Biking Around Tehachapi - 6 September 2014
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BIKING AROUND TECHACHAPI - 6 September 2014
Sunrise Over Field On Bike - Tehachapi, California
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I love biking. There's something about the exercise and seeing the world go by that's compelling.
I love photography. There's something about the world that needs to be captured. When I go by I'm compelled to capture what attracts my eye.
When you're on a bike without a camera and your eye catches something, there's a problem.
When riding I tried a couple of technqiue to capture what I saw when riding around. Most of my efforts settled around using my phone. When you're cooking a long at 15 mph, it's really hard to use your phone without risking a free-fall experiment. Fortunately I haven't dropped my phone but unfortunately, that meant getting off my bike whenever my eye caught something. When you're on a training ride, stopping becomes a conflict of interest.
Windmills on Tehachapi-Willow Springs Rd - Tehachapi, California
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A search began to find the right tool I could use to capture images on a whim as I whizzed by on a bike. I had a GoPro mini video camera that did a great job capturing videos but was an absolute pain in the rear when trying to take a still image. I think something like six decided and difficult button pushes were required to enable the still image mode on the camera. Not only that, unless equipped with the optional LCD screen, you had no idea what you were shooting. It didn't work. I continued the search.
Last spring the Garmin Virb caught my attention because it was a Garmin product and I was researching their tools for capturing my heart and bike data. The camera was a first generation product meant to compete with the GoPro. While larger the Virb caught my attention for three reasons; sizable record on button, always hot still shots, and a built-in gps.
Stallion Springs Overlook- Tehachapi, California
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The first two features were the key. With the unit on, I was seconds from seeing something interesting and shooting or recording it. Even better, I could do all of this one handed, kind of important when riding by at 25 mph. Not only that, for on the bike, it was essentially waterproof, no worries about me sweating on it. Oh, I can sweat a lot.
Then, there's the GPS. This was a feature I didn't know I missed. After making a bunch of captures and putting them in my image processing application I can see where I shot the pictures. In a way, it's a cheap way to relive the ride and honestly, there are a lot of good reasons to relive rides on a bike.
Farm Field and Clouds - Tehachapi, California
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The biggest surprise of all was the image quality. While the Garmin advertisement was mostly about the video capabilities of the camera, I think they missed its best attribute, still image quality. It takes amazing pictures for such a small camera.
Okay, it won't replace my normal Digital SLR. But, for quick on the fly images--from a bike going 25 mph--the images are amazing. There's good color depth. There's good highlight and shadow detail. The lens distortion isn't that bad. Over all, I'm very pleased with this little camera's capabilities.
Farmer in Farm Field - Tehachapi, California
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Now I have a tool I can bring with me on just about every ride. While I might not shoot all the time, on a whim I can whip out the camera and take a lot of quick images on anything that attracts my eye. This feeds my inner artistic impulse which I think is very important for every artist.
These images were all shot with my Garmin Virb. The second image and last image were post processed in Photoshop to remove distortion caused by the lens' wide field of view fisheye. Other then that, the tones and other characteristics I might adjust normally I didn't touch. The quality of this little camera is so good, I really didn't have to.
Here's to having the tools to be an impulsive artist.
Cheers
Tom