Caylee Hankins: Director, Photographer and Motorbike Rider

I would love to start by saying just how wild Caylee is. The sort of wild that makes you question whether you chose the right career and if you are leading a boring life.

Riding through the Sahara desert. Rocky mountains. Open dry riverbeds. Stopping for lunch in sand dunes. Filming, taking pictures... This is just a normal day in Caylee’s life. You get the picture now? There was something in the disk of her smile, something so exciting and humble, that it took me only a split second to decide that I really liked her.

Talking about her off-road tour in Morocco, shooting for Sideburn Magazine, is how we kick-start our chat. This is followed by viewing some footage that looks almost apocalyptic of her rescuing her friend off the dunes in a sandstorm, after a serious motorbike injury.

Caylee Hankins in Morocco, Sahara Desert. Photography by @jennylinquist

Caylee’s background has organically evolved from a childhood passion for disposable cameras and riding horses. Over the years, she metamorphosed into an emerging director, established photographer, and documentarist amongst the motorbike community.

“I used to horse ride but now, having a bike, it’s a bit easier as you don’t have to go and look after them everyday,” she told me. As a kid she always wanted to try motocross. Eventually Caylee started riding five years ago, after completing her CBT. She then was helping her friend run a bar-hire company and ended up working on an event called Bike Shed (involving the creation of custom-made motorbikes). She thought to herself "How come I never thought of traveling on two wheels?”. Blending her passion for photography and traveling with her new-found excitement for motorbikes, this was just the perfect fit.

The excitement of a new beginning prompted Caylee to book a two-month trip in Vietnam with her friends. She bought a bike, grabbed a camera, and started documenting and filming her travels. She has a flair for making potentially complex things sound so easy to accomplish. Maybe all it requires is trust, self-confidence, and a squeeze of optimism. She certainly has all of those in spades.

When I ask her what fascinates her about her profession, she replies, “I like the fear of the unknown. I like adrenaline and I’ve always chased that. But when it comes to having that and involving people, I am inspired to see what excites them. Documenting that is extremely rewarding and beautiful to experience”. Capturing those impalpable moments is something she treasures.

After returning from the exotic trip in Vietnam, Caylee receives an unexpected call from a bike helmet brand that she usually models for, asking for her photography portfolio. She quickly sends them her recent work and they hire her to work at a motorbike event, Wheels and Wave, as a photographer, documenting a road trip journey from London to the South of France.

After that, her portfolio continues to grow with new experiences converting into skillsets and the more she travels, the more she enriches her photographic eye. She also finds amazing opportunities to immerse herself into new cultures, expanding her directorial art. Gambia was the next stop. “It was an incredible location and it holds a special place in my heart. From the cause of the project I was working on, being a charity project, to the people, to the colours, to the country. Everything was amazing,” she tells me.

Photography by Dawn-Marie Jones @stoyanovjones

I loved hearing about how she chooses her bike gear, just like her camera gear: a lot of it. “No travel lightly for me and that’s ok, I’ve come to terms with it,” she admits to me. Condensing both her camera and camera gear when she needs to has been a challenge. She usually shoots on a long lens, to get the right shot with the scenery and action. She also travels with a 35mm lens and a 24-70mm, to have a good range. Last but not least, she has her dirt-bike, which she uses to go off-road. It has knobbly tyres and is lighter than a standard road bike, so it can handle different terrains.

I ask her how she prepares for shoots like the one in Morocco. “In Morocco we had a mechanic, so that helps a lot, as mechanics can prep the bikes. However, this is not always the case. For instance, when I was in California last year, I was riding my friend’s Honda Hawk and traveling to an event called Babe’s Rideout, which was an all-female motorbike event. For that event, I would take the bike into a mechanic and get it checked and serviced. Though I can do the standard checks myself, like tyre pressure and oil”.

I ask what it's like to be a woman in such a male-dominated industry. Has she ever encountered any obstacles? Caylee tells me that even though she's heard stories about women experiencing obstacles and sexism, she personally has always found men to be supportive of her. “They want to have more women biking. A lot has changed in recent years. Even during racing, there has been a lot of support for women”. She adds, "Of course there have been instances where perhaps I wondered if I didn’t get that job, because maybe it’s an all-man team, but I always try not to think like that”.

Caylee has made her mark by working all around the world, Morocco, Gambia, Thailand, Mexico, USA, Sweden, Peru, Bolivia and the United Kingdom. I ask Caylee what her upcoming projects might be, and she responds that it's tricky to predict, given the current global circumstances. However, sticking with her path of optimism, she tells me that she is hoping to visit South Africa in May to make an independent documentary, blending traveling and riding. “I also want to get back over to California and Utah, as it has amazing trails to ride”.

Her ideal directing project would definitely involve bikes, action, adrenaline and outdoors. Caylee’s has worked with prestigious brands such as Paper Theory, Visit England, Harley Davidson, Royal Enfield, Hedon Helmets, Stance Socks and many more.

Her latest projects can be found here:

https://niceshirtfilms.com/director/caylee-hankins/#video-paper-theory-by-caylee-hankins and https://niceshirtfilms.com/director/caylee-hankins/#video-visit-england-devon-by-caylee-hankins

Caylee is represented by NiceShirtFilms.

Main Cover Photo: @Heidizumbrun in California