If you’ve been on a bike in Portland in the past six years, there’s a good chance you’ve met or seen Geoffrey Hiller. He’s ridden 28,422 miles since the start of 2020 and been on nearly 500 local bike rides.
Hiller didn’t begin cycling regularly until Covid, and what began as a simple escape during the lockdowns turned into something much larger when Hiller realized pedaling his bike brought him closer to the natural places around him, and further from a serious cancer diagnosis. As he met other riders and got more deeply enmeshed into the local bike scene, this globally-acclaimed photojournalist realized he was a part of something worth documenting.
I’ve known Hiller for several years. We share an interest in photography and a deep, mutual appreciation of Portland bike culture. Now he’s putting together a book, Portland on Two Wheels, that he hopes to self-publish with funds raised via Kickstarter. The book will be a selection of photos from his archives as well as interviews with Portland cyclists. With the Kickstarter campaign in full swing, Hiller swung by the Shed on Thursday to talk about the project.
Below are a few excerpts from our conversation, which you can listen to in its entirety via the player above or wherever you get your podcasts.
On making friends and connecting to other folks on rides:
“There’s something very, very magical, about pedaling and moving and just, your mind somehow lets go. And it’s a kind of meditation on wheels. Combine that with the social aspect, that is just something really, really powerful. And you can witness that on all so many different kinds of rides in its different ways.”
On exploring Portland’s many interesting bike clubs:
“I was probably about six months into the Pedapalooza rides that I started going deeper and deeper into the subcultures and some of even the more esoteric rides. You know, there’s a group, they have a horrible, horrible name. They’re called, you know, the ‘Dead Baby’ riders. And it’s horrible. Every time I mentioned it to my wife, she wants to throw me out of the house.”
On building enough trust within groups to feel comfortable photographing them – even in sensitive moments:
“And so I had photographed Rabbit (Fox) before, actually. It was in one of the first rides I did. And there was something incredibly sensitive and vulnerable about him. I just asked if I could make his picture (above), and it really comes through in his eyes. And so here I am at this (memorial) gathering with a lot of the notable bike figures… There were 50 or more people there, who were family, and then there was an unveiling of a gigantic, beautiful mural in Northeast Broadway who were family. I felt I had already had a connection with a lot of these people, and they’ve gotten to know me… you know taking photographs and how delicate that can get; but at that time I felt I had the permission to be there. And so I thought some of those photographs — many of them have never, ever been seen yet — just reveal a lot about the Dead Baby Bike Club and the people who were part of that.”
On how he selects images for the book:
“I have an archive of over 40-50,000 images. And so there comes a point when, looking at that work and editing that work and trying to put something together that really can transmit not only the obvious moments, but the nuances, the in-between moments, you know, the quiet moments with people, I think that’s really important.”
On some of his most memorable rides:
“I was attracted to this ride called Bleeps and Bloops where folks would strap on computer-generated musical instruments onto their bikes and interact with like the fountains in downtown Portland, for example. And there was something very extraordinary about joining a ride like that. You know, it really felt like being inside of a work of art in a way.”
The Portland on Two Wheels book (which he also plans to make a traveling photo exhibition) is coming together with the help of a writer and designers. The project needs our support to come to fruition, so please consider pre-ordering a copy today via the Kickstarter campaign.
Listen to the full interview in the player above, via this link, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Thanks for reading.
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