As the world waited for Neil Armstrong to step on the moon, I was in my mother’s bathroom developing my first roll of film. It was an experience that filled me with joy, watching the images come to life in that little yellow tray. The energy from that moment played a big role in my love for photography.
Years later as a staffer at the Santa Barbara News-Press I ran into an eighty-year-old man photographing motorcycles at a local airport. Through his ideas and efforts, as well as the amazing work of Michael Lichter, I decided I also wanted to give motorcycle photography a try.
But it wasn’t until I moved to Asheville, North Carolina, that I discovered how. One day, while walking my dog, Creature, I ran into Eli Whipple working out of a deserted grain silo that later became our first studio. Shortly thereafter, we found a much larger building where we truly set up shop photographing motorcycles.
To offset the expense of the studio, we originally asked for a small fee to photograph motorcycles. However, we weren’t the best at lighting big shiny objects yet, despite my training at the Brooks Institute of Photography and over thirty years experience as a professional photographer. So we started photographing for free, all the while meticulously refining our studio setup and skills. And the bikes started rolling in. To date, we are on our sixteenth lighting version (see web address for more information on how the lighting techniques make these amazing motorcycles shine) and have photographed 350 motorcycles, all free of charge.
Ten percent of my profits from the sales of the book will go toward Life’s Worth Living. Life’s Worth Living helps people from all walks of life find hope.
• www.imagebrief.com/photographers/frank-42#/portfolio (my portfolio page)
• www.plus.google.com/+FrankBott (google plus)