HONK! Parade from the front of a cargo bike

KillRamsey

Hall of Famer
Location
Hood River, OR
Name
Kyle
Every October, there's a wonderful, bizarre festival in Cambridge called "HONK!" which seems to center on lo-fi marching bands and ... being as bizarre as you can. It's a roll call of all the delightful weirdos that Cambridge and Somerville have to offer, and brother, we have a lot of them. On Sunday each time there is a parade from Davis Square to Harvard Square, which I'm guessing is about 2, maybe 2.5 miles long. There's a "cargo / family bike" contingent, and a lot of our friends participate, so this year we did too. We took the big "bakfiets" ("box bike" in dutch), which my wife pedaled, with me in the front shooting the XT and the X100, and our fat old pug in a basket on the back rack. Our daughter biked her five-year-old self, thank you very much. So I got to just lean back into a pillow in the front of a bike that was a center of attention, and take a gazillion shots as people looked at us and smiled.

My view:

15343541488_82be4c11c1_c.jpg
KBRX7076 by gordopuggy, on Flickr

Two thoughts:

1. I've never been able to get so much eye contact in shots. It was odd, fun, and a little disconcerting, but ultimately really nice. It made for better images. And seeing all these shots with people looking directly AT me made me realize how seldom I otherwise have that happen.

2. For once I began to prefer the output of the XT over the X100. I've always said the opposite, but this time, I just preferred the XT's files in almost every case. I had both on my lap, in an attempt to change lenses as little as possible. I had the 14 and the 35 lenses, and I wound up using both pretty evenly. if I had the 14 on, and needed to be a bit longer, I could just grab the X100. Ditto if I had the 35 on and wanted width. But going back and forth made the slower response time of the X100 a little more apparent.

So here are a few of the more interesting shots, I think...

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DSCF6494 by gordopuggy, on Flickr

Matching yellow Holga medium format... I like this lady
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KBRX6802 by gordopuggy, on Flickr

15343579048_3d36d26ee6_c.jpg
KBRX6814 by gordopuggy, on Flickr

I caught him looking right at me
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KBRX6855 by gordopuggy, on Flickr

Waiting is hard
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KBRX6929 by gordopuggy, on Flickr

I could've hugged this kid for making such great faces for me
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KBRX6960 by gordopuggy, on Flickr

My friend Brian
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KBRX6995 by gordopuggy, on Flickr


An Olympus shooter, with Nikon glass out front
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KBRX7006 by gordopuggy, on Flickr

I heard the laughter behind me, leaned out and around (carefully, don't wanna tip the bike over) and GOT her
15527009371_aae9683cc8_c.jpg
KBRX7112 by gordopuggy, on Flickr

More eye contact...
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KBRX7032 by gordopuggy, on Flickr

...
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KBRX7047 by gordopuggy, on Flickr

...
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KBRX7064 by gordopuggy, on Flickr

...
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KBRX7129 by gordopuggy, on Flickr

...
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KBRX7187 by gordopuggy, on Flickr

...(except I knew this guy, which is cheating for eye contact.)
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KBRX7224 by gordopuggy, on Flickr

At the very end, my daughter got tired of riding, and hopped up onto Brian's bike
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KBRX7181 by gordopuggy, on Flickr




Weaving the cargo bike through the crowd after the end (shot with the X100)
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DSCF6510 by gordopuggy, on Flickr

Gordo's fans
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DSCF6520 by gordopuggy, on Flickr
 
Cambridge and Somerville are very liberal and artsy, but parts of Boston and the surrounding area aren't. New England culture is still remarkably Puritan in a lot of ways, with that flinty New Englander attitude lurking just around every corner. These things conspire to make it necessary to fly the freak flag high. It's a huge, inclusive party.
 
Cambridge and Somerville are very liberal and artsy, but parts of Boston and the surrounding area aren't. New England culture is still remarkably Puritan in a lot of ways, with that flinty New Englander attitude lurking just around every corner. These things conspire to make it necessary to fly the freak flag high. It's a huge, inclusive party.

As a former New Englander, let me say "amen".
 
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