Danny Lyon

Danny Lyon (born 1942 in New York) is one of the most influential documentary photographers. While still a student at the University of Chicago he was jailed in the South and became the first staff photographer of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). His photographs made up 75% of the pictures in the book The Movement. He returned to Chicago in 1965 and joined the Chicago Outlaw Motorcycle Club. His two-year stint with the club resulted in the seminal book, The Bikeriders. In 1967 Lyon obtained access to the Texas prison system and produced the series Conversations with the Dead. On completing his prison work Lyon returned to New York, where he met the photographer and filmmaker Robert Frank. Together they formed a company called Sweeney Films.