol. We got married on our bikes in the middle of the woods (she wore a full wedding dress!), and then honeymooned at the Trials Training Center in Sequatchie, TN. This girl is REALLY into trials, lol!

Wow, I'm impressed you know what Trials is! It's such a relatively minor motor sport in the US, which is a shame. As you say, it's pretty amazing to watch. My dad was a top national rider in the 60's and 70's, which is how I got into it myself (and all 4 of my sisters learned to ride as well). If you're ever so unfortunate as to find yourself at the top of New Jersey, give me a call - we'll give you a demo!

Here's my little lady doin' her thang:

View attachment 380012

Our official wedding pic. She's holding up her skirt hem to show the grease stain that happened when it got caught in the chain as soon as she dropped the clutch. Almost threw her over the bars, but she saved it. A true champion, lol!:

View attachment 380013

Messin' around in our yard on MY bike. The nerve!

View attachment 380011

That is so cool. I have always been impressed by it. The closest I ever got to it was slow races . Not many Big Twin trials bikes. Who knows I might have read about your Dad. Back in those days motorcycle sports were more lumped together. If you bought a magazine you would find flat track, road course, motocross, tt racing and trials all in the same magazine.

That is cool that you and your wife share that amazing sport. that is a blessing... and if I am ever up in that part of NJ i would love to see an example of fine trials riding.

 

[Dangerspouse]

I didn't think I'd be able to enter this weeks "Street Fair" challenge, because there ARE no streets in the little rural community I live in, let alone fairs. But of all things, I saw in our local newspaper Friday that the town adjacent to ours - small, but not as small as us - was holding a Street Fair the next day! So yesterday I grabbed the D5500 and my wife (both small and easy to carry) and headed over. Unfortunately it was a cloudless day, and the event took place smack in the midday hours when there were no shadows and very harsh light. But I got a few shots I like, and will probably enter one.

Tried a pano, first:

.

.

.

.

.

This incredibly colorful lady had a face painting booth that was incredibly popular with the kids. The expression on this one when she saw her new visage in the mirror was priceless:

.

.

.

You know you're in a rural area when:

.

.

And finally, yours truly courtesy of my wife. I must smell like Alpo:

 

[Dangerspouse]

Hay hay!

I still don't have a cell phone. Well, I got a handset last year when it seemed like we were about to be called back to work and I would need one for their "2-step authentication" process to get into our studio computers. But then the Omicron variant hit, and we were told to stay put again. So my phone remains unactivated in a drawer. Somewhere.

The other day, then, my wife and I were having lunch at a local BBQ joint that's situated right next to a farm. It was a gorgeous day, so we ate outside on their patio. Just as soon as we ordered, the farmer started up his hay baler and began to work the field. It was pretty cool to watch, with the machine scooping up, compacting, tying, and then tossing the hay into the wain behind. I didn't have my Nikon, but my wife handed me her phone and gave me a brief tutorial on how to use it. I have to admit I didn't find it the most intuitive process, and tapping a screen instead of a shutter button felt odd (I rarely use the LiveView touch shutter release in my DSLR's). But the pictures came back better than I expected, albeit needing an awful lot of adjusting in Lightroom et al first. And anything needing a longer focal length suffered from a lot of noise and poor resolution. But otherwise, yeah, better than I expected overall

.

 

[Peter7100]

Hay hay!

I still don't have a cell phone. Well, I got a handset last year when it seemed like we were about to be called back to work and I would need one for their "2-step authentication" process to get into our studio computers. But then the Omicron variant hit, and we were told to stay put again. So my phone remains unactivated in a drawer. Somewhere.

The other day, then, my wife and I were having lunch at a local BBQ joint that's situated right next to a farm. It was a gorgeous day, so we ate outside on their patio. Just as soon as we ordered, the farmer started up his hay baler and began to work the field. It was pretty cool to watch, with the machine scooping up, compacting, tying, and then tossing the hay into the wain behind. I didn't have my Nikon, but my wife handed me her phone and gave me a brief tutorial on how to use it. I have to admit I didn't find it the most intuitive process, and tapping a screen instead of a shutter button felt odd (I rarely use the LiveView touch shutter release in my DSLR's). But the pictures came back better than I expected, albeit needing an awful lot of adjusting in Lightroom et al first. And anything needing a longer focal length suffered from a lot of noise and poor resolution. But otherwise, yeah, better than I expected overall

View attachment 381042

.

View attachment 381043

View attachment 381044

View attachment 381045

The cameras in the phones are getting better all the time but I guess there will eventually be a limit on quality given the small size of the phone lenses.

 

[hark]

Since you don't own a phone yourself, are you aware they make telephoto lenses for iPhones?

 

[Dangerspouse]

The cameras in the phones are getting better all the time but I guess there will eventually be a limit on quality given the small size of the phone lenses.

I agree, especially about the "will get better" part. Looking back, I can't believe the number of times I've said, "They'll NEVER be able to - " and before I finish my sentence they did it. Technological advances are staggering, constant, and developed at an increasingly speedy pace. I have no doubt phone cameras with their computational photography - as opposed to analog lens technology - will catch up to traditional cameras shortly. Right now I think the hurdles they to overcome are indeed those tiny lenses that require lots of AI and processing power to make pictures of decent quality, and the ability to use high powered on- and off-camera flashes. Right now that's a huge edge for tradition cameras for anyone not looking to just take holiday snaps.

 

[Dangerspouse]

Since you don't own a phone yourself, are you aware they make telephoto lenses for iPhones?

I was not. (Mine is not an iPhone btw. Don't know if that matters.) Are these phone lenses detachable? I have to admit I didn't look at my wife's closely.

 

[hark]

I was not. (Mine is not an iPhone btw. Don't know if that matters.) Are these phone lenses detachable? I have to admit I didn't look at my wife's closely.

I was going by her phone - no clue how they work although I've seen some great images taken with them.

 

[Dangerspouse]

Oh! D'oh!! Lol, my brain had left the building, apparently.....

 

[Peter7100]

I've seen some great images taken with them.

I would agree they can take some great images of close ups like selfies etc but when it comes to landscape shots I would say at the moment they lag behind DSLR'S etc,.

 

[Bikerbrent]

I would agree they can take some great images of close ups like selfies etc but when it comes to landscape shots I would say at the moment they lag behind DSLR'S etc,.

I am assuming that you and hark are referring to cell phone photos! If so, I have taken some nice landscape photos with my Samsung A51 5G. While the landscape photos are not quit as good as my Nikon D7200 with a good lens, they do come quite close, especially if I don't want a large scale photo. And cell phone cameras are getting better all the time.

 

[Dangerspouse]

Spent the past few days in Ocean City, Maryland, accompanying my wife on a business trip. I toted along my D5500, still my favorite lightweight little travel camera, and had fun shooting things I normally don't get to see up in the mountains where I live. I came home with 500+ keepers, partly because on Sunday there was a Corvette parade down the Boardwalk and it lasted for over an hour and a half! Our hotel room was right on the Boardwalk, 2nd floor, overlooking the ocean, so I just sat there and clicked all the 'Vettes as they rolled by. I won't bore you with all of them, though

Oh...and I gained 4 pounds in 5 days. A lotta calories in those crab cakes!

I think I'll break up the pictures into separate posts, by theme.

.

.

.

.

 

[Dangerspouse]

.

.

.

.

 

[Dangerspouse]

.

.

,

.

.

.

.

 

[Dangerspouse]

.

This little girl was too short to reach the hole, so she jumped up and I managed to catch her just as her face reached it:

.

.

.

.

.

.

 

[Dangerspouse]

.

.

.

.

.

.

 

[blackstar]

Nice trip, nice photos, DS.

 

[Dangerspouse]

Nice trip, nice photos, DS.

Thanks very much for that!