Mechanical truth: trading the electronic nightmare for an all-black reality.

The Blackout

This usually happened when I was deep in the Belgian countryside, searching for the perfect light. I would be in the rhythm of the day when the tools I relied on would simply disappear. Whether it was a flickering digital sensor screen or ‘ghosts’ in my dashboard electronics, the result was the same: a pitch-black void where information should have been.

This was the frustration of my previous setup — a life defined by unsolvable electronic gremlins. I had let a dealer talk me into a ‘feature-heavy’ bike that even he couldn’t repair when the buttons stopped working and the screens went dark. I realised then that when you outsource control to a computer, you are at the mercy of its glitches.

The Great Simplification

In November, I decided to take up photography again. This change of direction prompted a ‘hard reset’ in my photography. Looking at my digital gear, I saw the same problem: menus, software updates and hidden electronics between me and the image.

I stripped everything back to the essentials and picked up the Leica M-A.

The M-A is a purely mechanical masterpiece. There is no battery, sensor or “features” to fail. It’s a camera that forces you to understand light rather than relying on a processor to interpret it for you. To put this new approach to the test, I took my all-black Road Glide Limited and a roll of Agfa APX 400 film to Lommel.

Sculpting with Shadows

Using a manual camera to shoot a black-on-black motorcycle is the ultimate test of intuition. It’s not just about taking a picture; it’s about sculpting with light. I had to judge the exposure by feeling the difference between the deep blacks of the engine and the glossy finish of the fairing. There was no “review” screen to help me out. All I could hear was the mechanical ‘snick’ of the shutter and feel the weight of the film advancing.

The Basement Alchemist

The final act of this story took place in the quiet of my basement, away from the world.

Although I had been a digital photographer all my life, I had never developed a single roll of film. To start 2026 off properly, I set up my Jobo CPA2 in my basement workshop. I didn’t want to rely on a ‘dealer’ or a lab ever again. If the machine broke, I wanted to understand why. If an image failed, I wanted it to be my fault and not due to a software glitch.

Loading the Agfa film in total darkness was a meditative challenge — a dance of touch instead of sight. As the Jobo began its rhythmic rotation, the basement was filled with the sound of a functioning machine. There was no software or pixels — just the steady 20°C water bath and the chemistry of the silver.

The reveal: Shades of Night

When the timer finally clicked off in the silence of the basement, I pulled the wet film from the Jobo reels and held it up to the light.

There it was: the Road Glide Limited, captured in the silvery grain of Agfa 400 film. Its all-black finish didn’t just disappear into the darkness; it had incredible tactile depth. The fairing’s gloss stood out against the Milwaukee-Eight engine’s raw, matte texture. I had done it. I had captured a machine I could finally trust with a camera that would never fail me, and I had developed the film with my own two hands. No sensors, software glitches or “dealer solutions” required.

Conclusion: The luxury of less

The Ultra was a nightmare, but it was the hard lesson I needed to be the catalyst for change. Since trading in November, the fog has lifted. I’ve swapped a dealer’s bad advice for my own intuition for 2026. I’ve swapped a dashboard that goes black for a basement where the shadows finally make sense.

• The bike: Road Glide Limited (all black, stable and true).
• The camera: Leica M-A (mechanical perfection).
• The process: Jobo CPA2 (total independence).

I am no longer a passive user of technology; I am the pilot of my own machines. The new year has begun, the first rolls are drying, and, for the first time in a long while, the road ahead looks exactly as I want it to: All black and perfectly clear.

Thank you