The Motorcycle Portraits (how it ALL got started)

Using my motorcycle (KTM 790 ADV) as a mobile photo studio. 30K Miles 100 subjects and counting.

I've been working on The Motorcycle Portraits since I shot the first portrait back in March of 2018. Today is Jan 1 2023 and I recently photographed the 100th subject for the series. That kind of blows my mind.

The original idea was to pitch this story to Honda and get them to give me a bike, the new (at the time) Africa Twin. I would take that bike around the world and create portraits of individuals whose lives are deeply connected to motorcycles. They could be builders, racers, collectors, or world travelers. I was thinking back to the campaign Honda ran in the 1970’s “you meet the nicest people on a Honda” I figured I could create a portrait series where you really could meet the nicest people on a Honda. In the end that didn’t work out (I will tell you all about the meeting)

That was the very simple idea behind The Motorcycle Portraits. Of course, I was going to take my skills as a photographer and create very dynamic portraits of these individuals. Imagine “Humans Of New York” but with great photography. I love incorporating different technologies to help tell stories. I felt a photo was not enough. A number of years ago I shot a story in India all about migrant sugarcane workers. You can see it HERE. How they harvested the cane, brought it to the factory, and how that factory turned it into the white granular sugar people use for their coffee, tea, etc. I wanted to show how far that sugar would travel. So I started to use GPS, I would geotag the location of the factory to try and show the extreme distances that sugar would travel. Maybe people would think more about what it takes to sweeten their cups.

This is what I wanted to bring to the portraits. If I could geotag the exact location of the portrait then the viewer would get a sense of the distances I would be traveling to capture these portraits. I also wanted to incorporate audio. I love audio interviews and again, it’s something I used extensively in India. I figured there was only so much I could get across in a portrait but if the subject were to answer some specific questions then the viewer would be brought closer in. They would learn more about the subject. Perhaps how the subject answered those questions would shed more light on what exactly the draw was to motorcycles.

So why am I starting this substack and why now? Well, as I said, I recently shot the 100th subject; 15 times world motorcycle Grand Prix champion Giacomo Agostini. For a long time after I started this series, I didn’t really have a goal for it. I just kept on shooting subjects as they became available to me. Then someone said to me “what are you doing with this series”? I wasn’t sure I said. They suggested I get sure, maybe a book or a podcast or a TV show. Well, those all sounded great to me but I wasn’t sure anyone beyond the subjects and their families would be interested in any of this, and frankly, I wondered if some of the subjects even cared.

So the reason I’m starting this now is that after 100 subjects and no sign of this ending anytime soon I figured I better start to give some context to the portraits. I wanted to share some of the fantastic experiences I’ve had meeting these amazing people. Including the roads traveled around the US and Canada and what may come in the future. Maybe writing a book is on the horizon but if I don’t start soon it will end up being too much for me to get my head around. Plus it’s winter and I’m living in Nova Scotia and there is not a lot for me to do during this period of time so why not get on with it?

I was wondering what type of people I wanted to attract to this substack and to be honest, I want to attract the same kind of people that I photograph for the series. I’m referring to men, women, black, white, straight, gay, or any variation. I’ve wanted to show the inclusiveness of motorcycling from the beginning so that is exactly what I’m hoping to attract here. Of course, there will be some stories of my photography career in general and if people are interested in that kind of thing i.e working on album packaging, advertising, editorial, and portrait photography then I hope they pop by as well. I’m sure I’ll offer some insight into how I do things, and how I see photography as it pertains to my work. I’m happy to share my experiences with anyone that wants to follow along.

100 portraits in a little under 5 years is a lot. Each portrait has its own story. No doubt some are more compelling than others but they are all interesting. Perhaps it’s how I met that individual or what we did to create the shot. Who knows? I mean, I know but you’ll have to wait till I get to that subject. So maybe that is how I’ll write this substack, subject by subject Hmm? I need to think about that. I mean I need to think about if I can remember all that went into each portrait.

I’m going to attempt to write at least one post a week. Sometimes I’ll write more. My grammar sucks even with Grammarly so don’t criticize, I hope you (whoever you are) like the stories I share. If you do like it then consider subscribing to this. I have a lot going on in the next year or so and any support would be greatly appreciated. I’ll share behind the scene images and videos if I have them (if I can even do that on this platform)

I may introduce a very moderately priced version to help me with the project going forward but I’ll wait a bit for that. I hope you enjoy what I’m going to write. I want to share some of the great stories I’ve acquired over the years of shooting this project.

Thanks,

David

---