Shinya Kimura

When I was consulting with CSC, one day Steve Seidner (the CSC CEO) asked me to go with him to visit Shinya Kimura, a man who builds custom bikes.    Steve thought I might enjoy grabbing a few photos of Mr. Kimura’s shop and a few of his bikes.  Little did I know about what I would see.

From the outside, all I could see was a small shop, but when I entered I was stopped dead in my tracks by one of the most beautiful motorcycles I had ever seen.  It was an early CB750 Honda Shinya had customized and it was visually arresting.   I had never seen anything like it.  The lens cap came off my Nikon, I dialed the ISO up to 800, and I had started snapping away.

Steve introduced me to Shinya, who invited me to look around the shop and photograph whatever I wanted.   And I did, not really knowing who this guy was.  But the shop…wow!  It was more of a studio and a museum than a shop and it was amazing.   The place was a working shop, but the tools, custom motorcycles with a unique, retro-futuristic-formed-aluminum theme, the motorcycle accoutrements, the patina, and more somehow made me feel immediately like I was in a place where I belonged.  It’s hard to describe and I know these words are failing me, but if you’re a gearhead, I think you’ll get it.

But don’t take my word for it.  Take a look.

Later that day I Googled Shinya Kimura.  It’s good I did this later, as I might have spent more time asking him questions than taking photos, and the things I photographed were amazing.  I didn’t know anything about Mr. Kimura, but Google gave me perspective on the man I had met earlier.

That night I went through the raw files I had captured with my Nikon and processed them in Photoshop.   I think they are some of the best photos I’ve ever taken, but that’s not me bragging about my photography or my Photoshop skills.  It was what I was shooting that made the photos what they are.