Humpback weekend: retro photos of bikers of non-traditional sexual orientation

A sunny weekend in 1967. Photographer Sylvan Rand (Sylvan Rand) went to a secluded farm near New Jersey with his friend. The hours spent there turned into a hazy mix of food, cigarettes, love and speed. Silvan was among the members of an unofficial motorcycle club designed for men of non-traditional sexual orientation. They often gathered to socialize, arrange races and outings, or just relax in their little utopian world.

The members of the club at first glance are ordinary men who have been plowing hard all week and now, with the advent of the weekend, they just wanted to relax. The widespread image of a biker of that time was dictated by the then fashionable Hells Angels motorcycle club.

In a series of photographs created during his stay among "unconventional" bikers, Rand emphasizes that his characters are very different from the usual image of "harsh men". They are not steel guys cutting tracks on two wheels, but ordinary people.

For each of them, Rand was an alien, he received admission to the company of these men for only a few days. But by the end of the weekend, the feeling of awkwardness had completely disappeared. After the shooting, Silvan admitted that he would never be able to forget all the contradictory feelings that he experienced when watching these people through the camera lens.

Rand was not in the group, but he was allowed into a narrow circle for a few days. He practically didn't know anyone, but at the end of the rest the bikers got used to him. The photographer remembered three guys who were basking on the lawn. The sun was going down and by pressing the shutter, he realized that he had captured an indelible moment.

Looking at the negatives he made in the late 60s, the photographer feels only gratitude for this experience. He was not and never will be a part of this special company, in which the love of motorcycles and non—traditional orientation are just two of the many things that united these men. The atmosphere of unity and intimacy that he felt then still sometimes touches a couple of invisible strings of his soul.

Sylvan Rand dreamed of becoming a professional photographer, but fate took him in a different direction, and the dream remained alive in these black-and-white photographs and in memories.