The story behind this book

Meet the author: Olivier de Vaulx

Background

Working with international publications in the USA and Europe, Olivier honed his skills as a professional photographer and journalist covering motorcycle racing in the USA—mostly Supercross and Motocross. Shooting pictures in the stadiums and interviewing riders, team managers, and CEOs of the industry was his dream job, and the reason why he moved from France to California in the first place.

“In 2017, I did my first long motorcycle adventure”, says Olivier. “I had already traveled a lot in my life, in Europe and Africa, but this was different. With the help of Honda, I crossed the United States from Mexico to Canada, following the dirt roads of the Continental Divide, over 2.500 miles… That’s all it took to hook me into the new world of adventure riding. Since then, I focused almost exclusively on reporting about moto travel, publishing hundreds of pages every year about my journeys. Having ridden seven times the Continental Divide Route and twice the Pacific Divide one, finished twelve Backcountry discovery routes, documented countless personal rides and long adventures in Bolivia, Nepal, Costa Rica, and Mexico, I have to admit it: I turned this job into a way of life.”

Referrals

Over the years, Olivier’s pictures have been published in the most famous magazines and used by many brands in the USA, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Australia. It gives him a legitimate expertise when it comes to professional photography:

Origin of an idea

“Recently, digging into my archives”, remembers Olivier, “I realized that I had thousands of pictures, some already published, some never seen, which were taking virtual dust in my hard drives. The idea of giving them a second life and sharing my passion for moto touring came as an evidence. It was only a few weeks ago, but I’ve been working hard since then to make this project a reality.”

In this age of social media frenzy, the photographer feel that the flow of images is becoming overwhelming. We scroll and jump from one image to the next without paying real attention. Videos are the next big thing if we believe the algorithms. But photos hold more potential than we credit them for. Still images leave room for imagination and interpretation, and photobook like ours let readers enjoy photos in a wide format, with time to appreciate them.