Loading...
Loading...
What began as a one-year motorcycle trip turned into 17 years on the road, covering over 500,000 miles - equivalent to circling the globe 20 times. But the road to adventure wasn’t smooth. “Twenty-seven days after we bought our dream bikes, I was hit by two cars. The impact took off my right lower leg, ankle, and foot,” Simon recalled. “After two years of surgeries and being laid up horizontally, we lost everything, except our bikes. So, we decided, why not go on an adventure?”
And so, with no Google Maps or social media back then, armed with only paper maps, they set off. “We weren’t seasoned travellers. We weren’t trained photographers. We just knew we wanted to see the world differently,” Lisa pointed out.
Their tales from the road are nothing short of extraordinary. One of the most harrowing moments came deep in the Amazon jungle, where Simon suffered a devastating accident. “I lost control, and the bike threw me head first into the rocks. I had unknowingly broken my neck in two places.” With no immediate medical help available, Lisa led him out of the jungle over three gruelling weeks. “She carried me, both physically and mentally,” Simon said, tearing up.
In Mali, when they encountered an unexpected river crossing, they handed their precious motorcycles over to strangers with nothing but faith. “There was no ferry, it was just a hollowed-out tree,” Simon laughed. “And our payment was a couple of BMW key fobs, $2, and some very soft cigarettes.”
Photography was never part of their original plan, but the need to document their journey transformed them into photographers. Their images, capturing the raw beauty and humanity of the world, would later be featured in global campaigns. “We just wanted to capture what we were experiencing, but then we realised we wanted others to feel what we felt - see what we saw - with more colour, clarity, and feeling,” Simon said.
“One day, a company saw our photos and said, ‘We’d like to use one for a national campaign.’ I asked what they usually paid. They said $2,000. That’s when we realised, we could actually do this.”
The pair went on to become Nikon ambassadors, turning their passion for adventure into a profession. “We were winging it most of the time,” Lisa admitted. “But if you really want to do something, you’ll find a way. And if the path doesn’t exist, create one.”
Through their candid tales of adventure and humanity, Lisa and Simon Thomas’s journey shows us that storytelling isn’t just about the photos we take, it’s about the connections we make.
Organised by the Sharjah Government Media Bureau (SGMB) Xposure 2025 is taking place in Aljada, Sharjah until February 26. To plan your visit, see https://xposure.net/.
For an optimal experience, please
rotate your device to portrait mode.
