Shooting The Big Stiffy for Barnett's

As an illustrator I've been published in several magazines but, up till now, never as a photog.


No, not the HUGE cover bike but, it's in this (April-May-June), current issue


This one. Those who have been following this blog or have gone back to it's beginning, should recognize this bike.


Jerry Blanks and his creation, The Big Stiffy. No jokes please! I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot...

I originally drew the concept art of it. Then, 18 months later, when the bike was completed, I photographed and wrote it's feature for Bikernet.com. Here's the link for the original feature I did (before the bike had the fork and other minor changes made),: The Big Stiffy on Bikernet.com.

Late last year, Jerry called me to say that now Barnett's wanted to feature his bike and since it had been modified, he asked me to shoot it once again.


I'm in the story, they published my concept art, and got a credit of thanks on the tech sheet, but no photo credit.

We finally were able to meet for the photo shoot last December 12th. No special equipment was used, as a matter of fact, I shot it with my trusty old Sony DSC-S85 digital camera.

If you want your bike shot and your in the Los Angeles or South Bay area, give me a holler.


Here's a better view of the art again.

Some random general thoughts about magazines. For the last several years I seldom find a good reason to buy a magazine. I think it sucks to buy one just for maybe one lousy feature bike, article of interest, or photo you happen to like. Plus, many are just full of meaningless ads (at least to me), of the latest do-dads. For the most part, I generally don't like the bikes featured or relate to todays image of the H-D rider. In fact, I find I'm spending much less time just browsing the newsstand these days. I find the best photos of bikes I like (vintage of all types), through the blogs and can keep up to date with the industry on Bikernet.com.

What's up with the one called Baggers and Bobbers? I glanced through one and it just didn't seem right to feature the latest in Baggers and old style Bobbers.

That said, They ain't all bad and I do still enjoy printed media. Dice on one end of the spectrum, is a refreshing alternative (more or less the kind of bikes I like), and on the other end, (if you mostly desire pictures of the current mix of trendy bikes), Barnett's is a good choice. While most of the bikes featured don't fit my groove, I have to give Barnett's credit. The current issue has 17 feature bikes.