Neutrality Kills

 I found myself inside the barely staffed Mecklenburg Courthouse yesterday taking care of a small amount of work when I received a text message that Chris Radok had been murdered.  Since that moment, through the now, the magical instant before me I still feel the shock of hearing such a tragedy.  Sorting out the details will take awhile, however I am patient in these types of matters and already have my nose to the ground in an effort to not only understand, but to make sure that Radok's killer is brought to justice and his murder is not simply labeled the 'first' of 2011 in Charlotte and then swept cleanly under the rug. The victory society aided by local media not media often uses sporting labels to mark an incident or action in an effort to separate themselves from actually accepting how the outcome created makes them feel.  The feeling I have right now is a sick realization that I will never see Radok alive again.

  This is what I know as of this morning.  On Monday, the day before yesterday 29 year old Antoine Young, a convicted felon with multiple prior criminal convictions broke into Radok's house.  Chris came home while this habitual criminal was still there and a confrontation ensued.  According to my source close to the police, Radok died from blood loss caused by multiple stab wounds and defensive injuries.  In that situation I imagine Radok to have not given up easily.  He was a tall man with plenty of life experience to know that the seconds before him were an immediate time to defend himself with everything he had.  When the Medics arrived they could not save him, he was pronounced dead on the floor inside of his home.  Young was arrested at his father's house on Enfield Road by a CMPD VCAT team later that night.  Antoine Young has been charged with Radok's murder. 

I first met Radok in Late 2002 shortly after he contacted me regarding a photo assignment that he was given to work with me and several of the other messengers in town.  Sam Boykin was writing a cover story for the Creative Loafing about what we do and how it makes us feel called, The Two Wheeled Path. Radok's job was to make the images that would support the article.  If memory serves me right, it was snowing lightly the day he came uptown and introduced himself.  Chris was a tall man, skinny with huge eyes and an articulate skull, there was something about him that was authentic and genuine. I immediately felt like I could be myself in his presence.  He was real.  The shoot took several hours as we moved around town trying to get 'the' shot.  Radok was very physical on the job, I remember him running along side of me a few times with that wide fish eye lens.  At one point he was actually running backwards in between the parked cars and the lane I was in rolling towards him.  His huge reach was extended holding the camera above his head pointed down at me as he made the picture.  When that work was done he thanked us for being easy to get along with and he told me that we would get together soon and look at the images. He had me over his place off of 8th Street a few days later to give me a sneak peek at the pictures before they went to print.  That was the kind of man he was. 

Over the years Radok and I worked on at least one other photo assignment together and we became friends who often shared a coffee and conversation about the world, bikes and photography.  Radok, you will be truly missed.

ACHTUNG PEOPLE
From Cedar Posts:

You can help: Police are searching for Chris Radok’s 2001 Grey Jeep Cherokee with NC license plate WPH-5769. Should you see the missing Jeep please call 911 or 704-432-TIPS. Anyone with additional information regarding this crime can also call Crime Stoppers at 704-334-1600.

Powder Froze to Granular

More images taken by Justin Engel yesterday at the 'BIG' Hill Park off of Parkwood.  Here you see the Bluders and I enjoying the small nuances of a winter day in the south. 

On your mark, get set, MUSH~

All morning the snow was fluffy dry powder. 

White wash. 

I went out on the mountain bike last night after 2000hrs.  The snow con had changed to granular packed after some ice pellets fell from the heavens earlier around the twilight hour.  Work is back on today, I cannot decide whether to take the normal direct drive work bike or my fat tire mountain rig.  Stiction over disc brakes seems to be my answer.

Justin Case, You Missed It

From Left to Right:  Mein Schatz, Zoo, Rommel and myself shot by none other than Justin Engel whose Dad and I have suffered a few times together. This kid has an eye, for sure.  Merry Christmas everyone...

Uptoon Pictorial-The Juggler

Heffrey belled me up a few weeks ago to let me know that he found a gem for me amongst the trash being sold at a junk store out east of The Jar.  I could tell by the ecstatic and borderline crazy tone in his voice that he was pumped to have found such a piece of pro level equipment.  It was a slightly used(the rings around the little rubber boots on the legs are in perfect condition as if they have never touched the floor) Italian Made Bogen Professional Tripod.  The best part of the deal was that the lady only wanted one In God We Trust Unit in trade, 1.08 after tax.  So, he hooked me up and dropped the Bogen off the other day.  What an incredible replacement to the piece of crap yard sale tripod that I have been using for years.  This Bogen is solid.  It feels like it is connected to the molten center of the earth when the legs are out and the camera is mounted to the head.  The action is fluid, smooth in all directions without any play.  A big thanks to Heffrey for looking out for me on this one.  I will be more likely to shoot from a fixed position now that I have a professional grade tripod.

After my work was over yesterday, I loaded up the new tripod, camera and a few lenses into my bad and set out on an Uptoon exploration to find something interesting to make pictures of.  Almost every day it seems like you can find a variety of characters on or near The Square.  On this day The Juggler and his colorful glittery liquid balls caught my eye.

In between juggles I asked The Juggler if I could take his picture. 

He said that was no problem, especially if I gave him a dollar or two. 

The Juggler was from Fayettenam NC where he said he was taught to juggle by the best. 

He was able to throw the balls underhand backwards so that they would come over the top of his head to the front. 

Always looking at the object with focus. 

This artist was a calm concentrating soul. 

Through the glass lens I occasionally thought I saw him talking quietly to the balls as they levitated in front of his face. 

The present header image. 

Maria Says, "P is for Park People!"

Meet Humane Society of Charlotte property Fraser(snoozing) and Balsam.  Within the context of this image, these two baby Boxers appear more cute than is physically possible.  However, there has been no trick photography or photo shop work done on the picture, the pups are actually that cute.  This brother and sister pair stayed with us for a two week foster over the holidays and are now back at the HSC, ready for adoption.   

On the drive home after dropping the babies off, I got held up at a stop light on HWY 24/27.   While sitting there still I noticed an out of the ordinary movement to my left, the object was coming towards me.  I looked in that direction and saw a small car rolling out of the gas station parking lot and into the right lane of westbound traffic.  The driver of a small green on coming car hit the brakes, and then swerved right around the back of the unmanned auto just barely missing it.  That must of gave him a woody feeling all over.  The ghost driven vehicle kept coming slowly, but definitely for the middle lanes causing at least two other drivers to brake hard and go around.  When the free rolling car's front wheels hit the cement center island, the car bounced a bit, then starting rolling backwards towards the gas station it had came from. 

By this point I was able to free my eye phone camera from the inside pocket of my messenger bag which was behind my seat.  I took these two pictures as the car was rolling back towards the sidewalk.  The car owner, whom I suspect had run in to pay for the gas when the car initially rolled away was now chasing down his property.  Off camera, he jumped in and safely maneuvered his rig back into the station's lot.  As scholar Grant Baldwin noted about this incident, "Everyone was unscathed, it sounds like. Ah, the fine line between hilarity and tragedy."  How true.  From the perspective of a cycling pedestrian who travels that shitty corridor almost daily, I have been once again reminded of the inherent dangers of powering through our victory society.  Be careful out there folks, auto viper people seem to be in a big hurry these days, and it is costing them more than ever before.

Mein Schatz Goes BLOG

"Dad, I want you to to take a picture of me with my hand on this huge rock.  I am not going to smile, this is a serious situation", Ms. Arcen said to me the last time we were at Crowders Mountain. 

I once read that a Blog is born every half of a second.   If that is the case, I wonder how often they die. 
 
MAJOR TRAFFIC STOP ANNOUNCEMENT:  Ms. Arcen enters the world of Blogging with the launch of Seeing the World through Earth Colored Eyes.  For the record this was her idea, not mine and I am supporting her effort by helping her understand the critical nature of story conveyance through the blog medium.  She plans to update once a week or so as she sees fit and I will help her with that manifestation.  The kid has always had something to say and here is her chance to share those thoughts turned to typed words.  I invite you to check in on this 6th grader's perceptions of the world around her, maybe she will give you a touch of youthful transfer as she does me pretty much every day.  You can find her on the right side of my blog as Earth Colored Eyes  with the rest of the characters under the list: My Little Friends and Other Strong Humans.  I do wish her luck in keeping up the effort required to transfer a story and develop an interested audience.  If you take the time to follow her page she will smile and her eyes will cross with joy.

Now, as for the Traffic Stop.  Christmas is finally over, but have no worries, it will be back soon enough.  This time of the year hurts me more than I am ready to admit.  Everywhere I turned since around the week before Halloween were reminders of what a wonderful time of year this is.  Really?, I would think to myself as I kept seeing these huge glistening and glittery festival balls all over town.  Just yuck, plastic Chinese made and shipped reindeer antlers on the shiny auto vipers whizzing by pissed and in a mad blind hurry to get where ever they are going in the name of the season. I can feel that Holiday entropy as if I were responsible for it all by myself.  Sometimes those antlers blow off the windows and wind up in the gutter for me to ride by and see. Do you know how many times I had spotted such seasonal throw away in the weeks leading up to the big day?  Many, I tell you. The sad part is that the first few times I spotted these deer antlers in the street I would look around for the rest of the deer carcass until I made the connection that it is just trash, everything is fine, nothing is really dead other than the planet.

Yes, the Christmas work up worked on me. So, I bought the kid a bike, a real special Gary Fisher bike that I will share with you soon.  She has ridden it twice and soon I will give you her first trail report.  As often happens I digress without negative context, like being side tracked when someone says. "Free Beer." Now, back to the point.  I have been slack for the past few weeks, sporadic at best.  For that I apologize and plan to get back on the regular dose of crazy talk supporting the adventures in life that I see and feel both on and off the bike.  Today was on the bike, commute and job style.

The Laptop Round Up for the Real is going well with two weeks to go.   I had an amazing meeting with an IT human from one the firms I work for who gave me some positive news that will be confirmed soon.  Updated contribution numbers will be posted by the end of the week that will surprise even my biggest skeptics and naysayers.  Please continue to keep this grass roots project in mind because it would be really nice to exceed the goals of the drive and be able to deliver more than the 15 machines originally requested.  Remember that according to the Crisis Caravan, the only way to get something done, is by dropping all barriers and doing it. 

Maybe one last Christmas Image for your post Christmas enjoyment.  A blown white balance shot I made in Dooleyville on the evening after Christmas Day reminds me of what the Holiday will look like after the Nuke goes off.  Caesium Sky...

Long December Snow

Out in the way back, three of the four big dogs frolic under the snowy boughs of the grand winter Hemlock.

White and black Day after Christmas image, a winter dogwood drawing attention to itself.

Night time, on the edge of Loch Dooley.

Blown shot, but Rommel's emotional transfer still comes through with snow on his nose.