Danny Lyon, The Gary Rogues at the Dunes, Indiana. From the series Bikeriders (1963)

Danny Lyon comes to a radio station near you

Pioneer of photographic journalism to talk about his adventures this week

If anyone can tell a good story, it's American photographer and filmmaker Danny Lyon. In the Sixties he pioneered a kind of photography that became known as the _New Journalism _(when a photographer becomes completely immersed in the subject of his pictures). It provided him with the material for a fascinating series of photographic tales of people, places and exploration that would rival any adventure book. So we thought you might like to know that he's about to break cover and talk about some of his experiences and travels in a series of special talks, signings and appearances on US Radio.

Lyon’s dedication to his art has lead him to capture on film every country he has visited and community he has experienced over the past 50 years in a body of work that gained him the Missouri Honor Medal in Journalism this summer (an award previously given to Winston Churchill).

Danny Lyon with his dog Lily, photographed by Gabrielle Lyon
Danny Lyon with his dog Lily, photographed by Gabrielle Lyon

He bought his first camera at the age of 17 in 1959 and by his early twenties had already completed his first soon-to-be classic collection of images, Bikeriders (many of these images are included in his book of photographic essays spanning his 50-year career Memories of Myself). Lyon became a fully-fledged member of the Outlaws motorcycle gang uncompromisingly recording – in the words of the Missouri School of Journalism - “the realities of lives hidden from mainstream society.”

Lyon is a revolutionary. He disliked the imagery he saw in Life magazine preferring to concentrate on what he saw as a more ‘truthful’ and in many ways, more brutal, look at life’s realities. To this day, he encourages young photojournalists to do the same.

He's documented the last stragglers living in areas of demolished Manhattan and studied the lives of prisoners in a Texan jail (becoming good friends with a few of them along the way). In the variety of people he intimately depicts, his photographs are a testimony to his ability to settle into virtually any world.

 

Danny Lyon, Railway Workers Just West of Datong, Shanxi Province, China. From the Deep Dea Diver collection (2005-2009) Danny Lyon, Railway Workers Just West of Datong, Shanxi Province, China. From the Deep Dea Diver collection (2005-2009)

 

In his recent _Deep Sea Diver _collection, we are taken with Lyon on his journeys into the depths of local Chinese culture to the Shanxi Province (2005 - 2009). There are no signs of technical advances in the areas Lyon visits, presenting an alternative image of the rapidly economically advancing nation generally presented through the media.

Danny Lyon tells stories of his adventures and revealing insight into his working methods live on KSFR 101.1 FM Santa Fe Radio today, Wednesday, November 2, 8 pm - 9 pm GMT. The show will be archived at santeferadiocafe.org/podcasts in the coming days. 

Meanwhile, those of you lucky enough to be in New York on November 5, have the chance to meet Danny himself as he will be signing copies of _Deep Sea Diver _and _Memories of Myself _from 3 pm until 5 pm at the Edwynn Houk Gallery, 757 Fifth Avenue. On Thursday December 1 he will be on the WFAE radio (NPR affiliate) on Charlotte Talks at 9 am (North Carolina). At 7.30 pm that evening he will be speaking in Albany, Georgia as the town marks the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights movement.