Unite Bike 2008 - The Photos!
Alright! Mission accomplished!
In case you didn’t hear the full story as to why I wanted to do this project…. here goes:
This spring I was contacted by some members of the local hip-hop scene about taking a group photo of all of the various members/groups of the local based hip hop labels. I thought it was a great idea. I was excited to work on a project that represented that community and was also excited about the idea of bringing the various groups together for a family style picture. I spent a little time trying to organize it and in the end it didn’t happen because there were more divisions in that community then I realized. Basically, not everyone who should have been included in the photo would do it.
To me, that was just dumb. And to be perfectly honest I think there is way too much positioning/posing in the local hip-hop community anyway - people try to represent themselves in ways that aren’t real… grow up, get over it.
BUT - I still really liked the idea of doing a large group photo of one community in town. This time I decided I should focus my energy around a group of people I deeply respect. Bicycle commuters. I respect this group for a number of reasons - for the obviously reasons, like riding a bike is environmentally friendly, it’s a healthy activity (people who bike respect themselves enough to stay in shape), it’s cheaper then having a car, and one of my favorites - it helps reduce traffic (I can’t stand how bad traffic has gotten in the TC). However, the biggest reason I respect the cycling commuter community is because it takes real dedication to make that lifestyle choice - it’s not glamorous to get up an extra hour to ride to work, or to ride in the rain, or on the coldest days of the winter - and you don’t do that to prove to anyone else how hip or trendy you are. You live that way because you respect yourself and the world around you and you’re not waiting for someone else to fix the worlds problems, you’re doing it yourself.
I really enjoy riding my bike, but I’m not a full time commuter. It’s difficult for me as a photographer as I’m obviously traveling around for shoots and sometime need large amounts of gear that could not be transported by bike alone. I’m sure you could make an argument that I could make it work if I really wanted and that may be true. Either way, since I’m a photographer I wanted to use my specific career as a way to show everyone outside of this community how strong and dedicated this group of people is to the positive lifestyle they live. And to hopefully inspire more people to live this way as well.
If you are not a bicycle commuter how hard would it be to change your lifestyle to become one? How committed are you to living a more healthy life for yourself? How about helping reduce pollution and traffic?
It’s very easy to point fingers at business and political leaders and blame them for all your problems - but how much responsibility do you take for your own choices? None of us can control all the big problems that face this country, but we can all control ourselves - Don’t ever forget the power behind your personal choices.
If we all started making better personal choices a whole bunch of things in society would improve right along with us.
Stay tuned for United Bike 2009….
