It was 2008 when I started kicking around the idea for Bike EXIF. I wanted to showcase the best bikes from the best builders, with images to match. But in those days, good motorcycle shots were hard to find online.
High-quality photography was the domain of product and magazine specialists, and there was no business model for releasing work to websites. Within half a decade, that had changed rapidly.
Smart custom shops realized that images sell bikes and build reputations. After all, if you’ve invested hundreds of man-hours and thousands of dollars of parts in a build, walk-around snaps taken on a five-year-old Samsung Galaxy aren’t going to impress anyone.
Today, some builders have photography skills to match their fabrication skills and shoot their own bikes.…