BICYCLE PORTRAITS BY DERMOT SULLIVAN
It’s funny how a small idea can take on a life of it’s own. When I suggested to the organizers of the Clonakilty Bicycle Festival that I would like to do a series of classic portraits of bicycle users, little did we know that we were creating a monster. I set up a backdrop in Spillers Lane in Clonakilty on a Friday morning to coincide with the country market, and used Facebook and word of mouth to invite bike owners along to have their portrait taken. The weather was on our side and over a 2 hour period I had well over 40 people turn up.
By the time I finished the shoot I knew that I had something special. I really boosted the colour at the processing stage and cropped the images to a square format and put them up on Facebook. I have never had a reaction to a set of images to match the positive feedback I got over the next few days. My stats were off the scale, the press were interested and a local gallery offered me an exhibition for the period of the festival if I could get the prints done in time. I did, and here is the set of images I showed. 2 weeks later, I am still getting a reaction on Facebook.
-Dermot Sullivan-
www.dermotsullivan.com
All photographs copyright Dermot Sullivan 2012