UE: Still Photo survey and Artifact mining

Keaton and I were lucky enough to be introduced to David. He is a friend of a one of the recent graduates from the GD department at KCAI. He let us into his life a little to see what being a bike/bus commuter is all about.

Below are some images that Keaton and I took from a trip to the bike shop, while shadowing, and a photo essay of his apartment. We were also lucky enough to get a great interview with him as well.

Here are all the contents that he keeps in his travel bag. He says he likes to think about what he'll need 8 hours ahead of when he leaves his apartment.

 He says he is into all different types of bikes. Therefore he ends up "collecting" them, but does use them all.

 Here is a metal and a bunt flag that he has won from races he's participated in the KC area.

 A vest from a race:

 He calls this area his workshop, where he keeps maintenance on his bikes.

 Another shot of the area where he keeps his bikes and does his work:

 David is a graduate of UMKC of the literature and film major, so books are important to him as well. 

 After the interview we had with him, he agreed to us following him to Volker, the bike shop on 39th, near State line. On the way, the weather conditions were not ideal, but it didn't seem to bother David, he still messed around at stop lights, while doing tricks on his fixed gear bike.

 Here he is having a conversation with a worker and fellow cyclist about the races in February and how it's going to be a good/fun month for riding. He picked some things up. One item specifically was a tire that fits a certain kind of wheel, but it wasn't as he said: all black. It had an area that I think I heard was called the "gum" (I need to double check) which was a part on the tire that wasn't black and was more of a peach color. I realized that having the right equipment is all about how they want their bikes to look.

 David agreed to sending us some pictures of his bikes. He claimed to have separate files for each one! So we thought it'd be interesting to see how he documented his own bikes.

 Another person we got to interact with a bit was Nate. He was a friend of our teacher Jamie's. We got an interview over the internet, and some images he sent us of him biking in the snow(!) and some images he had of his bikes as well.

 Cycling is obviously a lifestyle, and it takes dedication.

Some responses Nate gave about his bike, is that his bike isn't necessarly expensive, so that may say to the public, or bike community that he isn't rich. It's an old Dutch racing bike, which can put off a vibe of a certain aesthetic he likes in a bike. Some give aways about him being a commuter is a fender, and a rear saddle bag (due to them being a practical accessory). Some other specifics about his bike is that he has a specific saddle seat, so this says that he's choosy about what he decides to put on his bike.