Being a born narcissist and a photographer, I should have a few more images of myself, eh? I just never got into it. It seems creepy to me. Beside that, when I do try it, I usually hate the result. Maybe I should practice a little. The swing-around screen on my new Canon G11 should come in handy.

Having Jo Noble along on my last trip out to the Balek Wildlife Reserve was a treat in more ways than one. Some motorcycle passengers can drive a rider crazy – always moving around, fighting the balance, leaning the wrong way. Jo is as steady as a rock, even when she’s waving her camera around taking very cute shots like this one:There are several shots in this post that remind me of  The Lowman Loop – Boise, Idaho – A Motorcycle Ride to Heaven.

Jo also goes out with us on Saturdays on Faded Glory.  She got this shot of me which I like very much:I call it The Thousand-Year-Old Man.  You could use this as an illustration in a book about Neanderthals.

Jo swings her camera around with her eyes. I like that in a photographer. It’s all about recording your vision of the world. Here’s a beautiful snap of Four-Mile Market:Nice composition.

She also has the capacity to aggravate me. I chased this dragonfly around until I was panting. She walked up to it and clicked:Okay, we’ve established that she can do macros and she’s not nearly as scary as I am.

When she turned her sword on me, I wasn’t convinced that the shot would be much good because of the backlighting. I almost chastised her for a technical boo-boo:

I’m glad that I didn’t. I would have embarrassed myself. It turned out to be a shot with a lot of visual appeal. Technical rules do not necessarily a good photo make. (That’s Yoda-speak. Speaking like Yoda, practicing, I am.)

Jo also digs “the moment”. This is what is missing in a lot of snapshots. Here the picture tells the story:When we saw that mud, we both decided that mud-wrestling was not on for today. She got the perfect moment in the turn-around, including my left foot off the ground as I wrestled the hog in a tight arc, nearly falling over.

Being a convenient moment, I sneaked off to the grass to . . . uh . . . you know. Jo caught me coming back looking all goofy and,  if I might say, macho and  she caught herself in the mirror and  the mud hole that had changed our plans:Bit of genius there, I’d say. I would never have thought of setting up such a complicated shot. She had it all lined up and was standing there waiting for me to step onto my mark.

What would a motorcycle ride be without a shot of yourself in the reflection off of your friend’s helmet:It would demonstrate a lack of imagination, I’d say. Jo didn’t fail the test.

Next time you take a friend for a ride on your Harley, choose one with a camera and smart eyes.

Thanks, Jo Noble, for a super Guest Shoot.

Related posts:

1. Harley Madness – The Ride to Balek After being sick for a week and working through it, I cut loose. My Boss (wife) let me have the afternoon off to take Jo Noble to Balek on the Harley....
2. The Beauty and the Beast Did I mention the headlong charges? Did I mention the teeth? It was travelling 30 KPH when I snapped the shot before he flicked aside with an audible SNAP....
3. Planet Rock – When Is Close Enough Too Close? When taking close up shots of potentially dangerous critters you have to keep asking yourself if getting just a little closer is a good idea or not....
4. A Long, Hot Ride on a Harley One hundred and eight kilometres of Harley-eating potholes up the North Coast Road you will find The Tapira Surf Club. Nobody was home. The beer was hot....
5. A Curious Collection A odd assortment of images ranging from the monumentally mundane to the magnificently meaningful. I'll let you decide which is which....
6. Nadi – Hotel City For the first day of moving around in Nadi we went to the market. If you want colourful pictures, a market is always a good place to start....
7. The Only Harley Davidson in Madang – The Coastwatchers Monument Some of you may have already seen the image below of me sitting on my Harley Davidson 883 Sportster with the famous Madang Coastwatchers Monument in the background. I put it up on my Facebook page a couple of days ago. Even if you have seen it, you may want...

Tags: balek wildlife sanctuary, dragonfly, faded glory, harley, harley davidson, helmet, jo noble, market

This entry was posted on Friday, March 12th, 2010 at 10:53 and is filed under Guest Shots. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.