Hotdog

45 minute exposure
Marquette

Deftones, Koi No Yokan

The older I get, the more apprehensive I become each time I hear they're coming out with a new album... Inevitably, it takes me about one listen through for the new stuff to hook me.



Can't say I like it as fervently as Around the Fur or Adrenaline, but there's some good stuff in here (better than their last couple). I'm guessing a good part of that had to do with how old I was when I first heard those albums though, yeah? Nothing hooks you on music like hearing when you're a young, impressionable teenager.

newer and older

Film shots recently scanned...

Yellowstone NP, 6x7cm, 2012

Western U.P, 35mm, 2010

Pool bust

These photos were from earlier this summer but I recently was just able to get my film developed. During our little drought earlier this year when we were blessed with weeks on end of great hot weather to ride bikes I had an opportunity to check out an old spot. It was the South side pool by my moms house. I scoped it out one night by myself on a solo session and realized that the hot weather had brought down the water level about 3 ft in the deep end of the pool and there was only about 3 feet left to be drained! I went back within a few days with Mac and we began to drain the pool. Unfortunately the place had been vandalized before we got there and also the neighbors ended up calling the cops on us and made for a premature end to the day and we never were able to ride the pool again. Luckily I left with new memories and some photos.... Enjoy!

Fall snaps

I drove out to the Porcupine Mountains to do some camping, exploring and photographing, but unfortunately I was plagued by camera issues, as well as auto issues.  The Jetta decided to call it quits 3 miles outside of town.  I did get a few snaps with the point and shoot, so here you get a couple of postage stamp sized shots from the only trail I got to camp at.  At least it was one of the best views in all of Michigan.

Sunrise on the Escarpment Trail at Porcupine Mountains State Park.  

2012 Friendly Friends

A good portion of the contributors to this blog are in this video (myself included, surprisingly). We're all Michigan people from the Holland area, more or less. Though, some of us have strayed a little far.

We're different ages, come from different backgrounds, and enjoy and experience different things in life. We're friends.

No matter where we end up.

We share heart, and honesty, and integrity, and confusion about life, and problems, and joys, and travels, and stories, and shared history. We'll always share these things with each other. No matter what.

These are my friends. These are my brothers.

My faith, My struggle

I am really struggling with my faith lately. I am having trouble with my relationship with God and if he really is good or not?

   Ever since I was a little kid I always wanted and prayed to be a dad, a husband, a provider and protector. As early as I remember I had silly fantasies about saving girls that I had crushes on from fires, bullies and things of that nature always to being the hero and getting the affection of a girl as reward. So innocent and so ignorant towards life and reality. As of today I still have a hard time with these thoughts. Growing up over the years hormones, puberty and the internet fucked everything up for me. These innocent fantasies have become sexual or violent. What once was for love and honor has become vengeful and selfish. I have twisted thoughts of love and relationships now because of a childhood fairy tale thinking and the reality of the loneliness and rejection I have experienced. I still have a heart and spirit to fight for what I believe but it is continuously being beaten down and crushed by my reality. I have prayed for so long to experience a true genuine love, someone to be able to provide for and protect but my prayers have only brought pain and heartache.

More Chance

Here's a little edit with Chance Garrison riding (puts in work for Sunday Bikes & Albe's) at an indoor park (Skate Zoo) in Kalamazoo, Michigan on a rainy summer day.

More and more dudes are finally getting well deserved attention coming out of the Mitten. It's good to see.

Wasn't a planned edit, per se, but he lays down moves like a boss. So, enjoy.



P.S. Dear Sunday/Full Factory,

If you have any extra Model C's just laying around, and you feel the urgent need to send one to the Philippines for me to show off here, I would be more than willing to send you my address via e-mail. Just throwin' it out there.

Two Shots

 Couple shots. Morning. Fog.

"I'm flawed, unlike you"

So let me break this down for you perfect beautiful people.  I'm the smallest dutch boy you'll ever meet, I'm not perfect, I struggle with addictions, I'm not tall dark n handsome, I don't always fucking smile, I've spent the majority of my life being single, I don't have the biggest dick, I'm generally broke, I am not well educated, I am not an athlete and I don't give a damn about sports because I ride a fucking little kids bike.

So now that the obvious superficial shit is out of the way let me let you know a little about who I really am......

 I am loving, I am loyal, I am a fighter. 

    -I know how to love, be loyal, forgive, show grace/mercy, to be truthful, and to relate because God has taken the time to love, be loyal, forgiving, graceful, merciful, truthful and relatable to me! 
    -I know pain......I know struggle....... I know defeat but I also know victory. I know that even though I may lead a life of struggle and pain it will strengthen me and refine me in Gods Grace and love. I know this because it is a truth I have clinched to during my darkest hours. I know that my struggles will bring perseverance and that when I choose to fight and persevere it will develop my character, and then when my character develops I will have hope. Not just a hope or faith that I've heard about rather one that I know on a very real level because I have struggled with it, fought for it and experienced it! 
  
   I may not be a lot of things, but you know what? I don't give a flying fuck! I am finally learning to be content with who I am and embracing my journey.
   
   "I am on a journey....a journey that is completed only through death....a journey that is continued only with my animalistic urge to be free....my journey is not fast....my journey is slow....my journey is a crawl....but my journey will end....I am free."

Moving, Editing, Dealing With Fucking Jetlag

Hey, all! Just a little update, here. I (RV) am now living in the Philippines. Packed up my bike, camera in the bag, and hauled my ass over here.

While I'm still dealing with the effects of jet lag, and whatever this bronchial infection thing is that I picked up before I left Michigan, I finally managed to finish Pat's edit (after a few software battles that kept me starting over from scratch).

Anyway, here's his new edit, doing things for 42North and Run Jelly Pandas:




Oh, and if anyone lives in the Angeles City area, and knows the spots and would like to show me around, it'd be pretty effin' sweet if you'd do that. Just message me here, or through the Run Jelly Pandas page. Thanks!

- RV

Like a Light

http://500px.com/RLH

See you on the other side of International Dateline, y'all. I'm out. - RV

I Can't Reach (Grand Rapids)

http://500px.com/RLH

Long overdue

These are some of my favorite pictures from the trip that RV and I took in late May and early June.  

Sunrise at the Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Sunrise at the Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Custer State Park, South Dakota

Early morning sun at the trail head to the Cathedral Spires at Custer State Park, South Dakota

Pre-sunrise at Oxbow bend, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

The Grand Tetons lit by a full moon, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

Run Jelly Jam

Run Jelly Jam 2012 from RV Henretty-Jornales on Vimeo.

A Spattering (4 for 4th)

Custer, SD

Badlands, SD

 

A Doe. A Deer.

More soon.

Stems. And Tourists. And Junk.

 I don't usually wander around during Tulip Time (or, like this year, "Stem Fest"). As someone that grew up in Holland, was part of the parade through St. Francis de Sales for years, and as someone that generally doesn't go for things with large groups of people--I've been pretty burned out on the whole idea since, probably, the end of middle school.

I love junk food, however. I'm Midwesterner through and through.

Handyman

When I was still little, my father would carry me around on his shoulders every time we went to the grocery store. I was always happy, sitting above everyone else--up high, chewing gum, and happy.

He would ask me, "Are you still chewing your gum?"
"Yes," I would say. If I wasn't, I had swallowed it.

I was that kind of little.

One day at the grocery store, he asked me "Are you still chewing your gum?"

"No," I replied.

starry nights

Last night I took pictures of the northern lights for the first time, which I was also seeing for the first time. When I heard they were going to be out, I got excited and quickly ran out of the house with my camera, forgetting things like a headlamp, hat, gloves, and warm clothing. It was windy, and it was cold, but it was awesome.

This is a picture that I had thought about taking since last summer. Initially I wanted to set up my camera for a long exposure on a clear night with the moonlight lighting up the rocks. Because of the south facing view, the stars would have made a nice arch over the rocks. However, being a south facing view, the moon passes right through the sky in front of the camera, which would make an ugly streak and back light the waterfall. For this shot I just set up a 30 second exposure and lit the waterfall with my head lamp.

Mosquito

Mosquito beach at the Pictured Rocks. Probably one of my new favorite picture taking spots.

Saturday! Be There!

"Unarmed and Outnumbered but Far From Dead"

  I went on a journey to embark on new endeavors and to run from a relentless evil that has tried to destroy my life many times before. One night along my journey I fell asleep under the stars only to wake up disoriented and in pain. My leg was swollen and I realized I had been bitten by a poisonous snake. I called out in hope of hearing a familiar voice but no one was there. As my vision cleared I found a jagged rock and managed to cut my wound spilling warm blood and poisonous venom over the cold ground. I gathered myself and stood up, I limped away from the stoic forest in which I was sleeping and into a sunny warm meadow.
    I took a minute to bask in the warm sun trying to warm my cold limbs. I called out but once again silence. I began walking further out into the meadow towards the surrounding hills. As I approached the hills I began to hear what sounded like thunder. I looked around at the sky but there were no clouds in sight, then the ground began to tremble as the sound grew closer. I stood looking fuzzily over towards the hills. Afraid, injured and unarmed I began to realize the evil I had been running from had caught up to me. This time I called out once again, but to God. I did not hear an answer but I felt a gentle breeze blow through the meadow. A sense of peace and renewed spirit came over me. I felt his presence and realized that I was brought to this time and place to finally face the evil that has been haunting me. I looked to the hills with confidence, my vision and mind clear as if all the poison eluded my body. As clarity befriended me once again I knew what needed to be done.
  It is time to fight once again! I began running towards my enemy to hold my ground and to put an end to the fear of the unknown. I may be bloody, injured, and afraid but I will never avoid a fight when it comes my way. Today has come for a reason. Today has a purpose. Today has meaning. Today has given me life so I can live it, fight for it, and overcome what happens! Today has given me a chance to fight in order to see tomorrow. Shall I merely sit and be overwhelmed and overtaken by my enemy, or will I stand up against my enemy and face it with an intensity that would make hell tremble? This battle may mean I will be unarmed and outnumbered, but my foe does not know that I am far from dead! I will fight with every ounce of energy I have until my last dying breath.

Tri

Untitled

Pictorial records cognate to an unsound moment

  These old pictures of myself in their graininess, lack of color, and dismal appearance reflect the monotonous distress of my day to day lately.

Random March

Somehow, even though I've spent most of my life in Michigan, I had never shot a gun until I was 28 years old.

Even though I was offered women, drugs, and the chance to shoot guns last time I was in Manila. (I'm not sure where you'd actually go for something like that in a city so densely populated. I can only imagine what it would be like to get stoned and shoot hookers.)*

2012

A few shots from this winter so far.

Two Shots (No Chaser) - Street

Random Squares (I do not feel like smiling.)

This is the town I grew up in. *

Super Crop (Not Starring Jackie Chan)

I've really been into square crops, lately. I'm not really sure what brought it on, but I just feel like it works so well for a lot of things that I might not be one hundred percent on board with.

For example...

Mid-winter (?) Updates

It's been around 40F during the day for most of February, so I'm convinced that this either isn't really winter, or the matrix is broken and this isn't really Michigan. I'm unemployed like I'm in Michigan, so I'm guessing it's the former.

Lately, I've been taking pictures of things that I don't typically take pictures of outside of bmx: people.

(More after the jump.)