Our Friend Ralph had an art opening in Philly this past weekend, with some amazing screen prints, on both paper and wood, from photos he had taken around his beloved hometown.
We shot a few pics at the show, and asked his to give us a brief rundown on the premise behind it…

“The name of the show was Lost Treasures (it was the name of an abandoned storefront i saw up there), it was screenprints of photos I’ve taken under the El train line in Philadelphia, the further north you go under the El the worse the area gets, and thats right up my alley, I love old run down buildings, the graffiti, and the characters you see along the way…that area used to be a bustling part of town for shopping, and over time it has become almost a wasteland of abandoned shops and drug dealers…I used my Canon PowerShot G10 digital camera, which I wore around my neck and hidden under a windbreaker, if I saw a cool shot I would unzip and click…i originally drove up there parked on the edge of the “shopping” district and was going to walk a big loop so i could get pics on both sides of the street, after I made it about 2 blocks I was already offered drugs 4 times, asked if I was okay or needed anything, and even had a guy try to sell me loose cigarettes I decided to get back in my car and just pull over when i saw something cool…I almost got to see a fist fight in the middle of the street until the guys girlfriend pulled him back into his car…and I saw a guy in a gorilla suit holding up a sign for used furniture…it was def a good time, im not gonna lie, I was a little sketched out being under there by myself, but I also found an oasis of a diner, it looks like this place was the shit back in the 60′s and they havent changed the decor since, they had the best chocolate chip pancakes I’ve had in the city, and for 3.99 you get 2 pancakes, 2 eggs, and a coffee.” _ Ralph Stollenwerk

The Slingluff Gallery
11 W. Girard Ave.
Philadelphia, PA 19123

The show is up from May 5th-27th

Continued in Part 2

You can invent your own captions for these photos if you want…
Thanks for checking them out.

Bryan Tarbell recently loaned me his Bronica SQ-A after my recent obsession with film photography. I ran around for about the last 2 months putting a couple rolls of film through her and learning more about manual photography, which is a totally different game from my DSLR’s. Once I had the developed photos in hand, a medium format camera instantly shot to the top of my wish list. If you have any interest in photography, I highly recommend trying one out, the 120 size negatives/slides are almost twice as big as your normal 35mm film! Everything here was shot with a 150mm f4 lens and Kodak Portra 160NC and 400 speed film. Enjoy!

Shout out to Defgrip for using the following photo as their “Flickr Find” yesterday.

This book “My Eyes Are Open” spans 12 years of your photography. During that time you have traveled to some of the most revered spots in the world. Do any spots in particular stand out in your mind? Any spots you wish you could be a local at?

Yea… I have been to quite a few spots through out the years, and many of them were amazing, and still are. When thinking of ones that stand out, I can really think of hundreds. The old Asbury, NJ park stands out cause it was located in an old, run down building that at one time, years ago it was a casino. All the trails I’ve been to I can remember quite well, like the first time I traveled to cali to ride places like Sheep Hills and Bo’s trails, and I can go on for hours about all the other places. I just feel that any place that I was at surrounded by friends will always stand out in my mind. I’m not sure about wanting to be a local at any place besides where I am right now at the Panamoka trails on Long Island… well… maybe I could see myself being a local at Posh.

Is there a Shredder Dan photo in the book?

Haha…no, there is not. There almost was though. I have some good shots of him, but now looking back at them I just wish I shot them better and I feel i wouldn’t be giving him justice with a photo I have doubts on.

I remember a time when it seemed you shot almost exclusively in black and white. Since then you seem to have incorporated a lot more color into your work. Any reason for the change?

It’s the digital age, brotha. It has just became so much easier to get photos places to where they need to be, and also my dark room has been out of commision for a bit now. If I’m going to shoot a b/w photo I want it to be film, and I want to print it up myself and give it that unique feel to it. Sometimes I do fall victim of changing a color photo to b/w, but I die a little bit inside every time I do… haha.

What is your favorite film stock?

With b/w negatives it would be Illford hp5 plus 400 speed for 35 and 120. As for color slides it’s Fuji Velvia 50 speed. For color negatives I really dont have a process.

Where do you enjoy shooting the most the trails or the streets?

I would easily say the trails. I feel the possibilities are endless when it comes to shooting in the woods. Every set of trails are different and so are the woods that they lay in. When shooting street, alot of spots look the same. A ledge is a ledge and a rail is a rail. Don’t get me wrong, there are some really unique street spots, but not as many trails as there are. Another reason I like shooting trails more is because it’s the thing I like riding the most. In my opinion you can’t beat a day in the woods at the jumps with your friends enjoying an all day session.

How long did it take you to pick out images and compile the book?

I’ve been working on this on and off for about a year and a half. I would get motivated and really bang out a few pages and find some good images, and other times it would take me hours to just make one single layout, so I would give a break for a bit. It was hard going back through all my photos over the past 12 years and trying to pick what images made the cut or not. I actually cut myself off when the book got to 144 pages, but i got a test copy of the book and when i went back to make some changes i wound up adding 6 more pages. I easily could have made this book something like 200 pages, but I think that would be a bit much for people looking at it.

Is there anyone that you would like to thank?

There are hundreds and hundreds of people I would like to thank that I’ve shot photos of, traveled with, and have met through out my times riding and shooting bmx, but I’m not goin to name them all.. haha. This crazy life of riding bmx and being a photographer has brought amazing people into my life and has allowed me to see amazing places. So to all those people and places, I thank you. I would also like to thank Least Most for this interview and showing interests in my book, and that goes to anyone else who shows interest in it.

These 10 photos by Chad share part of that experience, and it is unique for sure.

"A Positive" - Your blood type needs to be displayed on you in case something were to go wrong. They even like to have our blood type on file as entertainers.

Apache Chopper" - the most deadly helicopter ever built was under maintenance and we got to tour the chopper. Even got to sit in the pilots seat, not much room to move around but then again it wasn't built for comfort.

"Bike Rack C-130" - We have a few transports between bases flying in C-130 airplanes so we strap all the bikes to one pallet and all our bags and boxes of product for the troops on another pallet. It has the ability to be a wild ride if you convince the pilots they should show you what the plane can do, so much fun to float off the floor for about 4 seconds... ha ha.

"Feeble Drew" - Drew B. found a short feeble grind in the back of Saddam's Ba' ath House that had no run up and as soon as you land had about 3 feet to stop before falling in the manmade ces-pool of a lake. We were told it takes 17 shots of vaccinations to clean you up if you fall in.

"Fuck Saddam" - This is the last known standing portrait of Saddam still in Iraq since all the rest were destroyed by the people after we took him out of power. We stopped by to pay our "respects" and I think I made it pretty clear what I was thinking.

"Kickflip in Baghdad" - We were able to convince the military to let us find some street spots on the base and got to ride the Flinstones Village. It's a replica of the only TV show Saddam allowed to air in his country from America and gave this facility to his grandkids after having their fathers killed. Billy Rohan found a spot on the roof to kickflip and not fall 30 feet to the bad water below.

"Palace Destruction" - Self Portrait inside one of Saddams palaces that was partially destroyed in the last war. Odd fact about this scene is that the stairs are different sizes and in a pattern that Saddam had for all his palaces. If an attacker was after him he could run up the stairs but those chasing him would trip on the random sized steps. Dude was crazy!

"request denied" - We were asked by the crew of this Apache Chopper to sign the hellfire missile so we added to what was already there... "Facebook Friend Request DENIED!"

"restricted" - We got approval from the Mayor of Camp Slayer to tour the giant palace.

"Wessel Ziggurat" - This may be the only time during out Bikes Over Baghdad tour that Nate Wessel had a chance to sit down and relax for a minute. Pretty amazing being on top of the Ziggurat outside the wire with a large military escort. Once in a lifetime experience for sure.