Something that has been very interesting as part of my job has been watching people. I have always found it fascinating to watch people, like during a layover at an airport or just being aware of the people who are around you at all times. 
Well during this trip and as part of my job I watch people and something I have noticed that so many people are judged like a book by their covers. Now I know that this isn’t really news to anyone, I have seen my whole life people being judged by how they looked, talked, social groups or families. Yet it never ceases to amaze me that it still happens every day by one social group to another. Even within the same social group it can happen.
Today I stopped at a cool bar called Bayard Rooster, which is a renowned biker bar in the area. The crowd that gathered to listen to the live band was every kind of biker you could think of: American Legion Riders, MC club members, 1% members, rebellion riders and classic salty bikers. As I watched the crowd mingled with one another it was so interesting to watch how every biker was sizing everyone up. Only ever basing their decisions on how they were dressed, what do they ride, how bad the chick was on the back, patched they were sporting and who could be the baddest of them all. 
To me, that is such a misconception of the biker community. I have seen more bikers give a stranger the shirt off their backs riding down the road than anyone else. The community is a lot like the military, we watch out for one another and have each others backs, thick and thin, good times and bad. There is a sense of family within the biker community. 
Which is why it baffles my mind to see how from the outside in, how we are judged by our covers, and from within how we also can be judged by one another. I can tell you right now that I am so much more than my cover. I am so many different things encompassed into a single personality, the master of being a living oxymoron…and yet you would never know until you get to know me. 
Do not judge what you do not know…only God can judge me.
I thought it would be interesting to give a more photojournalist perspective on some of the things that I observe while I am out here on this grand adventure.
Traveling Photographer Out!
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