[Leica] ScooterS Follow Up...

[Mark Rabiner <mark@rabiner.cncoffice.com>]

A Deli down the street was opening. A Polish women was making sandwiches in
there. A Quadraphinia style bike was always parked outside. It was Mod Bob's,
her son. She spoke no English. I said "Bob these pictures on the wall are an
insult to your mothers cooking" His other pals also had cool bikes so i thought
I'd photograph them and stick them on the walls in there for Bob and Bob liked
the idea. I was due for a show and this was a fairly permanent display. As it
turned out Bob and his bike really did make a great shot "with the 50 Distagon
(pre FLE) CF" and i was introduced to the whole Scooter club and their
girlfriends. But many of these people i did not meet until the day of their
shoot. A 16x20 archival fiber shot of Bob was used by the Portland Art Institute
as a fund raiser. Bob later joined the Armed forces. Cris's girlfriend "Bonny"
did have her own Scooter. Also, by the way Cris's dad reinvented the modern
Trumpet and plays Trumpet for the Oregon Symphony. Damon with Sean fixed my own
Vespa for a few years and that was nice not having to drag in into "Marios".
Sean Fong (one of the few last names I've remembered) worked at Powells city of
books (my hang out) for many years and is now a filmmaker. Jerry went on to do
much fashion modeling. Didn't much like how heavy he was in our shot. All
Scooter people got a copy of the 8x10 archival print i made of them. Tennison
and Gilion (Sisters) are still my friends i go to their holiday party every year
and I did another nice shoot of them a few months after their scooter shoot. I
know their parents now too. Terrence has become a private investigator. Tom
became an internationally known artist. He did not know these other scooter guys
i just say his painted scooter on the street and waited for him to come an claim
it. I had my 8x10's with me and showed them to him. A 16x20 archival fiber shot
of Tom was bought by a collector. He had Tom sign it too which was interesting.
I still see Tom around sometimes i think he still lives in the neighborhood. He
as designed sets for the Opera. Tom was in Gus Van Sants "My Private Idaho." All
of these shots were done within 5 minutes of my studio/house here in NW Portland
Oregon. People do comment how they look European and would seem to involve quite
a bit of location scouting. I just know my immediate neighborhood. We would head
out and pull over a few minuets later and get the shot. My Hasselblad on a
tripod with my Vivitar 285 in hand for fill. These took about 6 weeks to shoot.
I first printed them 8x10 on fiber as i shot them, then 16x20. After every shoot
i ran the negs immediately. I'd have the contact and print the next day. There
were no rejects. All 13 scooters i shot are here and were in a show i had at
Casa U Betcha and at the Camerawork Gallery. The latter was a gallery started
here by Minor White. I've had two one man shows there. 

Mark Rabiner Portland, Oregon USA

http://www.rabiner.cncoffice.com/