Catching Up... Cobble Hill!

Well, this year sure has been flying by!
Normally, I like to update my blog at least once a month, but I just have not had time lately. This just means I'm going to be catching up over the winter as things calm down a bit around here.
For my first installment of catch-up, I'd like to go back to August, when I did photos for the Cobble Hill Fall Fair.

This past year of the fair was significant as it was the 100th anniversary of the Cobble Hill Farmer's Institute and the 100th anniversary of the 4H Club in British Columbia.

I was really happy to be asked to do the photos for the fair as I grew up in Cobble Hill, just a couple hundred meters from the fair ground. For me, this job really connected with my childhood I did my best to show how great this little country fair is.

 

For starters, it is a small fair, when compared to some others. This makes it possible for a family with young ones to walk around and enjoy the entire fair. It is less expensive, and it has a little bit of everything, just on a small scale. This is something I came to appreciate when trying to get photos of every event over the course of the 8 hour day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

That my friends is just a taste of the best little fair I know. Make sure to come and check it out next year!

 

kurtknock.com

That was Then... This is Now!

 Long, long ago, in a country far, far away... There was a bike racer. I am writing this as my boys are watching Star Wars, Episode 1...
Tony Hoar is the first guy I met who has raced in the Tour De France. I met Tony over a decade ago, when I was actively in the bike industry. Tony competed in the 1955 Tour, racing for the mighty nation of England. Back then, there were national teams. Things have changed a lot since then.
Tony had the honour of finishing the 3 week long race in the position of "Lantern Rouge", or last placed finisher. This is not something to take lightly. How many people do you know who can race 160-300kms per day for three weeks and do this, day in, day out?
And he did this without doping. He knew others were doping (back then, they used amphetamines) to get good results, but he saw what happened to the health of those riders and didn't want to risk his health. He told me he accidentally grabbed a teammate's "doped" water bottle once during a race and he knew something was up. He scared himself a bit!
That was then... Now he builds custom bicycle trailers: www.tonystrailers.com

Tony Hoar, finisher of the 1955 Tour De France, and now owner of Tony's Trailers, at the design table. His trailers are pulled behind bicycles and carry everything from kayaks and people to landscaping tools and delivery containers.

Tony has plans for the future. He'd like to see trailers being used more in cities to reduce traffic and offer people some much needed exercise. He'd also like to see his shop relocated and become a training centre for trailer builders and bicycle repairs.

 

The pipe bender.

Tony's shop is room after room of tools and bits and pieces of trailers. And lots of hanging fluorescent light fixtures ;) 

In the welding room.

It is really interesting to spend a couple hours with someone and hear their stories. A couple hours is hardly enough. Especially when you have someone like Tony to chat with.

 

kurtknock.com

Let's Dance!

I had a great time doing rehearsal photos for the Adage Studios production of Mary Poppins a while back. This slideshow was played on the big screen at the Cowichan Theatre just before the start of the show. It was pretty fun to see my photos so big :)

Hard to believe how many photos I had when I was done (around 500-600) and then I had to edit them down to around 50 for this slideshow, played to the theme song, which dictated the length of the final cut.

Thanks to everyone for accepting me hovering around during the rehearsals and thanks to Adage for asking me to do this.

kurtknock.com

Motorcycle Mojo

I am so far behind in my blog! Let me attempt to catch up a bit here.

Last fall, I was contacted by the editor of Motorcycle Mojo Magazine, out of Ontario, to do a shoot of a custom bike here, near Duncan.

Local bike builder, Fred Belanger of West Bike, has over the years been working away on a pretty cool ride - a custom Honda CB750 twin turbo with automatic transmission!

The photo above it kinda funny. The "Hot" knob actually controls the boost gate, I think, if I remember correctly...



Some of these photos and others were published in the March issue of Motorcycle Mojo as the feature article. Six pages of my photos plus the centre spread! It was pretty cool to see this in print. I bought a couple copies and the editor sent me some more :)

Boost gauge and a tachometer. What else do you need? Hahaha...

This is actually a wheel from a Honda CRX car! Yes, this is a custom bike!

 Fred is pretty much retired as a bike mechanic and is now working on bike restorations and enjoying life on two wheels. He even suggested little road trip on his restored Kawasaki 900 this year. I may just have to take him up on that!

Over and out, Kurt

kurtknock.com