Danny Lyon (New York, 1942) is one of the most influential documentary photographers of the last six decades. While still a student at the University of Chicago he was jailed in the South and became the first staff photographer of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). His photographers made up 75% of the pictures in the book The Movement. He returned to Chicago in 1965 and joined the Chicago Outlaw Motorcycle Club. His two-year stint with the club resulted in the seminal book, The Bikeriders. In 1967 Lyon obtained access to the Texas prison system and produced the series Conversations with the Dead. On completing his prison work Lyon returned to New York, where he met the photographer and filmmaker Robert Frank. Together they formed a company called Sweeney Films. The movie, 'The Bikeriders', directed by acclaimed filmmaker Jeff Nichols and inspired by Lyon's photographs and the words he recorded, was released on December 1st, 2023 in the USA. The trailer received 25 million views.
"A picaresque memoir that reveals his natural gifts for storytelling. Like his photographs, Lyon's prose is electric, poetic, and filled with explosive details, bringing readers into the middle of the action before roaring off to the next episode. The stories move with the same intense pace with which he worked, crisscrossing the country on his red Triumph motorcycle during the 1960s.--Miss Rosen ""AnOther"""