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Slow Camera, Fast Kids: Shooting the NICA Youth Mountain Bike Race on 4×5 Black & White Film with My Toyo VX-125

Blog by James Pratt Leave a Comment on Slow Camera, Fast Kids: Shooting the NICA Youth Mountain Bike Race on 4×5 Black & White Film with My Toyo VX-125

There’s something beautifully backward about showing up at a mountain bike race with a camera that was already a dinosaur when most of these kids’ parents were still in high school. But that’s exactly what I did on a bright Oklahoma Saturday at Lake McMurtry near Stillwater, hauling my beloved Toyo VX-125 4×5 view camera out to photograph my grandson Casper Mathews and his NICA teammates.

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Family Motorcycle Adventures: Rolling with the Punches from Edmond to Pawnee

Blog, Motorcycle, Motorsports, Oklahoma, Stories for my Grandkids, Travel by James Pratt Leave a Comment on Family Motorcycle Adventures: Rolling with the Punches from Edmond to Pawnee

There’s nothing quite like the feeling of twisting a throttle on a crisp Oklahoma Sunday morning and knowing the whole family is right there with you… The road didn’t care that our original plan fell through. It just kept offering up pieces of Oklahoma history and a whole lot of family time.

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Sounds Like an Excuse to Me

Blog, Stories for my Grandkids by James Pratt Leave a Comment on Sounds Like an Excuse to Me

After a hard mountain bike ride at Draper Lake, we sat at a picnic table. I had recently come through open-heart bypass surgery and was still struggling with a slow, complicated recovery. I did most of the talking, pouring out the setbacks and doubts. Across from me sat Denny Beitler—well into his seventies, body bent and marked by a lifetime of racing injuries—quietly listening with that familiar little twinkle in his eye. When I finally ran out of steam he leaned in just slightly and delivered six words that changed my attitude: “Sounds like an excuse to me.”

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The Voice That Saved More Than a Life

Blog by James Pratt Leave a Comment on The Voice That Saved More Than a Life

Life can flip in an instant. My sister Bobbi was pinned in a terrible head-on crash on Highway 74 southwest of Purcell—fully awake for over an hour, in excruciating pain with broken bones, internal injuries, and a deep burn from the hot exhaust. As she screamed in fear knowing her husband Nathan was in bad shape, a familiar voice cut through the chaos: her friend Sarah, a volunteer firefighter on the scene. Just hearing that friendly voice brought an instant calm over Bobbi, and she thought, “I think I’m going to make it.” They still needed the Jaws of Life for a full hour to free her, but that one moment showed how powerful real friendship can be in our darkest times.
Read the full story on the site and remember to hold your people close. — James

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