With every new year comes its own set of challenges, goals, and empty promises we foolishly commit to. For some, it’s to lose weight. For others, it’s to be more productive. And for the real ambitious, it’s to quench that thirst they harbor for living by squeezing out every drop of thrill the lime of life has to offer. What was it that Thoreau said? “To live deliberately”?
I wish I could say that was us. I prefer my limes in a tequila soda – well tequila, of course. (An aside to all those partaking in Dry January, thank you. The lines at the bar have never been shorter.) We have decided to pursue a goal much loftier than trying to get back into those slim-fit Levi’s we once loved: to take this site to a new height.
The Plot
Once upon a time, two fellas had a hobby. This hobby included loitering, trespassing, but above all, photography. In fact, the Batman to my Robin was so talented in photography, people took notice. And not just any people, but the ones who have been squeezing that lime of life I spoke about. The ones who “live deliberately”. The men who eat lightning and crap thunder for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The men you keep your girlfriend away from. While you can both last 8 seconds, theirs is the one that gets an applause, and the one that will actually put a smile on her face. I’m talking about the professional bull riders – the P.B.R.
Sun is Up on a New Day
Gone are the days of pigeon-holing ourselves into this Urbex ditch we’ve dug ourselves. This is not to say I still don’t love it. I will always love the archaic, abandoned experience these sites offer us. When those opportunities present themselves, I will always write about them, and there will always be above-par photos to go accompany said experience.
However, it became a sin – a mortal one – to hide those photos from the world. Cangro’s photography of these riders became something more than a hobby. It became a duty that took him around the country to make sure these riders and these bulls are done justice by the world of camera work. His work sent Getty Images down to the minors with zero player options in their contract – he fucking owned them. Then, it became my time to do justice by him.
The cacophony of abandoned content needed to be quieter. It needed to learn how to share this space with the P.B.R. Through the use of obnoxious CSS codes and HTML, I have changed our site to a more Southwest friendly version of itself. It happily welcomes not only those in the Urbex world, but all those looking for any enjoyable content.
What to Expect
The Shaved Bear offers more blogs, more often, on just about anything. The focus will still be on photography and the blogs will still pivot around those. However, if a blog about my cousin James McAvoy’s role as the satyr, Mr. Tumnus, in The Chronicles of Narnia and its implications on middle eastern tensions comes to mind, you can be damn sure I’m going to write about it.
A podcast to chop it up about our experiences at these P.B.R events and abandoned sites is in the works. All I have to do is get over that crippling self-doubt.