Bikers and Babes

Thursday 18 March, 2010
Yesterday it was cowboys, the day before it was a prison, today it was bikers. The shoots have certainly been varied. Yesterday, we went to the huge Harley Davidson bike store in Santa Fe. My favourite biker was Boon. As soon as I met him, he had me intrigued. His top jaw has no teeth, just bits of gold wire interlaced through his gums. It was creepy at first but once I got to know him, he was the sweetest guy. He is a bike mechanic and just kept smiling. I noticed he tends to smile cautiously so as not to show his lack of teeth.

I also photographed Brandie and Devon who are so in love. They were high school sweethearts and are equally obsessed with Harleys and tattoos.

Manuel was such a cool dude. He was so cool he was oozing on his motorbike. He rode 4,500 miles last Summer. They all love he open road and the freedom to ride wherever they please. No helmets of course!

There was so much denim, leather, silver and tattoos. It is a sub-culture which most of us never know about. Liz asked Manuel to touch a bike in the mechanic's shop out the back for her photo and he was very reluctant. Finally, he told her that you just don't touch another guy's bike. There are rules about this.

There was so much chrome everywhere- it was totally bling bling. I had to be really careful not to get reflections of myself or my assistant in the shots. These guys and girls are meticulous about their bikes. They collect them, they polish them, they wear all the right clothes and accessories. It is kind of like a sorority with no age limits. The longer your hair and moustache and the balder the top of your head, the better. It was fun.

I was lying on my back in the carpark to photograph Boon looking down at me from his orange bike. It was very fun.

At night, we had our class dinner at Maria's- New Mexican. I had the mixed tacos and too many margaritas. Then I came back to the convent and worked on my computer until 2am with a foggy head.