Bullet point-to-point

You can almost hear revving engines, and taste dusty air, when you look at Iain Crockart’s photographs. The one-time creative director of CDT Design rode 1600km through the Himachal Pradesh, the sparsely populated region in north-east India that’s also known as the Region of Snowy Mountains and Deva Bhoomi (the Lands of the Gods). His photographs capture the vast skyscape, the brick-red earth and the curving, cliff-hugging roads that give you vertigo just looking at them. They also convey the sense of adventure, endurance and sheer dirt of motorcycling across remote Indian terrain, as well a glimpse of the region’s other travellers in rickety lorries and more traditional beasts of burden. Old bike enthusiasts get misty eyed over the 500cc Royal Enfield Bullet, the vintage British bike and Crockart’s two-wheeled steed that’s no longer made on these shores, but still produced in India using the original tooling. Crockart’s photographs are as much a portrait of the bike as they are of the Himachal Pradesh, although neither is just a visual story. Both engage all five senses, and together they evoke the camaraderie and romance of the open road. Crockart travelled it as part of a charity fundraiser. ‘I didn’t want to do a “sponsored sit in a bath of beans”,’ he laughs. A Motorbike Adventure/Himachal Pradesh/India is at The Print Space, Kingsland Road, London E2, from 11-29 August. The book of the same name, printed by Quadracolor and available in return for donations, will be published on 27 August



Start the discussionStart the discussion
  • Post a comment

Latest articles