Saturday, May 23, 2009

A beautiful week in Minneapolis

Masi spent the past week in Minneapolis getting countless excellent images and video for the upcoming Masi catalog and other projects. The weather during the week was about as good as anybody could possibly ever hope to experience and the people of Minneapolis who we worked with or encountered were amazingly warm and hospitable. All in all, it was an incredible week in an incredible city.

The week was filled with very long days of riding around the city from location to location; the rental car was only used for driving to and from the airport and the home base bike shop- Behind Bars. Days began with a quick breakfast and then a full day of getting bikes and riders prepped and ready and then riding through the amazing cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Most days of shooting did not wrap up until well into the evening, with daylight hanging on until close to 9:00PM. Evenings consisted of a nice dinner with the day's crew and then it was back to the hotel to review the photos captured during the day... as well as a few late night rides through the city. Five days proved to be barely enough to get all that we had hoped to, but with a final morning/ afternoon of shooting on Friday we were satisfied with our efforts... and very tired. We wished we would have had more time to get out and see even more of the cities and even more importantly had the chance to ride more.

In the end, we left Minneapolis with tons of great photographs for the catalog and lots of excellent video as well. We're itching to get back to Minneapolis already and hopefully will be there again sooner- rather than later.

The lovely ladies taking a rest between shoots.


One of my favorite icons of Minneapolis- the Grain Belt Beer sign.

Pete Demos- Creative Director- setting up the flashes and getting ready to make the magic happen.

Pete getting the long row of Masi bikes; props and customer bikes combined- a great sight!


Pete getting set up for a shoot on the night we got into town.



One of the more beautiful areas of downtown, at the Mill Ruins.


Spencer with the Speciale CX and a beautiful iron bridge along the river.


Trains are still a big part of the Minneapolis world- innumerable tons of freight come through the city via rail.


Doing my job- I apparently make for a pretty good tripod.


The LGR boys on their Coltello track frames; all three years of the frame represented!

Me with Chuck, Josh and Dan of Behind Bars at the end of a long week.

My very own Speciale Fixed looking quite happy in the Minnesota sun (it was a very happy bike).

Though there are countless people to thank, a few of the major ones are;
Behind Bars Bicycle Shop- our home base during the shoot, as well as our friends. Chuck Cowan and his guys at the shop kept the bikes running and ready for action.
Twin Six Alternative Cycling Apparel- clothing and accessories for the riders and Masi staff as well. Their clothing designs kept everybody looking good.
Banjo Brothers- bags and packs for the bikes and riders. Banjo Bros also helped to get us in touch with Twin Six, so they really did double duty. And the bags were great props for the shoots, as well as excellent tools for transporting gear to all corners of the city.
Lazer Helmets- our friends at Lazer generously provided helmets for the week's photo shoots as well. If you're riding your bike, please wear a helmet... and certainly give Lazer a look.
Spencer Haugh (and his lovely girlfriend Katrina) and the LGR Racing team- Spencer was not only one of the models, but he is also a member of the Masi-sponsored LGR Racing team and served as an excellent scout and guide. His help was invaluable on many levels.

Many more thanks are due, so check the Masiguy blog for more behind the scenes coverage.

Thank you again to all of our friends and fans in Minneapolis/ St. Paul- your help and friendship means more than words can express.

Tim

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