Media
Click photos to enlarge.
Quick Throttle Magazine, October 2004
Interview with Michael Lichter during the Cherry Creek Arts Festivle in the "Art on Two Wheels" tent for Quick Throttle Magazine, by Nicoll Stapleton. Click here to read article
"Michael Lichter is arguably one of the greatest motorcycle photographers in the world today. He is, without a doubt, the man most responsible for documenting the anthropology of motorcycle culture."
Digital Photo Pro, May/June 2004
Nine page feature story on Michael and his motorcycle photography in this nationally distributed photography magazine titled "Born to Be Wild" by John Peobody.
"Michael Lichter is at the top of the pyramid when it comes to photographing the lifestyle and rolling artwork that is today's motocycle culture. He's equally at home documenting the rough-and-tumble crowd who designs, builds and rides the machines as he is working in the studio's solitude."
5280 Magazine, May 2004
Article on Michael shooting life on the road", titled "Shutter Speed", by John Peabody
"Lichter could be the most renowned motorcycle and biker-culture photographer in the country, a niche that has deepened since chopper builders gained widespread popularity through TV shows such as "American Chopper" and Discovery's "Biker Build Off." But long before TV shows were playing to the dramas of building these gnarly creations, Michael Lichter was shooting Sturgis from the saddle of his own Harley.
Hot Bike Japan, September 2003
Michael's Book on Sturgis is highlighted in an artical titled "Essay Special"
"This article is written almost completey in Japanese and we are curently waiting for translation. More to come..."
Thunder Press, September 2003
Article on Michael titled "A Shutter Bug Sturgis, "Kickstart: the Art of the Chopper.", by Eddieboy.
"Tuesday August 5, a special reception was held to honor the men who created the work on display. On the walls of the main floor gallery were the photographs of famous biker-lifestyle photographer Michael Lichter, and on the floor sat the motorcycles referred to as "choppers," both spanning a quarter of a century of effort. This is what the word "awesome" was created for!."
Sturgis Rally News, August 2003
Article on Michael titled "The Art of Motorcycle Photography", by Lon Nordbye Jr.
"Creatively, Michael Lichter excludes all but the barest and most necessary of elements. Like Hemingway's writing style, Paul Simon's lyrics, or the acting of Marlon Brando - Lichter uses simple imagery to create attached, personal depictions, of a moment in time that ultimately captures the essence of the Sturgis Bike Week's allure. Like many creative minds of his caliber, Lichter is deeply concerned with authenticity. His goal is to provide the viewer the simple raw material of the actual experience, and somehow through the magic of the lens, take them along on HIS ride."
Boulder Magazine, Summer 2003
Article on Michael titled "Decades of Documenting Motorcycles and Riders", by Ginger Perry
"There is no denying it: Michael Lichter's photographs pack a powerful punch, and his thousands of images of motorcycles and riders have earned him a novel niche in the world of professional photography."
In The Wind, March 2002
"Michael Lichter's Biker Generation" Article on photo exhibition by Tex Campbel
"The printed page can't fully capture the depth, the overwhelming luminosity, the ineffable quality of Michael's photos. I have long been an admirer of his work, but it really floored me to see the originals, all matted and framed like the real art objects they are. It was a fitting tribute to a truly gifted photographer, whose marvelous, meticulous pictures impressed anyone who attended the exhibition."
"The motorcycle photographs of Michael Lichter speak for themselves, making their own mark and commentary on our freedom-loving lifestyle, as did the custom bikes jointly displayed in Biker Generation."
Easyriders Magazine, December 2001
Article on Biker Generation exhibit at the Journey Museum
"This year, our ace photographer and expert on pennywhistles, Michael Lichter, offered an exhibit featuring his motorcycle photography. Biker Generation, as the show was called, brought in record attendance to the Journey Museum. Besides Michaels rich photographs chronicling over 20 years of the biker lifestyle, the exhibit also housed a wild collection of custom bikes by the world's top builders."
Thunder Press, September 2001
"Michael Lichter Comes of Age" Review: Journey Museum Exhibit
"Tuesday August 5, a special reception was held to honor the men who created the work on display. On the walls of the main floor gallery were the photographs of famous biker-lifestyle photographer Michael Lichter, and on the floor sat the motorcycles referred to as "choppers," both spanning a quarter of a century of effort. This is what the word "awesome" was created for!."
American Rider, August 2001
"Article on Michael's exhibition at the Journey Museum, by Jerry Smith"
"It's not often that a lifetime's worth of experience can be assembled in one place at one time, but that is exactly what Michael Lichter has managed to do. In Lichter's 20-plus years of photographing the Harley-Davidson world, he amassed a huge collection of classic photographs that depict a generation of motorcycling."
The Rapid City Journal, August 2001
Life & Style section article on Apex Gallery exhibition of Michael's work, by Deb Holland
"In the past 20 years, times have changed. People have changed. The biker culture has changed. And Michael Lichter has been there to capture those changes."
Motorcycle Events Magazine, August 2001
Article on Michael's exhibit at Summer / Fall 2001 The Journey Museum
The Citizen, Showcase, Laconia, NH. June 2001
Story on Michael as "A Day in the Life" by Susan Richards
"The Citizen was honored Friday by an invitation from internationally renown photographer Michael Lichter to join him and a group of 40-some bikers who maintain a Weirs Beach home to travel on a ride along the Kancamagus Highway in the White Mountains National Forest."
The Citizen, Showcase, Laconia, NH. June 2001
Article on "Biker Generation" exhibit at the Belknap Mill Gallery by Susan Richards
"Michael Lichter's passion for photography began developing when he was 13 years old in his make-shift darkroom which also served as the families laundry room. In 1973 at the age of 18, the New York born and raised Lichter traveled to Colorado where he has lived 28 yearson the same block."
"Lichter's finesse in capturing everyday people in sometimes common, sometimes not, life situations is entirely self-taught."
The Concorde Monitor, Concorde NH. June 2001
Article on Michael: "One With the Road" by Kristin Proulx
"The ruddy glow of tattooed skin, of rain-soaked streets and flashing chrome - these are the poetics of Michael Lichter's photographs. But for anyone who has ever loved a Harley or a man who rides one, for anyone who's ever waited in Weirs Boulevard traffic surrounded by an entourage of idling Bike Weekers or felt their own skin glow red on a first ride through open summer, Lichter's work captures more than visual patterns and light. Walking through the Colorado artist's exhibit at the Belknap Mill, there are smells and there are sounds coming from those walls as well."
Westword Magazine, Denver, Colorado, November 2000
"Roll With It, Michael Lichter Captures the Biker Lifestyle" by Susan Froyd
"Every artist has a shtick. For photographer Michael Lichter, it's the biker lifestyle, a milieu he's gone with, like the wind, for over twenty years - that is, when he's not designing annual reports or doing other commercial work for large corporations, the bread and butter of his proffessional life. And every year, Lichter leaves the corporate world behind, hops on his Harley and rides to Sturgis, South Dakota, for that city's annual biker bash. Life just would not be the same without it."
American Rider Magazine, August 2000
Announcement of Apex Gallery exhibit in Rapid City.
Easyriders Magazine, 25th Anniversary Special, 1996
Article on Michael as staff photographer
"I seriously doubt that a photographer for a motorcycle magazine - even if it is the number one motorcycle magazine in the world - will go down in the annals of art history. Mike Lichter probably doesn't have the time to worry about it, but if there is any justice in the art world, Mike's work would be framed and hung alongside a painting by Toulouse-Lautrec."
"To Mike, getting that one perfect shot is serious business - the shot that cannot be had by someone who does not know the exuberance of having a fine - tuned machine on a straight road at sunset in August. To Mike, it is art."