Ramble: Video, Photographs, The Internet, Small World?

[Bendy]

A ramble of various thoughts...

Last night I was checking the Silverstone thread and saw the link to random bloke's site that Scratchy had posted. Mooched over there to have a look at his video, got bored and had a look in his photo gallery. He'd been to Streetfighter Sunday and had been standing at the opposite end to where I was.

It's weird looking at something you saw in real life from another angle.

Then as I browsed through I happened across some photos of the guy on the R1. And there in the background are myself and MarJay.

It's weird going to a random person's website and seeing pictures of yourself.

Earlier in the week, I got a request via Yams from a guy that G had taken photos of on Sunday., asking if he could have the hi-res versions. Of course, I was happy to oblige.

It's cool when you find someone took great photos of something you neglected to bring a camera for.

My Streetfighter Sunday video, really just made for myself and the BCF folk, is gradually creeping around various forums on the net. I've had a few emails thanking me for posting it, from people I don't know on forums I haven't heard of.

It's a good thing I didn't host it on my personal webspace with limited bandwidth transfer! But it's nice to know people are getting enjoyment from something I created.

This kind of stuff is becoming more frequent these days. You can go onto a forum and read a trackday report from other people who attended the same day as you. Sometimes this can get quite amusing (anyone remember G vs. Supermoto boyz on Visordown?) and sometimes it's quite informative (getting the story about why hornetforum guy crashed). If your photos of an event come out badly, chances are that a bit of surfing around will turn up some from a more successful photographer.

I was just pondering all this last night. It's not that long ago that photographs were papery things that you bored your friends with. Expensive to process, you were economical with your snaps. The revolution of digital photography means you can go somewhere, snap away as long as your memory card will let you and then when you get home you can upload them so the ENTIRE ONLINE WORLD can see what you just saw. Think about that for a second... it's actually bloody amazing.

Same thing applies (with a little more effort) to video. Thanks to the internet, people all over the world could be watching BCF twatting about down an industrial estate, some dodgy perv in Bummsville Idaho could be gettin all aroused by Hex's thong moto antics, some 8 year old kid could be watching G's onboard Cadwell video and deciding that he wants to be a bike racer when he grows up... a few years ago you'd never see anyone's 'home videos' unless you went to their home to see them. Now anyone can create a movie and get it out on the web for all to see.

It also raises a question about forums and online communities. I wonder what percentage of the population actually belong to an online community? I wonder what percentage of the biking population do? We take it as the norm, but is it?

I like taking photos / video cos I can look back at them and remember having fun. Or sometimes, remember something terrible, but it's still a memory tool. You can even extend this to the whole 'forum thing' - in the real world a story is told and as time goes on you forget the details. On the internet all it takes is a quick search and you can find the story exactly as it was told the first time. Technology has given everyone a way to store information that was previously only available to the dedicated (diary writers always impress me).

Ramble over. I think.

Thoughts? Comments?

[Major_Grooves]

I have been posting on the Bay Area Riders Forum (BARF) recently getting ideas for my trip.

I noticed a thread about Cafe racers, and then one guy mentioned this one place where it all started in England - the Ace Cafe. So of course I replied that I was there at the weekend. I sent them the link to your photos and your video, which they said was cool!

So the Californian guys have been checking out your stuff too!
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About me|@Major_Grooves|My company|Digg|Flickr

[Hex]

I take a camera out with me most the time on nights out, simple to remember what went on.

Oh and thanks for the disturbing image in my head about some pervert looking at my bum in the extreme thong moto vid


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The BCF's very own Party boy! Though he's getting old and feeling it!
Monkey hanger, Born and bred
My little photo portfolio

[tgabber]

When you stop to consider what technology and the internet in particular has achieved over the past 10 years or so, it is, as you say amazing. So amazing in fact that, I find if I think about it in detail for more than a few moments, my mind boggles - a bit like trying to get a handle on infinity.

As for what proportion of the biking community is actively part of an online community, I'd say it is still quite small though obviously rising fast.
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"It's all about dislocating expectation"
Kawasaki KMX125 -> Aprilia RS125 -> Kawasaki ZZR600

[Sparks!]

When using the internet most people (I know I do anyway..) have their own town.. catchment area whatever.. always visiting the same sort of sites, same area and things become familiar.. you no longer need a map, you know your area and can go down the road to another site with no problems ...

But a lot of people don't realise what's out of their town, WHAT IF I went down this road? Where does it go? What's there?

The same with the internet, WE make it a very small place when in fact it's a world out there, we only bother to explore our catchment area, sometimes wandering out of town for various things...

Does your internet browsing reflect your real life? If you stay in one town and don't go far, do you browse the same types of sites?

I know I do... have started "exploring" some of the local countryside/areas I've never been to before and it's really amazing what is right in front of you, but you have never seen..

Think about it for a bit
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Current Toys: 06 Yamaha WR250F | Nissan 350Z GT | Tech 4 Homes

[MarJay]

Yes I have thought about this often.

Ninety nine percent of bikers that I meet outside BCF actually have virtually no idea what a computer is; They kind of roll the word around in their mouth as if they know what it should mean, but can't quite grasp it.

This is nothing against them at all! Its just that a lot of them are either A) Not technical and just like to ride the things;

or

B) Prefer magnetos, coils and pistons to Windows, Keyboards and mice.

Now interestingly, when I was at Ride In bike tyres getting my pirellis fitted before the last Cadwell, I ended up chatting to a couple of chaps who were getting race scrubs fitted. I mentioned BCF to the guy with the Gixxer 750 and he said that he goes on Visordown. I made a funny face and joked about being rivals etc...

Then:

He turned up to the Cadwell trackday! I believe he has now joined BCF too.

Thing is, He went to the trackday BEFORE joining BCF!

Small world eh?

Oh and Bendy, any chance of PMing me a link to those pics, I'd very much like to have a look!
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British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.