Bike EXIF » Photographers

Elizabeth Raab

Chris Hunter — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:30:28 +0000

You don’t often see motorcycles featured in fine art photography; Bill Phelps is the only name we’ve come across in the past. But now there’s a new one to watch: Elizabeth Raab, a photographic artist specializing in automotive and creative portraiture. Like Phelps, Raab is based in Brooklyn, but her career kickstarted when she moved to Italy for two years in 1999. Her work has now been picked up by exhibitions—most notably at the Seattle Art Museum—and in the published works of David Lynch. Why motorcycles, and Ducatis at that, we wondered? “I’ve always been attracted to Italian style and design,” she says. “In selecting bikes I choose anywhere between highly modified and customized to very stock—depending on what interests me at the time. When shooting a bike with a model, I try to match it with someone that fits the character of that bike, in shape and attitude. In this particular shot, Ally is a professional bodybuilder, something I think really fits nicely with the muscle behind the D16.” Most of the bikes from Raab’s “Desmo” show are privately owned: the Desmosedici shown above (and several others in the series) is owned by the manager of Portland’s Ducati dealer, Motocorsa. “I’m exploring the many relationships between the designed and the natural,” says Raab. “The unique color palette of the motorcycle extends from the framework to her hair, eyes reflecting the power of the engine hidden underneath the smooth exterior. She is, in a sense, an extension of the bike herself.” Head over to Elizabeth’s website to see (and purchase) her work.

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Motorcycle Dream Garages

Chris Hunter — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 18:30:13 +0000

Last night I finished reading Riding With Rilke, Ted Bishop’s low-key, thoughtful memoir of a road trip across America. So it was perfect timing when a hardback review copy of Motorcycle Dream Garages arrived this morning. The text and photos are by Lee Klancher, who built a garage bigger than his house in 2004 and ended up writing several books about garages. (Klancher has a lifestyle most of us would dream about, mixing motorcycles, travel journalism and camera gear, and making a living writing books and for magazines.) The seventeen chapters each cover a different garage, from private collections to slightly shabby workshops. On the cover is Roger Goldammer’s outrageous Goldmember custom, but most of the bikes inside the book are older and less ostentatious. My favorite venues are New York’s Rising Wolf Garage, a place for riders to park and wrench on their machines, and on the opposite coast, Yoshi Kosaka’s Garage Company store. As Klancher notes, “Quite often the physical spaces defy logic from a dollars-per-square-foot sense, but they make all kinds of sense in terms of being places to pursue your passion.” Such garages may be out of our league, but you can get a copy of Motorcycle Dream Garages from “all good bookstores”, as they say. Or for a very reasonable $23.10 at Amazon right now. Highly recommended.

Honda C70 Passport

Chris Hunter — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 18:30:46 +0000

A good photographer can give even the most humble motorcycle a touch of glamour. And Joshua Hoffman‘s use of ringflash has made us look at the Honda C70 in a new light. The C70 was a grown-up version of the Honda Super Cub, with a little more power and a dizzying top speed of 50 mph (80 km/h). The original C70 appeared in 1970, and ten years later, we were treated to the subtly upgraded Passport—available in Angel Blue and Parakeet Yellow. [See more Hoffman images on Flickr.]

Canon EOS 5D Mk II | 1/160s | f/9.0 | ISO 100 | Focal length 52mm | EF24-70mm f/2.8L USM

Yamaha SR500 street tracker

Chris Hunter — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 18:30:36 +0000

Randall Cordero is one of America’s top motorcycle photographers, and his shots of this ‘bumblebee’ Yamaha caught our eye. This 1978 500cc thumper is owned by veteran rider Russ Somers, an art director for Simpson Race Products. It’s packing a White Brothers cam, a flatside carb and a SuperTrapp muffler. Appearances are taken care of via a Drag Specialties Wave headlight, plus an XR500-style tank and tail section from Omar’s Dirt Track Racing. Cordero has captured the look perfectly: see more of his wonderful work here.

Via Speed Junkies.

Postie Bike Challenge

Chris Hunter — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 18:30:29 +0000

The Honda CT110 is a diminutive 105cc, air-cooled, single cylinder motorcycle. It’s used in Australia for postal deliveries, and renowned for its toughness. It’s also the selected transport for a bizarre 2,000 mile race across the outback, the Postie Bike Challenge. The eighth annual race starts on 3 October 2009, and it costs just AU$4950 (US$3500) to enter. This includes a late model bike to ride, three meals a day, fuel, and a one-way air ticket back to the Australian city of your choice after the race finishes. Sounds like a helluva deal to us, and it’s charitable too: after the race, the bikes are donated to the Rotary Club. [Thanks to Studio Go photographer Josh Evans for the tip and the terrific images.]

Leigh Ledare

Chris Hunter — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 18:30:56 +0000

Leigh Ledare is an artist who has gained an edgy, provocative reputation over the last couple of years. He splits his time between New York and Los Angeles, but a recent visit to Europe yielded these strangely evocative images of Russian biker gangs.

The Selby: Jeff Johnson

Chris Hunter — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 18:30:45 +0000

Todd Selby takes pictures of interesting people and their creative spaces. Jeff Johnson runs Choke, a shop just off Santa Monica Boulevard in LA that sells coffee and motorcycle gear. The photos are great.