Shooters Images, Inc. is a professional photography service that specializes in motorcycle related photography. It was created by Don and Deborah Kates and is a reflection of both their passions - motorcycles and photography.   Their work regularly appears in many biker publications such as EASY RIDERS, V-TWIN, IN THE WIND, AMERICAN CYCLE MAGAZINE, AMERICAN IRON, HOT BIKE, HOT BIKE BAGGERS, AMERICAN BAGGER, and others.  Their photos have also been used in other media about biker life and culture.  They recently began working with TOYOTA and HARLEY-DAVIDSON'S new HOG MAGAZINE as photographic contributors and provided photography for the launch of a new biker magazine GASOLINE.

Don and Deb have extensive experience in photographing custom motorcycles, motorcycle/owner portraits, motorcycle actions shots, and motorcycle events.  In addition to motorcycle photography, Deb maintains a wedding and portrait photography business (Deborah Kates Fine Photography, Inc.) and is widely recognized as one of the best wedding photographers in the country.  She has earned numerous awards and is a member of several exclusive wedding photographer organizations.  When not shooting motorcycles, Don photographs nature and landscape and maintains the web site Kates Nature Photography.  His nature images have been used in several calendars and avian reference books.  He is also a contributor to one of the largest stock photography agencies in world.

Don and Deb frequently load their their gear on their Harleys and leave for several days to photograph a bike rally or other event. "We enjoy capturing the faces of bikers doing what they love most - riding their motorcycles. Their faces and expressions are priceless. We both have many years of riding experience and understand the bikers passions for riding. This allows us to capture some very interesting portrait shots of the riders and their bikes." 

"There are many people out there who take snapshots of bikers riding their bikes and then sell it to them on a coffee mug.  If that's what you are interested in, there are plenty of web sites and photographers who can give that to you.  We, instead, focus on portrait quality images that reflect a more artistic and representative image of the biker, not as some novelty item.  Our photos are meant to reflect the art of motorcycles and the people who ride them.  This approach comes from our experience in the portrait/wedding industry and our years in the biker community.  We want our photos to provide an accurate, artistic glimpse of the biker culture.  We're not interested in simply snapping pictures of bikers as they ride by; we're interested in the art of biker photography and focus on light, composition, and conveying the feeling of the moment." 

We currently have the Canon 5D MK II and soon will have the 1D Mark IV and Nikon D3s.  These cameras give us the capability to shoot high definition video.  We can now combine HD video with still images into "fusion" DVDs of some of our shoots utilizing Final Cut Pro and DVD Studio Pro.  We also have the capability to burn HD Blu-ray DVDs.

TECHNICAL STUFF (For the camera and photo geeks)

We are members of PPA, WPPI, WPJA, & NANPA as well as CPS (Canon Professional Services) and NPS (Nikon Professional Services).  The latter two organizations allow us to try out lots of new equipment.  However, below is a list of our own equipment we  regularly use for shooting.

Canon:  1D Mark IV; 1Ds Mark III ; 5D Mark II ; 600mm f4.0 IS; 400mm f2.8 IS; 70-200mm f2.8 IS; 300mm f2.8 IS; 200mm f2.0 IS; 200mm f1.8; 135mm f2.0; 28-70mm f2.8; 24-105mm f4.0; 85mm f1.2; 50mm f1.2; 35mm f1.4; 17-40mm; 16-35mm f2.8; 14mm f2.8; 1.4x TC; 15mm f2.8 fisheye; Quantum T5d-r flash.

Nikon:  D3; D3s; D700; 300mm f2.8; 200mm f2.0; 70-200mm f2.8; 28-70mm f2.8; 17-55mm f2.8; 14-24 f2/8 WA; 85mm f1.4; 85mm f1.8; 50mm f1.8; 10mm fisheye; SB800 - 2.

Metz 45 CL-4 digital flash guns (2)

Various Gitzo tripods, monopods, and ball heads; 2 Wimberly gimble style heads, and assorted filters and diffusion devices.

Additionally, we have two studios equipped with lights, softboxes, umbrellas etc for shooting bikes and portraits.  We have the capability to shoot on location with a complete studio set up.

So, is all that equipment really necessary?  Hell yes!  Why do you think we have it?  We don't just collect all that shit to carry around.  We use it!  These are the tools of our trade and we believe in using only the best tools for the job.