DAYTONA BEACH BIKERS CONVENTION, 1989
In spring 1989, I travelled to Daytona Beach, Florida, assisting photographers David Townsend and Julian Woolett at the annual Bikers Convention—a week-long gathering where thousands of motorcyclists from across the US congregate to celebrate biker culture. While assisting, I photographed the streets, capturing the energy, spectacle and community of the event. When I processed the film, I accidentally solarised some of the images during the fixing stage, which added an unintended surreal quality to the work. Rather than discard them, I embraced the accident. The solarisation suited the surreal element of the event itself, and it reinforced something essential about photography: its unpredictability, the alchemy of the process, and how accidents can create something unexpected and valuable.
In spring 1989, I travelled to Daytona Beach, Florida, assisting photographers David Townsend and Julian Woolett at the annual Bikers Convention—a week-long gathering where thousands of motorcyclists from across the US congregate to celebrate biker culture. While assisting, I photographed the streets, capturing the energy, spectacle and community of the event. When I processed the film, I accidentally solarised some of the images during the fixing stage, which added an unintended surreal quality to the work. Rather than discard them, I embraced the accident. The solarisation suited the surreal element of the event itself, and it reinforced something essential about photography: its unpredictability, the alchemy of the process, and how accidents can create something unexpected and valuable.
