From the first moment I rolled out onto the streets of San Jose with thousands of other people riding in San Jose Bike Party, I knew it was something I was going to love. The once-monthly themed rides aim to “build community through bicycling,” and are a lot of fun. That was more than two years ago, and I’ve been on many of the rides since.

I also knew I wanted to photograph the phenomenon, but it’s hard to get a frame that captures all of Bike Party — once it starts, riders can spread out for blocks, or miles. Besides, the most interesting thing about Bike Party is the people who ride in it, many of them real characters. So I decided to set up a makeshift photo studio at one of the regroup areas and shoot everyone I could.

With the help of Daniel Garcia and Flora Moreno de Thompson of Content Magazine, we photographed folks at San Jose Bike Party’s Rocky Horror Ride in September. Flora wrangled riders and got contact info, Daniel provided the white backdrop and held up the lighting. What started as a personal project for me turned into an assignment for an article on Bike Party that Flora wrote for issue 4.4 of Content, which is available now.

I’ve uploaded all the photos to my online archive, so if you’re one of the folks I photographed, you can download a low-resolution photo for free, or buy a print. Use the “Buy Image” link to access both. Check them out here: San Jose Bike Party Photo Studio.