Go on - You know you want to

to be continued...

Peter and Kathleen are on a road trip and one of the destinations along the way, is a photoshoot in Carl‘s Garage.

We tried to get together yesterday, but it was absolutely pouring down, so we decided to shift the session until today.

I had no idea what they were arriving on until this beautiful Indian motorcycle, rolled into my driveway.

What a fantastic paint scheme. I knew that this beautiful machine was going to look sensational in my garage… Big time!  

I don’t get to photograph too many Indian Motorcycles and when I do, it is always a real pleasure, as they are stunning Bikes indeed.

Peter and Kathleen are a very chilled couple and the conversation flow freely. After working with me, they were going off to find somewhere nice to have some lunch and then start the journey back north to Brisbane.

It was the mid 80s that I last had a big motorcycle trip and I need to do something about that… As they rode away, I was quite envious of the fact that they were 700 km from home

Thank you friends for wanting to work with me… I really enjoyed creating cool images with you

Carl’s Garage - happy happy Joy Joy

I am a big fan of exotic paintwork on motorcycles and when Michael arrived on his beautiful Electraglide, I smiled :)

It is always lovely to see a motorcycle that has done plenty of miles, but is still in immaculate condition. That was the case with this bike. The paint is one of those magical ones that changes colour as you move around the bike… I know this is not new technology, but I always marvel at it.

Thank you Michael… I enjoyed meeting you, photographing this beautiful machine and sharing the stories that we did.

And of course, thank you to your amazing wife, who gifted you this shoot, after a few subtle hints from your fine self :)

“Carl’s Garage”  -  Flip flop paint rocks!

Ken's Sportster is definitely different!

Ken gave me a call Friday and asked if I could fit him in for a shoot this weekend, as he was about to trade in his Harley for a new one and wanted to get images of this current bike, before it was gone.

I had absolutely no idea what the bike looked like or what it even was…..  so it was a real pleasant surprise, when he rolled up the driveway on this Chopper, with his wife Terri behind him :)

Thank you brother for bringing me this wickedly cool motorcycle to photograph… It's candy paint and sweet lines looked sensational under my lights.

“Carl’s Garage” -  his beard is thick his legs are long, his eyes are blue his arms are strong … Booyeah!

When Joe arrived on his spectacular motorcycle, I walked in and said to my wife… Come and have a look at this bike.

My wife is a very busy woman… A hard-working woman and I don’t like to waste any of her time… But she needed to see this bike.  

Joe has poured endless hours and many dollars into creating this beautiful and unique motorcycle. For the first 15 minutes of his visit to my humble studio… I just stood and looked and talked with him about the bike that was before me.

I get to photograph a lot of amazing motorcycles as you guys now… But this one, this one is a special one  

Joe is a pretty chilled sort of character and it was nice to capture cool images of him with his bike… I opened up one of the images on the computer and showed him an edited version of the raw file we had just captured and it was lovely to see the big smile on his face, knowing full well, that what we were doing, was going to turn out amazing.

Thank you brother for bringing this immaculate Harley Davidson to my studio to be photographed.

Cara and Geoff had planned to work with me some time ago, but that was not to happen… That was of course … until now.

They rode up into my studio with the biggest smiles on their faces, and they were so happy to finally be here in my studio and doing this.

Some people just give off the coolest energy and these two fine humans, were perfect examples of that.

Their  beautiful motorcycles looked brilliant in my old school garage. I was pretty excited to shoot Cara’s bike as I had not seen one or even heard of one before. A sweet little cruiser with attitude

Getting to work with people like this is awesome :)

Thanks guys, you rock!

Carl’s Garage - I am going to have a chicken sandwich for lunch

I get to meet the coolest people, while photographing my Carl’s Garage series.

Fitzy rolled up on this immaculate 2007 Wideglide, to have a shoot with me the other day.

His brother Rob had shouted him a gift voucher and came up for the run as well.

It is always a pleasure to hear that a beautiful motorcycle like this, also has 140,000 kms on it… Most definitely ridden and not hidden.

I am a big fan of this model… The front wheel, the raked forks the small headlight etc etc all go together to create an awesome bike.

I get to move around a lot of motorcycles in my studio and I notice the subtle things… This bike just feels balanced and set up correctly.

Being of a similar vintage, we had plenty of stories to share and the conversation flowed thick and fast and with lots of laughter.

In between this, we managed to create a beautiful collection of images as well.

Brother you are an interesting and cool individual and it was a pleasure to meet you

Carl’s Garage - Baby Boomers… The cool generation... just saying :)

Jason and Renee rolled up to my studio on their Harley for a photoshoot on Saturday arvo.

I like this model, with its tall stance… I bet it is nimble and easy to throw around. It felt quite light compared to some of the much larger bikes, that come here to be photographed.

I like shooting inked people.

Full sleeve tatts add just another level of cool to this couple.

I like that look… especially when I am photographing Motorcycles… the two go hand-in-hand for sure.

Thank you brother for wanting to get these images created here in my garage.

“Carl’s Garage” - he makes wicked images

Miekel has followed my work for quite some time now and on the weekend we finally got together and had the most fun photo session, that I have had in a long time.

He brought his family along and we created the coolest collection of photos… This was time well spent.

You have got to expect banter between brothers and there was no shortage of this... funny humans, the lot of them.

Baby Willow came along for the shoot as well and it gave me a good reason to put the Wiggles on Spotify… And everybody clapped… Clap clap clap, and everybody sang…. La la la la la.

It was magical ❤️

An epic photo shoot with awesome people… End of story

Well, not quite

Thank you brother for bringing me so much positive energy and your beautiful family. It truly was a pleasure spending time with you all.

Carl’s Garage - hot potato, hot potato

Evan gave his wife a hint and scored himself a gift voucher, for a shoot in my garage. Today in perfect riding weather, he rolled up the coast to my studio and we smashed out some seriously cool images together.

I remember the first time I photographed one of this model and I thought to myself… Damn that looks like a fun bike to ride. Lightweight, compact and with cornering clearance… Not three descriptive terms often associated with Harley Davidson :)

This bike is not concourse and it is not going to win any shows… But it is ridden daily and enjoyed just as often :)

Evan does the miles on this bike and every time he rides it it puts a huge smile on his face.

Thank you brother for coming to my humble studio today.

Carl’s Garage - doing the miles creating the smiles

I don’t very often work at night,  but when Jordan asked if he could come over for a shoot with his girl Jessica and his Harley… We found a time that suited us both and we made it happen.

What a handsome couple they make and I felt completely outgunned by Jordan

We had a lot of fun creating these images and then they set off into the night, his exhaust note rattling the windows of the entire neighbourhood. He only lives six blocks away, so I heard the entire journey home.

Thank you friends, for wanting to come and get cool photos taken.

The pleasure was truly mine.

Carl’s Garage - he ain’t no 9 to 5 guy.

Brother Rat is a good man and a great friend. He has brought no less than five motorcycles to my garage to be photographed and he called me up to bring number six.

He didn’t tell me what it was and based on the previous five… I had absolutely no idea what he was going to roll up on.

First impressions came, with a beautiful exhaust note echoing down, from the road above my place… Okay… It is a Harley, I thought to myself.

I walked down my drive to greet him and looked up the street, to see this stretched out beautiful, bright blue FXR… Once again, my brother Rat had delivered the goods.

There are certain things I like in a motorcycle. Yes, I am a Japanese Superbike rider, but I can certainly appreciate other brands and styles of motorcycles.

This FXR ticks a lot of boxes for me. I love the raked front end and the tyre widths and sizes. Then throw in custom paint work and lots of chrome and you have a beautiful motorcycle indeed.

Rat asked if I would like to take this for a ride and you can imagine the minuscule amount of time that passed, before my lips spat out the words “yes please”

Now I had to really focus on creating cool images, because my brain was already throwing a helmet on and taking off on this beautiful machine!

We talked life, we talked motorcycles and then we talked some more.

I love what I do and when I get to spend time with awesome humans like this guy and create cool images at the same time … My world is a happy place indeed.

Thank you brother for coming back here, as often as you do… I humbly appreciate the business, your friendship and the time we spend together.

So my friends, here be Rat’s beautiful FXR.

Enjoy  

Carl’s Garage - I like good people.

On the weekend, I had the great pleasure of photographing four very cool people.

Derek had connected with me, nearly 2 years ago, wanting to come and be part of the Carl’s Garage series and get great images taken.

He had been shown my photography by my dear brother Trip.

Finally… Everything lined up for both of us.

They arrived on stunning machines on a warm sunny morning.  Bob and Caroline with his CVO and Derek with his Freewheeler. Paul came up for the run but didn’t get his bike shot this time round.

What followed was three hours of very cool conversation and great image making.

Stories shared from all of our pasts, were listened to, enjoyed and bounced about within the walls of my humble studio.

We laughed… We laughed lots actually and we made cool images.

It was such a lovely contrast between the two machines. Derek’s big black beast of a trike,  looked sensational in my garage and Bob’s CVO was truly a thing of great beauty.

I  often ask people what their first motorcycle was and where their passion for riding began.  

Derek shared this very cool story about him as a young fella… He wanted his ratty old pushbike to be cool, like the other kids that had sissy bars, ape hangers and banana seats, so he chopped and shunted and welded and glued together an extreme chopper pushbike… The likes of which you have never seen before and he proudly rode it around the neighbourhood.

He told us that one day, a group of bikers,  pulled up next to him and one of them looked down to him and said… You will be one of us one day little brother.

And that was where it all began for Derek.

Thank you for doing the miles to come and work with me brother and thank you for being the story teller that you are.

It was time well spent.

So my friends, here be some images from this fantastic shoot.

Enjoy

Carl

Carl’s Garage - his first ride was on a Honda Mini Trail