We really like Ray Gordon’s pictures. There’s something fundamentally upbeat about them. They’re real. They’re cool. They’re unselfconscious.
Living tucked up in the offbeat Pacific Northwest of America, Ray has been documenting the lives of his local petrolheaded friends for a while now, as well as travelling around the country shooting all sorts of editorial and commercial work.
The car and bike culture material came together a few months back in his Portland exhibition Throttled.
We spoke to Ray about the work and what motivates him.
Influx: Throttled: how did the project come to be?
Ray Gordon: I have been a photographer for 20 plus years and my hobby has been hot rods and motorcycles my whole life. It was about time the two crashed into each other.
IN: V8 or V Twin?
RG: I am definitely a V8 guy and a British twin guy. I love cool old V twin choppers but what the V twin guys have morphed into over the years is not my thing. They seem all all be skaters or orthodontists. So weird.
IN: Why potography?
RG: I chose photography as a career because I suck at making music. Being a photographer is the second coolest job in the world. Rock Star being the first.
IN: Why Portland?
RG: Portland is the best place in the US. A perfect mix of rednecks and liberal arty folks. I love it when they mate. Real estate is still relatively cheap, too, so I can fly off to LA or NY and work but then come back to Portland and my money goes further. This means I can buy 12 beers instead of six.
IN: What car/bike do you drive?
RG: I have a 1951 Chevy Business Coupe Gasser being built by Cody at Hurst Racing Tires and a Hard Tailed late 60’s BSA Chop that Thor at See See Motorcycles is building. It sucks having 2 builds going on at once. At the moment I own large piles of really cool stuff that just isn’t on the road yet. But next summer look out!
IN What’s next?
RG:Raising my family and continuing to life my life and watch the photos make themselves.
