I really love that each new season gives companies the chance to put out a new catalog, or at the very least a look-book (as they say) of sorts. For the past two seasons we have put together these really nice looking portrayals of the shoots that brought them to life. The first one was in Norway and the photography was fittingly bleak and gray. But, at the same time so vast and awe inspiring as to make me want to go there and ride my bicycle.

From the onset it is apparent that there is something different happening here by the way of a female figure gracing the opening pages of the book. A new venture for the line, as this is the first foray into Women’s clothing. Photographer Ben Ingham does a good job of teasing us (mystically, she only appears once at the beginning, and again hidden in the final pages) into what we will surely see more of as the line grows.

This season the entire line was shot in Siricusa, Italy. And while no one actually set fire to anything the engraving on the cover piece does the job of not only invoking a keen sense of art direction, but does its job of bringing the viewer back to it again and again. On the inside: “Cover Illustration: Title page of the Thesaurus Opticus, a Latin edition of the Book of Optics, by the 10th-century Arabic scholar Alhazen. The image depicts Achimedes setting fire to advancing Roman ships using a ‘parabolic mirror’, during the siege of Siracusa, 214-212 BC.” An essay aptly titled “The Vanity of Conquest” appears within the pages.

Everything about this little publication has been taken into account. Ben’s photography is stunning, Designer Ultan Coyle does an amazing job with the layout and design as well. Check out his website and note some of the interesting things that he does in his spare time. 19 Tide Drawings should get you going. The collaboration of these two, photographer and designer, has been happening for some time now, and it never disappoints.

Even the paper stock has a nice heavy feel to it. Not heavy enough to prevent the pages from blowing about as I tried to photograph them. Yet, at 17 pages it still has the slight feeling of a book, or a possibly a packet of documents. But, one of the things that goes unnoticed upon first glance, but that actually drew a smile to my unwavering lips was the thin pink thread used to hold it all together.

To view the entire Spring-Summer line go to Rapha.cc

There have been more than a few book shops in my life. Growing up in rural Wisconsin does not give you too many options for the savvy book reader (which I was certainly not I just like them). But it put the book shop on a pedestal for which other shops did not qualify. When my family would make the two-hour venture from our hometown to the State Capital of Madison, a trip to the book store was in order. Possibly even more than one book store. And the bookstores that I pushed for were either second-hand ones involving countless stacks of musty beauties, or comic books for miles.

Which is why having a shop like Ampersand nearby is exciting, but also a bit daunting. Every time I go in to this shop I try hard not to think too much about it. You see, everything in this shop is that good. So good, in fact that I have taken to using an age old technique that they teach in the back woods of good ol’ Wisco. Some call it Splatter Vision. This is a trick that hunter’s use to visually spot game that may be camouflaging oneself. You sort of unfocus your eyes to a point where everything is just a big blur, then, when something moves your eyes can focus on it and track its movements.

The way that it works with books is less complicated than finding a rabbit hidden beneath a brier patch. It usually involves bright colors and text on a spine that catches ones eye from a distance. The term could then be used for pretty much anything that jumps out, or catches your fancy when hidden in a sea of others.

This is what I do when I am in Ampersand. Some of the things that I have found this way are awesome (a pamphlet on narcotic use and a tattooed sailor book stick out), but one that keeps jumping out at me is Edward Burtynsky’s book Oil. This is the second time that this book stood out like this so I snapped a few photos of the photos, as it were. We threw a party here this past weekend so I got a good solid 6 hours of trying not to look at this thing. The book is too big and gorgeous to handle at a party though. So, I went back the next day.

Each page contains stunningly beautiful depictions of landscapes completely ravaged by the excess of the Industrial Revolution. They are intense and insightful, but at the same time totally unbelievable in the sheer magnitude of their pollution of the landscape. They in fact create their own massively rotten landscape is entirely too gross in both size and nature (no pun intended) to turn away from.

However, the action that may seal the deal on this one (I still have not actually taken it away) is the feeling I got when another customer started thumbing through its pages in my presence. But I sense that may be a holdover from the comic book days?

216 Pages, Published by Steidl Photography International; 1 edition (October 2009)

A few weeks ago now the North American Handmade Bicycle Show happenend in Richmond, Virginia. It is always an interesting show because of the focus on consumers. I had the pleasure of meeting up with an online cycling luminarie (this is what I am calling bloggers from now on) by the name of Kyle Kelley. You may know his site Trackosaurus? Kyle does an amazing job of staying on top of what is happening in the cycling world at any given moment, especially on the interwebs. But the thing about Kyle that is even more amazing, is that he is a great photographer.

We talked for a bit at the beginning of the show about what we would cover together at the show. What we settled on was something a little more intimate, close ups. It is a way to literally get a little closer to the products, but also a way to focus on some of the craftier selections at the show. In this case, some handmade leather goods.

This handlebar and fashionable credit card holder was in the Denucci booth. The builder out of Sisters, Oregon had more than a few things placed within his booth that reflected his tongue-in-cheek relationship with not only the NAHBS show, but also the Oregon Manifest show that took place earlier in the year. The joke here being that he has everything he could ever need with him on the bicycle, or at least the means to purchase anything.

Dinucci was also the winner of the highly coveted “Best Lugged Bicycle” trophy at the show.

Crocheted gloves with leather accents would also make a nice addition to your cycling accoutrement. It is interesting to watch this style of glove continually go away only to come back year after year. Dromarti is a cycling clothing and shoe company producing leather goods in small quantities out of Italy. Le Grand Mitt Cognac.

It was evident that shoes make the man however as most of the attention in their booth was focused on the footwear. Their booth was continually packed with seemingly awestruck individuals who could barely comprehend how Dromarti had put together such a good looking cycling shoe. It will be interesting to see where this company is headed. The Race shoe.

Thanks to Kyle for the great photos. More to come.