Mark Raihna has been traveling the country with his bike for a long time, and he knows that shooting photos along the way helps build memories that last a lifetime. We had Mark pull together some of his favorite photos, and he wrote a bio to see what got him into shooting in the first place. Let this story be an inspiration. Get off the couch, grab your bike and camera, and go make some memories of your own.
Click any image to see the entire Photo Album.
In Burlington, Massachusetts there is a White Hen Pantry (convenience store) with a magazine rack inside. Once in a while they would get in a copy of Freestylin’, Bmx Action, or BMX Plus! I would check every day, hoping to see a new issue up on the shelf. I wanted to live the life I saw on those pages. Riders were traveling the world, progressing BMX, living a different life outside the norm. Pages from those magazines covered the walls of my room. That’s what I wanted out of life, what I saw in those pictures.
Photography was my inspiration, as it is for almost all of us. Those pictures brought BMX to the world. Photography gave us the ability to see life from the third-person with more detail, so as I left home to see the world, I started to bring a camera along to document what I saw. I wanted to inspire others and show them the possibilities in life, too. Years of traveling and meeting new friends with same interests, I learned more about photography as an art. Photographs by Jeff Zielinski, Adam Booth, Keith Mulligan, Sandy Carson, and so many more made me want to understand more about photography. That’s the beauty of photography. Like with BMX, there is always room to progress, new styles to learn, places to document, people to portray, and stories to tell. Until the day comes when there is nothing new to experience or learn I will continue to ride my bike with a camera on my back.
This collection of photos were taken of The Gutter Crew, a gang of punk rockers who portray the BMX lifestyle perfectly.
