Role: Photographer, Producer, Retoucher | Client: Red Bulletin UK, Germany, France
Writer: Lois Pryce | Support: Irene Kotnik, Kai Petermann of Royal Enfield Europe, Cäthe Pfläging of Craftwerk / The Curves, Craftwerk Berlin, Casper Van der Ven, Dilyana Mangarova
INTRO
End of March 2022, I received a message on the Petrolettes app about hosting a female motorcyclist visiting Boston. That traveler was Irene Kotnik from Berlin, leader of the Petrolettes, a women’s ride collective across Europe. After a flurry of conversation (over some cheesecake in my tiny kitchen) Irene said "you should come to the Petrolettes Festival in Germany this summer!"
I knew there was so much that would make for a wonderful documentary. Yet it seemed incredibly huge, verging on impossible, to pull off. Fast forward 2 months, after pitching 60 magazines and commercial brands US and Europe — I had one editorial feature confirmed and interest from a commercial outdoor lifestyle brand.
Red Bull UK was a repeat client, familiar with my editorial photography and style of working, and one my first supporters when I entered automotive photography in 2016. Working with 2 female editors and a female moto journalist, we came up with a brief that focused on the women's community in Europe and the key players who were part of Petrolettes to profile in the story.
I was accustomed to fulfilling several responsibilities and for this assignment took on a bit more as it involved riding and securing a group:
- Provided guidance to shape the story brief and help identify key women to highlight
- Teamed up with journalist extraordinaire Lois Pryce on location
- Pre and post-production, image selects, and retouching
- Organized all international travel, including partnering with Royal Enfield Europe who entrusted me with a press bike
- Found a group of women to ride with out of Berlin and lead by Cäthe founder of The Curves Berlin, an all women's ride club
DELIVERABLES
180-200 images from the weekend were submitted, a mix of lifestyle and action at the festival like workshops and racing, the roadtrip from Berlin, and portraits of each of the women interviewed and quoted in the article. On delivery, I was told I fulfilled the assignment brief, however Red Bull chose not to use any of my images because of readership audience - my photos were not "young and fun enough."
While devastating, I was glad the story still ran and supremely proud of the work I produced a million miles outside my comfort zone.
As a female riding motorcycles myself, this work made me think about perceptions and assumptions, and inherent biases about women motorcyclists and how they are portrayed in media. It's important to me to present images that are authentic and represent the diversity within the community— culturally, age demographic, and experience level.
Check out my alternate edit here.
What Red Bull chose to publish here.
*All images, video, and the story of my experience are available for publication, unrestricted. Currently seeking opportunities in travel, moto, adventure lifestyle, and human interest stories.
