This was my first portrait session with my friend Roger. We met through working out at the same gym, but we bonded over motorcycles. He has always tinkered with his machines, trying to eke out every drop of horsepower and look as badass as possible while doing it. The portrait needed to represent his biker persona while riding his Harley Davidson Fat Boy. Ybor City provided a great backdrop for the shot.

I didn’t want just to shoot him on the motorcycle; I wanted to capture the dynamics of movement while he was riding it. I came up with the rig to hang a gridded speed light and my camera on a C-stand out of the back of my Honda. I put the light at about bike level and slung the camera with the flash trigger down low close to the asphalt. The camera hung upside down to get as close to the asphalt as possible, and the photos were later inverted. I sat in the back control and the camera with my phone while a friend drove. It was a cold night (for Florida), and it was great weather for his leathers and his skull cap. Shooting with a slower shutter speed allowed for motion blur.

Technical Information- Gear: Canon EOS 5D MK IV, Canon EF16-35f/2.8L USM @20mm

Exposure: 1/20s @ f/8 ISO 3200 Lighting: 1 gridded speed light, ambient street lights.