The Human Side of the Photograph by Don Wood

August 2, 2011

Mountain fest 2011. Morgantown, WV.

As I
have travelled all around this fine country, Tramping from one rally to another.
I have had the pleasure of meeting some of the greatest people on planet Earth.
Each one an individual and each with an extreme story to tell.
Michael
Lichter is a photographer. We have all seen his pictures in magazines and other
print media. Hell, The man has been working his craft for 30 plus years. I had
the pleasure of being in Sturgis last year when he was inducted into the
Motorcycle Hall of Fame for his many contributions to the industry. The mans
body of work is in my humble opinion the greatest in the industry. I can spend a
large amount of time looking at his work and picking out all the little subtle
elements that make up the photo’s. I have often thought about a picture of his
and wondered what the story was that went with the picture.
In the last year
Michael and I have gotten to know each other a bit more. Daytona Bike Week 2011 he rode backwards on my
motorcycle shooting photo’s of a group of custom bikes out on a ride. In
Arizona, He make the trip from Phoenix north to the mountains to shoot an event
that I was involved with called Chopper town Campground. In all this time he was
working and I never took the time to ask about the stories behind the
pictures.
Mountain fest. Michael had set up about 60 of his pictures in the
air conditioned pavilion and he and his lovely wife were there answering
questions and selling books of his work. Now understand this was not a photo
album on a table. This was a full blown art exhibit with each photo framed with
special lighting. I had the High honor to be with a small group of 4 or 5
people that Michael took from photo to photo. He would explain in great detail
about the where’s and the when’s of the picture. He was very involved with
communicating to us about how it came to be and the elements of that picture
that struck him. This man took the time with us to answer all of our questions.
He would take us to the time and emotion that was depicted in each shot. After
we had reached the last photo, we all thanked him because it was such a High
Honor to spend that time learning about all that his art is. As I turned to
thank his lovely wife and talk a bit about the schedule for the day, I turned to
see that Michael had already started the process with another small group of
admirers. The sight of him sharing his stories with other people did my heart
good. I hope they gained as much from the experience as I did.
It’s not often
in the world of successful people that you meet one who will take the time to
share with you. I feel that Michael Lichter is one of the good guys in that
group.
Until we meet again,
PEACE&GREASE