Every Memorial Day weekend, thousands of motorcyclists ride into the local area to participate in the annual ride from the Pentagon to DC. This event used to be called Rolling Thunder, but with the demise of that organization the successor ride is called Ride to Remember. The local Harley Davidson dealer organizes a pre-ride from Fairfax to the Pentagon, called the Ride of the Patriots. I’ve photographed the Ride of the Patriots several times, including today.
I’m disappointed that my favorite spot to photograph this event is not so great anymore. While expanding I-66 to add lanes, the contractor destroyed the bridge that provided a great view of the riders as they passed underneath. The replacement bridge is in the same spot, but now there’s a fence on the bridge, presumably to prevent people from throwing objects onto cars below. I’m not interested in shooting through the fence.
The next best alternative is the top of the Dunn Loring Metro station parking garage. It’s not great.
I tried dragging the shutter this time (1/400, 1/320) to get a bit of background blur and obvious motion in the wheels as I panned with the bikes. This was super-hard with my 500mm lens, and I got only a small number of usable photos with this technique. Later in the ride I switched to 1/500 or faster.
Here are my favorites from this year’s ride.
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| Motorcycles lined up with spectators on the bridge |
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| Makeup |
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| This guy again |
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| One of the few single female riders |
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| Showing the flag |
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| Were they looking at me? |
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| Tattoo sleeve under the sleeve |
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| She’s holding on for dear life |
