one of the backs of Joker and Carissa walking out of garage, one of Joke’s kickass builds mostly done off to the side, Travis up on Joker’s shoulders, Clementine Elvira on Carissa’s hip.
Carissa was talking, looking straight ahead.
Joker had his head turned to watch her as she did.
And the look on his face as his wife chatted to him.
Oh man.
Also, there was the one of Snapper falling to his knees to kiss the growing baby bump protruding from Rosalie.
God, that moment had been priceless. Totally unplanned. And super sweet. I was psyched I was there with my camera when he did that. It was cute and sweet and so, so biker and so un-biker, which was so Snapper, it was perfection.
And the footage of Tack sitting out at a picnic table, throwing back some brews with Hawk, Mitch and Slim, that bond outside the brotherhood etched in all four men’s faces, even when they were all laughing.
And the stuff with Hop’s face changing when Lanie walked in the Compound in her trendy, stylish business lady’s clothes, looking like a model who’d wandered into an MC clubhouse.
But he’d slipped right off his stool so she could slip her ass right on it, and suddenly, she belonged. She was his, she was Chaos. She was a reflection of these men who loved who they loved, and fuck anyone who thought it didn’t fit.
I adored how the both of them smiled at each other through the seat exchange like they hadn’t seen each other in months, rather than rolling out of the same bed together that morning.
And of course, there was the film of Tab shoving Shy in the chest with both hands when he was laughing uncontrollably and she was in some snit. Then he’d caught her up in his arms and held her tight, laughing into her neck. That scene was about how her face changed, unable to hold on to the snit when she was in her husband’s arms.
The Chaos princess and her prince, the brothers’ VP. Attitude and affection and love.
It defined the whole movie.
And I especially adored the last shot of the film.
The one of Tack and Tyra taking off through the forecourt, Tack’s hands on the grip of his bike, gazing forward, Tyra on the back of it, her hair beginning to whip around. She was twisted toward the Compound, a huge smile on her face. Waving.
No.
The best was the footage at the last hog roast.
It was the money shot. The one, a still from it, I’d put on the poster.
They were all congregated around a steel drum filled with fire in the forecourt. Every last brother. Some of them had hands held to it. Some of them had their fingers wrapped around brews (though Hound had a bottle of tequila in his hand). Some were looking at others. Some were looking at their boots. Some were looking at the sky.
Big Petey had just said something.
So they were all laughing.
Yeah, that was my favorite.
The men and old ladies had dug up a bunch of pictures and I’d had pretty intense chats with all of them, so the movie wasn’t just fly-on-the wall footage, but also Ken Burn’s style stills with narration.
They’d trusted me with a lot. I knew I didn’t have it all, but they trusted me with so much. It meant the world to me.
And I hoped I’d done them proud.
“Babe?”
I came back into the room at Rush’s call to see all the men’s eyes on me.
Fuck.
I focused on Rush sitting at the head of the table.
And the relief washed through me in a wave.
“Babe,” he repeated.
His voice was thick.
My throat started to feel funny.
It was Boz who started to pound his flat hands on the table.
Arlo joined in.
Speck. Roscoe. Jag. Chill.
Snapper. Joker. Dutch.
Then High, Hop, Hound.
Big Petey was the first to get up while he did it, and all the men left their seats, bent over the table, pounding on the top.
Tack.
And finally Rush.
They all beat their hands on the table, the sound thundering through the room.
Rush’s head was tipped back at me and he was smiling.
I hadn’t let him see even a minute of it.
I was glad for that now.
I let out one of those laughs that was also a sob when the first tear fell just as Boz let out a war whoop.
All the men started whooping.
Then they started chanting, “Punk, Punk, Punk.”
I guessed I had their approval.
I’d get more.
That movie took medals at three indie film festivals, the top one at two.
And