Prologue: In an earlier post I ambiguously teased a new project I was working on. Well, “Catching Up With…” is this project, and this post is the first installment. Visit this page to quickly learn more about what “Catching Up With…” is all about.
Catching Up With… Brian Schiele
Going back about ten years, most people that participated in our online fishing blog circles knew Brian Schiele as the “Holga Master.” His blog is primarily a photo blog that features photos taken with Holga cameras. For those not familiar, Holga cameras are low cost, plastic cameras that were first released for the Chinese market in the early 1980s. Their inconsistent photographic quality give the resulting photos a very unique look and feel.
At the time there was a lot of fishing (& tenkara) content featured on Brian’s site. I also had the pleasure of meeting Brian in person in 2012 at the Tenkara Summit in Utah.
Brian was a great guy to chat with, and still occasionally posts his photos today. Let’s catch up with Brian Schiele…
Brian, what have you been up to over the last ten or so years?
A LOT has happened in my life in the past 10 years… I have divorced, remarried, and my previous wife then passed away leaving me with our daughter. It was a tough period, but we have all made it to this point pretty well. My wife now has been a great mom to my daughter. My daughter and I entered one another’s lives via foster care and adoption.
I am still very much the “Holga Master” and continue to use Holgas, although I am pointing my cameras at a new subject matter which is also a new activity, motorcycles. Harley-Davidson in particular.
My photography tends to be autobiographical, so as I get into new activities, learn about the culture, and meet the people involved, my photography is a way to explore all of that. There’s a lot of culture and community involved in motorcycle riding, from riding a particular motorcycle, especially Harley-Davidson, to the various riding clubs, motorcycle associations, and “motorcycle clubs”.
I am still working, that hasn’t changed, although I am really, really hoping that I can retire in the next 10 years or so…
Do you miss the fishing blogging community at all? Have you kept in touch with anyone from that bygone era?
I have had a continuously running website for 21 years now, that has evolved and de-evolved during that time. When I first created a website, it was a really basic thing that I “clicked and dragged” using an online creator through my internet provider. At one point, I actually had a full on website, but due to the increasing cost of hosting and all of the other stuff that comes with having a website, I looked for an alternative. Still wanting have some sort of web presence, I stumbled upon Blogger and pointed the long blogspot URL towards mtbbrian.com. So because my “blog” is more of a blog and less than full on website, I call it “blogsite”. (Let’s work that one into our lexicon, come on Webster, here’s the real meaning of the word!)
You can see a history my site or any old site by typing in the URL into the search bar at the Internet Way Back Machine, https://web.archive.org.
Like a lot of people, my Facebook presence and connections change from time to time, so as I change interests and social and interest circles, my connections with people end and begin, but as far anyone from the whole fishing blogging community, there aren’t too many people that I keep in touch with or follow otherwise, but those I do are primarily through Facebook and Instagram.
Do you still find time to fish? If so, how often, where, and for what?
I still get out and wet a line when I can, especially with my Army and Veteran friends. My big trip involves fishing the Green River here in Utah, which I get to at least once a year and fish for trout, primarily browns and rainbows.
I found most people wrote their blogs as a personal journaling exercise or a creative outlet. What’s your creative outlet today?
I am still doing photography, it’s something of an avocation for me; I have been doing photography for 40 years now, it has allowed me to explore a lot people, places, and ideas. Through the local motorcycle and Veteran communities, I am also involved in a non-profit organization and ride, Ride To Zero. It’s an organization and ride committed to do doing something about (and hopefully prevent) the epidemic of Veteran suicide, which is an issue that is very near and dear to me.
And because my motorcycle related photographs are growing, I am working on a book, similar to the one I did with my fly fishing photography that I am hoping to have out next year.
I’m interviewing you today. Is there anybody from outdoor blogging’s past you think I should track down and interview next?
Let’s keep it to Utah anglers and bloggers – Emily!!!
Is there anything you’d like to add that I didn’t ask you?
Reach out to a Veteran that you may know, there’s about 22 million or so of us and let him or her know that you are thinking of them. Invite him or her over for dinner, take them fishing, or just offer them your time, and in the process, you will likely change two lives.
Finally, assuming you’d want to be found, where can some of your old blog friends find you today?
I’m still at mtbbrian.com, although instead of “Mountain Bike Brian” I think of it as more of “Motorbike Brian”. When I first created a website for my photography and because I was into mountain biking, I went with that and it just kind of stuck.
I also continue to utilize Flickr, where I go by “Red Holga Man“. I’m also on Instagram, where I have two accounts. My primary one is @harleys_and_holgas_forever, that is about my Holga motorcycle photography, where I am tying to find some of the success I had with my fly fishing photography.
I’m pining away until Harley-Davidson (or anyone else for that matter) contacts me about doing some sort of retro themed photo shoot (COME ON HARLEY!! 🙂 ) and you’ll also find Holga styled color pics that I take with my phone of my Harley involving the places I go.
I also go by @the_softail_schneedles on Instagram too, it’s an account that I created when my wife got a Harley and it involves our moto road-trips where we stop at the various Harley dealers across the country (Hello Harley!) and whatnot.
Many thanks to Brian Schiele for “Catching Up With…” us today.
Very nice Michael. I’ve been following Brian on Flickr for many years after meeting him at an Oni School. A very interesting person. 🙂
Good ol’ Brian! Talented photographer and writer. And a good FB friend still! We had a good time on the water too.