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There are somethings painfully lost in today’s gadget-driven virtual world. We are replacing real life experiences with time-sucking, technology bullshit. We peek through our internet looking-glass like voyeurs of some distant reality, where people are actually living life as it was meant to be. Do you really effin’ think that Steve McQueen would be glued to his iPad surfing for the latest neat-o apps? Or would he get off his ass and get to livin’? We are in serious danger of becoming emasculated by all this cyber-crap. I’ve been absent the past couple weeks, not even thinking about the internet. And you know what? It felt really good. I can honestly say I didn’t miss a damn thing.
I admire the guys at It’s Better In The Wind for reminding us of the pure joy that can come only from the quest for adventure– the kind of adventures that were taken on more by generations past than the iNerds and Crackberries we’ve become today. All I can say is we’ve largely lost our desire to live, and replaced it with a need to be validated by smartphones, laptops, and all the other crap that keeps us from the physical world we were created for. Let’s grow a set, and go find our souls.
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The Selvedge Yard 
“grow a set, and go find our souls” … enough said!
Well said sir.
god, I Love you and your photography. This post is amazing! I love how old-school you are. I have been so interested in this lately… this is my favorite line of yours: “We peek through our internet looking-glass like voyeurs of some distant reality, where people are actually living life as it was meant to be.” It reminded me of Alice in Wonderland… I’ve always wanted my own Wonderland where I can make up whatever BS I want to like SINGING FLOWERS
Truer words were never spoken. Having said that I just ordered an iPod Touch…while everybody is rushing to buy iPads.
I’m a freelance designer and illustrator so I need the internet and to a certain extent I need the iPhone/iPod Touch (I design icons for their apps) but I’m dying to reach the financial stability to travel the world and live.
Thanks for reminding me that it’s friday and it’s sunny here in Krakow and I should get the hell out of my house…
“Do you really effin’ think that Steve McQueen would be glued to his iPad surfing for the latest neat-o apps?”
Absolutely not, do you really effin’ think Steve McQueen would style himself out so he could take a bunch of pics posing and on his bikes in order to post them on the internet to validate himself? Absolutely not. These guys are no better than little girls hanging out together taking pics of themselves so they can hurry back home and post them on their facebook pages. These guys are inerds performing for inerds.
Until now Selvedge has been posting pre-internet shots that have passed the test of time, i hope this post isn’t a sign of a new trend, showcasing wannabe’s.
Alessandro,
Wow. That’s a very rough judgement, friend.
I see the pics as art, and a reflection of their passion for the lifestyle, not some poseur validation.
Who doesn’t like pics of themselves doing the things we love to capture the essence and energy of the moment? These guys were on the road and in the wind- not in some photo studio
Have a great weekend,
JP
Love your blog, love the old pics of real people…..
Look at the top pic, anyone claiming not to be a hipster IS a hipster, sorry but you’ve had a big drink of the poseur cool-aid.
You have a great weekend too, and PLEASE , find more great vintage pics to post, the internet is already jam-packed with n”hipster-haters” validating themselves in pictures.
Alessandro
I agree with Alessandro on this one completely.
Hey bud- you know, the world is what it is…modern. The world communicates via the internet now, and ya, the photos end up in the internet looking glass as well. It’s part of living and working as an artist these days.
But, if you doubt the process, you are welcomed to come on a ride with us, and get windburn so bad your lips crack, and sleep in the desert sand at 28degreesF with us.
Don’t hate bud, just enjoy the photographs and know that not everybody photoshops their pictures to hell and back.
-S
“But, if you doubt the process, you are welcomed to come on a ride with us, and get windburn so bad your lips crack, and sleep in the desert sand at 28degreesF with us.”
LOL, you just described any biker’s experience out on the road, if you want a pissing contest go to the advriders forum…there are far better pics of guys trying to impress everyone else over there. I’ll keep riding for my own enjoyment. ~A
Oh, and thank you for the amazing pictures Scott.
“blah blah angry garbage LOL, you just described any biker’s experience out on the road”
Um, no. Most bikers these days do not ride deep into the desert, on something other than a La-Z-Boy Harley or Goldwing, and sleep in the middle of the frozen sand with nothing more than sleeping bag.
It appears that the simple appearance of the word “hipster” has trigged a epileptic fit of chimp-like rage from you. Despite knowing nothing about these guys, you are apparently qualified to hand down such harsh judgement?
That sounds fun. Let me have a try: Based on knowing nothing about you, it appears some insecurity of your own has caused you to lash out at something you find threatening. You sound like a typical internet tough guy, more interested in flapping his lips and swinging his d*ck around than actually doing anything. You know, the kind of guy Steve McQueen eats for breakfast.
Gee, making rash, uninformed, and unintelligent judgments IS fun!
Thanks for playing. Please try again next time.
It really feels like you just spoke my mind.
When I look at myself ten years ago I get the strong feeling that, I was a more fulfilled, more physical and less cynical person than today. I was still curious of things.
Today people have this fashionable been-there-done-that attitude that originates from the misconception that viewing things on the Internet actually replaces the real life experience.
Sadly the voyeur analogy holds very true.
…couldn’t agree more-although there are certain niceties about technology which allows us share knowledge such as in blogs like this. In the site “its better in the wind” there is a passage which reads like a manifesto of what these guys are doing and why and in it there is a section that reads “…riding of a motorcycle for long distances. You are naked to the elements, forced to listen only to your own thoughts as the engine becomes white with the background. The road is beneath you and you are one with the world that surrounds you. The elements in your face remove you from your daily comforts, and you become alone within the group”. No iPods or smartphones there…. takes me back to passages in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance reflecting on value and quality…
well, I missed you! OH, and if I could grow a set I would… but only if it came with the most important piece……
Never disappoint!
Second that!
Feeling your thoughts, loud and clear.
It’s sad that it seems people nowadays search for validation through facebook status updates or tweets, or trying to project their two cents’ worth onto some social network platform in order to feel a place in this world. Validation shouldn’t come from cyberspace.
Having said that, I find a breath of fresh air in those, like the above-pictured, who go live life and enjoy themselves while they’re at it. Nothing wrong with taking photo evidence of that and inspiring the masses.
You just found a new follower to your blog.
…and we become e-feminated too. Talking about voyeurism – look at what the internet has done to the world of sex…it’s better in bed…with a re-masculated guy. Great blog – Barbara
Excellent post! Well said, indeed!
Thank you JP. Just wanted to add that I think a lot of the craftmanship/authenticity/DIY thing going on, has to do with that same phenomena. There are of course other factors adding to that, but sitting in front of computer screens a big part of our time, we are craving for analog/real sensual experiences again. I have to draw using a wacom tablet – sometimes I dream about a screen printing studio, being covered with paint, etc. …enjoy finding your soul, but nevertheless – keep on posting please!
Barbara
Hey Alessandro, Would Steve McQueen get all prettied up for pictures? Seriously? He’s a freakin movie star! Getting prettied up for pictures was his job. Lets not fool ourselves that just because something was/is a little old that its cooler than now.
Its OK to pose. Just make sure you can pull off whatever you are posing when cameras arent around as well.
As far as Hipster hating. As an old English teacher used to tell me, “show, don’t tell”.
Amen to all of that!
For sometime I have wondered about your blog and several others that I enjoy. The thing I wonder about is this. What will happen when all of the cool people and real life events have been covered? What happens when there in is no more truth to show? Few people today have the courage and the security to simply be themselves and actually…LIVE REAL LIVES!
I rarely speak to strangers today because immediately the conversation is reduced to a competition. The other person is always working a hidden angle. “Did I go to a better school, do I have a better job, do I make more money, have I traveled to more places?….”
It’s just sad that with every passing day people are climbing to ever higher levels of counterfeit slime.
Alessandro, would Steve log onto message boards just to point out the ‘posers’?
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This blog post has opened my eyes. Like a commenter above, I too am a designer and rely on software/internet for my job so I can pay the bills. Your post and the ‘itsbetterinthewind.com’ site ring loud and clear to me. I have been a long-time admirer of vintage motorcycles, and realized the age of the internet has stolen many adventurous opportunities from me. I’m glad I read this, as I was contemplating on buying an iPad. Now I think I’ll spend the cash on quite a few tankfuls of gas instead.
Thank you so much for this much needed post.
WKD, Utah.
This is the first time I ventured to comment my much loved Selvedge Yard. The comment posted by Johnny 1K prompted me to do so.
I also have found myself trapped, looking back I used to be a track racing champion who even participated in an Eco-challenge race in the Patagonia.
Now I am enslaved to the computer, working from home, some days I don´t even leave the house. I miss the exhilaration of pure unadulterated raw life.
Getting up at 5 to go hunting with my dad and grandpa, sometimes in the dark of night. Going on the road, camping, smelling the pines, the earth… Nothing Internet can give you.
Gadgets are just TOOLS!
As someone who makes a living by programming websites and keeping up with digital trends, I have a real internal conflict with my job sometimes. I love what I do, but at the same time I can sense the soul-crushing false reality of what it represents, and the occasional desire to chuck my computer out a window and forget all about it.
I don’t have a twitter, I barely check facebook, and I don’t own a smartphone or blackberry or notebook computer to stay connected; I’m not one of those types. Instead, I spend a lot of my life building on this terrible internet vampire. It’s a guilty feeling, you know, sometimes I feel like a drug pusher. And at the end of the day I’m still the one in an office killing myself while working on it.
This is a great site, really takes me to a simpler time and place. Thanks for reminding me of what’s really out there. And putting the idea back in my head that I need to change my pace.
Alessandro, very bitter, these guys aren’t standing around criticizing each others outfits. The pictures show them riding and living the lifestyle. Get over it, hater………….ps. great post.