1) Why the name "Motography"?
Motography is simply a term I coined which represents the marriage of both motorcycling and photography. Actually, upon scouring the internet I found some other people who also use the word “motography” and its variants like “motographic” for other uses; one of them I believe was a morph of motion and photography. What makes motography different may be difficult to understand so the following section hopes to discuss this matter further.
2) What’s the difference between taking pictures on motorcycle rides and "Motography"?
Both of these great and ridiculously expensive hobbies complement each other well. Of all the vehicles created to date, the motorcycle and its many derivatives remain one of the best balanced in terms of efficiency, convenience, affordability and global utilization. Riding motorcycles brings many people experiences they cannot describe in words or would even try to.
Riding, is great! – Even if it’s a journey to work every day. Unless you feel the urge, there’s no compelling reason to spend the extra time and effort on recording images or video of your rides: like riding, it has to be something you want to do and see the benefits of. Photography by itself is another fantastic passion that certainly has a well established life outside of motorcycling. Like motorcycling, your photo gear can be very expensive but, like a motorcycle, won’t help you if you don’t know how to use it or don’t see the world with a photographic “eye.” The capture of a nice image might not get you into a hundred magazines but when you look at it again later in life, that moment may come rushing back.
If you can, or would like to share your experiences and visions with other people then, like any artist, you take on a responsibility to yourself and others to show them life from your perspective. Just as much as we can listen and learn from a story, we can also watch and learn from pictures. What do you want to show them? What will they see? Unfortunately, we're already ahead of ourselves: before you exhibit your pictures in some way, you need to select and make your experiences and then be good enough to get the shots.
This is where the motorcycle perhaps best compliments photography: the freedom and speed to affordably go where you want, when you want. With certain people behind the bars and lens the potential to travel to wild and unique places and times is practically unlimited. A quality presentation of these unique and scarce experiences, just like many things, will tend to be of some value – be it for entertainment, education, art, culture, history, language, science or collecting useful data. Maybe it won’t be obvious right now or, even to anyone else, but the value is there!
Just because the earth is already mapped doesn’t mean that the range of human experiences is as well. The use of the word “explorers” is strange to me: Who to date has discovered things that were not already there? There will always be plenty of room to visit and record new people, places and things in a state of change. In particular, “adventure” riders spend a good amount of time on remote roads few have seen and met interesting people and situations you won’t read about in most newspapers or magazines.
Whether in high mountains or low deserts the people, languages and cultures that have survived these beautiful but rugged and often unfriendly environments are worlds away from the common modernized-city-dwellers’ experience. This is not to say that one is better or worse - rather, that we learn a lot about the world, people and ourselves by placing ourselves in these highly contrasting experiences. With every unbelievable sunset or complete stranger you met you learn a lot about differences - but even more about similarities. Whether finding something new in your back yard or out in the middle of nowhere, potential discovery lays, waiting to be found.
Timing and location both have a unique relationship to motography and this may be one of the biggest practical differences which helps differentiate itself as its own entity. When on a motographic trip, getting from A to E is important but often takes a back seat to spending the time and resources necessary to document B, C and D. In other words, the photographic goal of the journey somewhat dictates the timing, locations and resource planning of the ride.
Stopping to appreciate a sunset is one thing. Stopping to photograph a sunset at 5000m/asl by running 30 pounds of water and camera gear half a mile up a rocky hill in full armor with only about 15 minutes of golden light remaining is another - this is also after being pounded all day by bad roads, weather and water crossings. Riding or not, you’ve got to enjoy being “On”.
This is about as far as a few words can take us into motography. The rest of it requires time, practice, riding and a lot of patience.
3) Any special considerations to take into account when on a motographic journey?
Answering this question depends on the level of involvement, gear and destinations you have access to. Whether taking a tour of American National Parks or riding the high altitude mountains and deserts of the Himalayans, travel straddled atop a motorcycle gives us a practically unrestricted 360degree view of the world around us. In developing countries, riding motorcycles affords you an instant camaraderie with many poorer locals who also primarily transport goods, family, and friends by motorcycle.
Often, in very rural and isolated places, motorcycle taxis are the only vehicles efficient and easy enough to maintain despite their daily abuse of bad roads, heavy loads and less than friendly weather. Although local brands of inexpensive motorcycles – at least by western standards - will not be suitable for some people I encourage everyone to not underestimate the use of these simple 150cc work-horses. What you loose in speed you gain in light weight, ease of repair and readily available spare parts. Still and video camera wise, a few considerations such as protection, weatherproofing, and storage would be good to discuss. If you plan on bringing more than a point and shoot (PnS) then your list of camera gear may include: |
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Hardware is only one consideration of motography and although it can be expensive and time consuming, it’s a problem usually easily solved. If you plan on riding and shooting in foreign lands and cultures without an arranged tour or the necessary language skills then please be aware you are entering a totally different set of considerations.
Depending on the region of the world in which you ride, I feel it’s important for us to be considerate of not only local customs but also political considerations. There are many interesting and beautiful places in the world which do not, for many reasons, “encourage” photography. I suppose, if you’re carrying more professional photo or video gear then it’s easy for you to become a possible “journalist.” Although journalism may not be your goal, journalists are often only allowed into certain areas with especially expensive and difficult to maintain permits and an escort. *Yawn* Although at times difficult, please handle this issue with great sensitivity and moderation. Many national border areas have such a policy and it’s good to think about and take any necessary precautions before you arrive at these crossings.
In the interest of brevity, I’d like to close this article but open up the doors for you to send me any comments, questions or suggestions you may have. I welcome any question you’d like to have answered and added to the list or any useful and pertinent information you think would be helpful to post. Certainly, I am not the first or last authority of this topic and ideas from more experienced riders and photographers are extremely welcome.
Like motography, the road doesn’t end here but is constantly beginning. The continual evolution of our skills, minds and hearts power the revolutions of our wheels.
It’s all on the way…
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