{"id":59061,"date":"2022-06-16T16:14:52","date_gmt":"2022-06-16T15:14:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/?p=59061"},"modified":"2022-08-09T10:21:11","modified_gmt":"2022-08-09T09:21:11","slug":"meet-stephen-davison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/blog\/meet-stephen-davison\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Stephen Davison the legendary Northern Ireland motorsport photographer"},"content":{"rendered":"

The ragged swagger of Irish road racing has been defined through the lens of Stephen Davison. But the 59 year old Antrim-based photographer, who started shooting pictures in the 1980s, has documented more than the hedge cutting, kerb scraping action that happens every year all over the Island of Ireland. He has captured the spirit of a passionately committed coterie of heroic nutcases most of us have never heard of.<\/p>\n

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PACEMAKER BELFAST ,1987: In one of Stephen\u2019s earliest published images, Robert Dunlop in action on the Ken Dundee Yamaha at Cloughwater Church corner in 1987. PICTURE BY STEPHEN DAVISON<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For insiders of the Irish road racing scene, the people in Stephen\u2019s pictures carry a warrior-like mantle. But what makes Stephen\u2019s work different from that of the countless shutterbugs that litter the paddock? \u201cIt comes down to instinct\u201d, he says. I\u2019m looking over Stephen\u2019s shoulder, in his studio, at a selection of images of mostly Irish men, captured mostly existing at the absolute limit of what it is possible to do on public roads on a superbike. \u201cWhen you\u2019ve been doing it for a certain amount of time, you know the kit you\u2019re using, you know where to put yourself to capture a particular piece of action, and it\u2019s just a question of pressing the shutter at the right moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Joey rounds Quarterbridge on the SP1 Honda on his way to victory in the Formula One TT at his final TT in June 2000. PICTURE BY STEPHEN DAVISON<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Photography is, of course, all about capturing precisely the particular fraction of a second where form, light and movement coalesce to create an image worthy of publishing \u2014 but when you\u2019re talking about the stacked up moments of peril that exist in your average Irish road race \u2014 then those moments are taught, elusive and precious. \u201cFor me, road racers exist in this place where they are living completely on the edge, completely at the limits of what is possible on a motorcycle,\u201d he explains. \u201cThere\u2019s a parallel there to what was, and continues to be going on politically in Ireland.\u201d<\/p>\n

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PACEMAKER, BELFAST, April 2021. Nationalist youths douse the security gate at Lanark Way interface in Belfast with petrol during a riot with Loyalists. PICTURE BY STEPHEN DAVISON<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the start of his career as a photographer, Stephen was at the front line of the troubles, the civil conflict in which Northern Irish communities fought for space and identity along broadly sectarian lines. It was a tough time to live in Northern Ireland – but a fruitful time for photojournalism. Documenting both the day to day life of the community for local newspapers and the madness of races like the Ulster Grand Prix, which happens on Stephen\u2019s doorstep in Dundrod, and the Northwest 200 in Portrush, were radically different, but ultimately intertwined elements of the life he documented.<\/p>\n