Field Notes
September 18
Photography
• I'm continuing to photograph. This week I have photographs from a bike shop, a private bike sale and a couple of portraits from a group ride. I have appointments this weekend to photograph a couple of riders at their houses, which I'm looking forward to because I think too many of the environments I've photographed are public. I'm posting a few new photos.
• I'm going to start organizing and ordering the photos for a final edit and will post a first try next week with captions.
Research
• I've finished all eight interviews and am now working on the analysis. Getting the interviews was so hard, and then conducting them was so enjoyable, and now the analysis seems hard again, but no surprises there. I'm shooting for getting a first draft to Jeanne on October 1 and think that will be possible.
New Happenings:
From the standpoint of covering what is happening in the e-moto community, it's a constantly developing and evolving story, and I have to figure out how much of that I should work into the text. In the last week 2 teens have died in e-bike crashes, one was at fault and one wasn't. I haven't figured out yet if they were both on e-motos, but one definitely was. In Colorado, some counties and towns have cracked down and are confiscating bikes and writing tickets to riders. And, in a sign that the kids on e-bikes controversy has reached the mainstream consciousness, the season premiere of the TV show South Park was all about it! I should probably get this story published before someone else does.
September 9
Photography
• I'm posting a large edit that I've taken from all of my shoots up until now. I still have a few specific things I want to photograph and I thought that doing this edit would help me clearly identify what's missing. I am trying to schedule shoots that I think will result in being able to take those photos that are missing in the next three weeks.
Research
• I've finished six interviews. I have the seventh scheduled for Thursday this week and the eighth for next week. It was very hard to get these last two scheduled and I ended up reaching out to more photographers a couple of days ago because I thought they were going to fall through completely. That was a little concerning just because I want to stay on schedule.
August 31
Photography
• Have been to a couple of rideouts lately. I am mostly working on strengthening relationships so that I can do a few shoots for specific photos I would like to have. I have found a rider who I'm going to photograph working on his bikes at home. I still have a few other things I'm looking for. I'm going to photograph at one of the stores where they sell the bikes and I would like to photograph a private sale, but that may be harder to do. I'd like to photograph someone riding to school. I'd like to take some video clips of riders that are in more controlled light and backgrounds so that when I go to publication If I need them I'll have them.
• I think the social aspects of the community have been easier to photograph lately now that the riders are more used to me. There is less posing.
Research
• I've finished five interviews. The sixth one is this week. I have two more request acceptances but don't have them scheduled yet. I have sent out scheduling requests. As long as those come through I'm on track to have enough time for my analysis.
August 19
Photography
• Had a shoot with some kids up in one of the mountain communities this week. Riding is a social outlet for them, as the community is quite small and the kids can feel isolated. They meet at the parking lot by the bus stop to practice tricks because it's usually an empty lot. At the same time, because it's a small town, the police know who all the kids in town are, so if they want to stop them from riding it's easy to find them.
• Many of these families also have dirt bikes and atvs and snowmobiles. The kids were fairly young - none of them had driver's licenses yet. The two brothers, who I met at the Megaride in Denver, were 15 and 14. The friend who met them at the parking lot was 12. Going to the Megaride in Denver was a big deal for them because it's hard to get there from where they live and required their parents to load their bikes, drive them down and wait for them. Most of the time they just ride locally. The oldest boy had ridden up to a high mountain pass with his dad that he showed me photos of - he was very proud that his electric bike had performed better at altitude than his dad's dirt bike.
• The kids bring their bikes indoors, which is a common thing in the e-moto community. A lot of the riders shoot videos of their bikes in their living rooms and other parts of their homes and post them online. I've heard differing views on why: some people say it's because they're showing off their houses if they live in nice ones; other people think it's because they are showing that the bikes are important enough to be kept in the house. The mountain kids had a mud room and the house was more rustic, so the bikes didn't look so strange as out of place - i'd like to shoot at a more upscale house with a bike inside if I can.
Research
• Finished my 3rd research interview and have my 4th one tomorrow. Still trying to schedule the next three interviews and looking for the final one. This week's interview was with a newspaper staffer, and was significantly different from talking with the freelancers.
August 13
I fell behind on my field notes, but not on my work. Things are going well.
Photography
• Still going to group rides - I thought I would stop after the Mega Ride, but it turns out to be the easiest way to interact with the riders and try to make connections strong enough to get individual shoots.
• The kids still want to take some cheesy portraits but are also open to more artistic environmental portraits, so that seems to be a good compromise.
• I have individual shoots lined up for this coming week, and looking forward to those environments. Still need photos of people working on bikes, would like to have a photo of a sale happening if possible, would like to make some appts to shoot smaller groups riding so I can have more control over time of day/light quality. Would also like to have some video clips of riders for eventual publication.
• Am trying to get in contact with a kid who was injured when he was hit by a car while riding.
• I continue to be impressed with the diversity of the riding community.
Research
• Have completed two research interviews and have two scheduled for next week. I have 3 other participants who have committed but not scheduled. If those three come through that leaves one spot I'm still trying to fill. I had success with one "reminder" email this week, so I'll try a final time with a 3rd request to previous contacts and see if that works for one more. If not, it will be back to the drawing board and sending out emails to new contacts to get the last one.
• First two interviews went well. Different photographers definitely have different perspectives on the process. One of the photographers, in discussing the sheer amount of time he had spent hanging around his subjects before establishing trust, helped me to recognize some similarities with my project and to work slightly differently last week, which was very useful.
July 27
Photography
• This was a quiet week for shooting. I spent a lot of time editing, sending photos to people I've met at rides, posting to Instagram, texting with potential subjects, and working on scheduling shoots. Record breaking heat continued and just eased up last night so I'm hoping that will help.
• A lot of the riders I've met have wanted to have their photos taken, more posed than I would like, but I'm sending these to them and asking to take more. I'm a little surprised since they all have cell phones but I'm happy to do it.
• I'm posting a few more photos that show the diversity of the community and I'd like to work on photographing that.
• Might have to report for jury duty tomorrow. Will see how that affects the coming week.
Research
• I spent more time on the research side this week. I had my first interview with a photographer, which went well.
• The response rate to my inquiries to possible participants has been low. I have sent reminder emails out, but I've also gone back to my search method and re-run the searches to add additional photographers. This has been very time consuming, since it involves looking up every potential participant to see if their work and experience matches the criteria in addition to being an award winner from one of the contests.
• Have sent out additional participant requests now and will continue to send more until I have all the participants spots filled.
July 20
Photography
• It was a busy week with the Mega Ride happening, the first one ever in Denver. The first ride was on Wednesday in Colorado Springs followed by 3 on consecutive days in Denver. We also have been in the middle of a heat wave, so the conditions were challenging. I photographed the pre-ride for the first three, and the full ride on the last day.
• Have been posting to instagram and sending photos to anyone who asks for them and gives me contact info, which has been very time consuming.
• The Mega Ride was very helpful in making contacts with riders to photograph at a later date.
• It was interesting to see the diversity of the population at the Mega Ride events, more so than any other activity I've seen in Colorado.
• There was some tension between the older and younger riders, with the older riders feeling that the kid sometimes act in a way that reflects poorly on the riding community.
• There was a young rider hit by a car last week and injured. I don't know his name but will try to make contact if I can get it from someone. I'd like to photograph him as an example of the dangers of riding.
• I will start making contact with people I met last week and setting up individual shoots with an eye towards taking more intimate photos than I could at the group rides.
Research
• Have sent introduction emails with requests for interviews out to eight photographers and waiting for replies.
July 13
Photography
• Photographed at 3 public Ride Outs in Denver, one private dirt track that is open to the public and one private appt with some kids in town.
• Posting to Instagram and sending photos by text or email to anyone who gives me contact info.
• Need to start getting more appointments for private shoots. People say yes in person but do not answer texts. The regular riders are getting used to me showing up and I'm learning their names. Am close to getting an appt with one of the kids’ moms I met at a ride out. They live in the county. However, there is a heat dome sitting over the state so not a lot going on right now.
• Preparing for the Denver Mega Ride, a major e-riding event that starts Wednesday night in Colorado Springs and progresses with rides in Denver on Thurs, Fri, Sat and Sun. Saturday afternoon is the main ride. My goal for the rides will be to cover the rides themselves and to make solid connections with people I meet there for future photography appointments. All of the ride locations and even the Vendor's Row location are announced at the last minute. It will still be very hot for the rides.
• Many counties in Colorado are tightening restrictions so there's some places that people aren't riding any more. I've heard of riders being issued citations.
Research
• Have sent introduction emails with requests for interviews out to eight photographers and waiting for replies.
