By Brenda Hernandez

The Better Bike Share Partnership (BBSP) is an effort led by the City of Philadelphia that works to ensure that Indego bike share is accessible to all Philadelphians. The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia is a non­profit advocacy and education organization working as part of the Better Bike Share Partnership to support bike share and biking education.The Better Bike Share Partnership is funded by the JPB Foundation.

Year round, the BBSP team highlights stories of our events and rides. Now, we want to tell you more about the people behind those events and rides. As a two-part series, we will introduce you two amazing people behind the hard visual work that carries amazing stories for us to share. Meet photographer Rashiid Coleman, who has been working with the Better Bike Share team for two years and has captured amazing moments on film of our events.

“I’ve been a professional photographer for two years,” says Coleman, who shares that he recently quit his job in pursuit to become a full-time photographer and video creator. “My first thought, when asked to be part of this project, was ‘how?’ After that, I just had fun with it.” His favorite moment from the job, so far, has been working with families on rides. “My favorite moment was receiving words from a family friend, on a ride in Mantua,” says Coleman. “I had captured their father who recently passed away. They said it was their favorite picture of him because of how happy he was.”  We had also asked Rashiid about the challenges of being a BBSP Photographer. “Sweating profusely during the ride, carrying all my gear, but I just look at it as a part of the job … [But] I think I’ve learned to just have fun with it. Using the bikes, you have to get creative and I appreciate the challenge because it helps me to grow with my craft and you get to meet cool people.” Mostly, though, the photography opportunity has helped Coleman better understand and appreciate bike sharing.

“Indego is awesome,” he says. “I appreciate that the city is using bikes to help with transportation, to help people be mobile. I hope that if any of my followers hop on a bike they let me know so that we can shoot!” says Coleman “I’m grateful to have been only doing this two years and have worked with such an awesome company. I’m happy to have had the experience and look forward to more opportunities.” We want to thank Rashiid, too, for the amazing work he has done, capturing amazing moments and riding with us. We know it is not easy to ride and snap photos at the same time. We also hope to keep creating more connections and inspired communities and individuals.

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