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World No.1 Car Photographer: Larry Chen On Ken Block, Gymkhana BTS & Going To Prison
World No.1 Car Photographer: Larry Chen On Ken Block, Gymkhana BTS & Going To Prison
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About this episode
Larry Chen, renowned automotive photographer, shares his journey from a quiet introvert to capturing iconic moments in car culture, including his experiences with the late Ken Block. He discusses the challenges of building his career, the significance of his dream car, the R34 GTR, and the emotional impact of Block's passing. With stories ranging from a chaotic night in a Chinese jail to the thrill of photographing high-speed events, Chen emphasizes the importance of passion, community, and storytelling in his work. His new book encapsulates these experiences, showcasing his evolution as a photographer.
Topics:
ken block
automotive photography
r34 gtr
car culture
storytelling
chinese jail experience
passion for cars
community building
career evolution
emotional moments
Cars:
Nissan Skyline
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Link to Larry's Book here - https://amzn.eu/d/3Hmq2G7https://www.carrarabooks.com/store/p/shutterspeed
Larry Chen is the most recognized car photographer in the world. From sneaking into events with fake press passes to photographing Formula Drift, Ken Block, and owning his dream R34 GT-R, Larry’s story is one of obsession, sacrifice, and legacy.
This is the untold story behind the lens.
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"...s simply my goal in life is to own a Bayside Blue R34 GTR. And I wrote that and I was serious about it,..."
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And then it just turns into this huge dog pile of people grabbing for my camera, punching me, me punching them.
Larry! I'm a car culture and automotive photographer. I've taken 5 million photos in my lifetime.
This is my most famous photo. When Ken came around this corner, he grazed our shins when I spent a night in Chinese jail.
This entire mob chased after me and smashed my camera. I barely graduated elementary school, middle school and high school.
My goal to own Bayside Blue, our 34 GTR.
And that is your art 34 GTR.
20-year-old me would not have guessed that I would be in this position.
The rally driver, Ken Block, who has died in a snowmobile accident.
Did you suffer when you heard about Ken's passing?
It's probably one of the worst days of my life.
I talk about him a lot in this book. He was going to meet with us in two days.
It was terrible. It was horrible. Nobody's going to replace him, you know?
Larry! Welcome to the back of my van studio that just about fitted in your shop.
And that over there is your art 34 GTR.
It is.
That is insane. 20 years ago, could you have ever imagined that you'd be sat here looking at that car?
Can I just point out, I almost feel like this shop that I built is perfect for this scenario.
I absolutely love it.
20-year-old me and honestly 30-year-old me would not have guessed that I would be in this position to be able to own that car.
I have a fun story that I like to talk about when it comes to this car.
When I was graduating high school, when I was 17,
I put like a senior quote because everyone has to put like a, oh, your aspirations or what you want to be,
or I'm going to become a doctor, whatever.
Mine was simply my goal in life is to own a Bayside Blue R34 GTR.
And I wrote that and I was serious about it, right?
Being somebody that grew up playing Gran Turismo, playing video games, being into cars and JDM cars.
That was just such a halo car, right?
It was the one for me that I'm like, I would love to own that one day.
Or it was just so far.
I couldn't even imagine me even being able to see one, let alone own one.
But anyways, the school thought it was so vain that they didn't actually publish my senior quote.
Like they took it off because in the quad where everybody's pictures are up and they have their senior quote below their pictures,
mine was just blank.
Legitimately, I was thinking like, well, I guess, yeah, they just thought it was just too vain or it was derogatory in some way.
And so I just always kept that in my mind, you know, and I always thought maybe one day I'll be able to own this car.
But did you think that they were stupid for that at the time?
Did you think that they were ridiculous for that?
Or in another way, did you just question it?
I don't.
It was one of those things where I just had a moment to think about the situation and then I just brushed it off.
I didn't really think about it more and more until I was in this position to be able to finally afford this car.
And today what we're going to talk about is how you've become to be in this position to be able to not only afford the car,
but also build the life because life is about time.
Time is such a finite asset and how we spend time is so much more valuable than how we spend money.
And the amount of time that I see you spending doing what you love and doing your passion and following it is absolutely insane.
But so many people, when they maybe look at your pages, everything is about the photo.
It's about the pictures, about the story.
So a lot of people will be like, oh yeah, I know Larry, he's a great photographer.
But when I come here and I see the team and I see the mechanics and I see the editing suite
and I see the equipment and I see the love and the care and the passion and the attention,
there's obviously so much more than that.
So if I had to ask you in your own words, who are you and what do you do?
The simple answer is that I'm a car culture and automotive photographer.
But of course that's evolved over the years.
Now I'm in front of the camera and it's something that I never intended to happen this way.
Part of it is because I'm pretty introverted to be honest with you.
I'm very reserved.
Growing up it was really hard for me to make friends, make true connections because I was very quiet.
But as time went on and as I'm really pushing so hard to become an automotive photographer
I realized I had to make authentic and real connections and I had to build these relationships over time.
One of the things I always like to talk about is the fact that the people that I started working with
way back when, all the way almost 20 years or more than 20 years ago
are the same people that I'm working with today.
And we've all progressed in the same timeline, in the same way, right?
So I've progressed as a photographer, as a storyteller.
I'm able to do so many of these grand stories and grand videos.
And the people that I worked with, whether they were a mechanic or they were a producer
or whomever, painter, anything to do with cars or a driver, they progressed too.
And it's great because now I just feel like I'm part of this incredible community
that is growing exponentially year after year.
I'm just so happy to be able to do what I do for a living.
That's simple.
I think most people that look at other people's journeys,
especially when they're in front of the camera, I know you're also behind it a lot.
Especially in your whole journey, you've been behind the camera a lot.
I actually heard a stat when you were talking about your book video
that you take between 300,000 and 500,000 photos a year, which absolutely blew my mind
and we will get into that.
But the person that's usually in front of the lens, people always picture as the extrovert.
They picture them as the kid in class that was the outgoing one that was being sent to detention
that was just the guy, the person that was maybe the head of year.
And in reality, the amount of people I sit with opposite, their story has developed over so many years.
It's taken so long to chip away at that introverted exterior
and gets the bit that's actually comfortable being in front of camera.
So when did the introvert start to become more extroverted in you?
It's interesting. I feel like I did a lot of things, I guess, in the opposite world.
I never went to school for photography.
I barely graduated elementary school, middle school, and high school.
Just really eeked by.
It's funny because I got into this position.
I started doing a lot of writing.
I started doing a lot of storytelling.
And I failed pretty much all of my English classes.
So I was thinking to myself, man, if I actually paid attention in school,
maybe it would have helped my career.
But I think the thing that really I realized later on is
I just didn't find anything that interesting about going to school and studying.
But then when I found something that I was passionate about,
that's when I really put all my heart and soul into it.
And including being in front of camera,
learning how to tell stories, learning how to craft the stories,
making the connections, being personable.
All that is stuff that I just learned over time.
And I would say it's just been a very gradual natural progression since I started.
I started in 2004.
And ever since then, it's just been like a little micro wins every single year.
I'm achieving more or getting access to something or traveling to a new country.
And that's just what it takes.
It's not some one overnight success, especially back then there was no social media.
There was a really long period of time when I was just emailing my photos to people.
Like I had an email list and I was posting on forums.
I would show my photos to as many people as possible.
And that's just the only way because there was no social media back then.
I think to understand anyone's story and you're painting the picture of when you started so well,
but you need to understand the why.
Why is it that that's what they were passionate about?
Why is it that that tree grew and the branches came off it?
So for you, we're sat here surrounded by Japanese car culture.
I'd say you've got so many insane cars, but also formal adrift
and that crazy world of drifting and tire smoke.
So what was it in your earliest years that influenced the cars and the style that we have around us now?
I'm assuming it's probably the same thing that influenced you to do this.
It's a love for driving and a love for cars. Am I right?
But did that come from any singularity? Was that a parent? Was that a brother? Was that an experience?
I feel like it's something that if you grew up in Southern California,
so much car culture was born here and so much of it is ingrained in this area.
You have to have a car to move, to just have for transportation.
Why not have something that's pretty cool?
Why not have something that you can be proud of?
And naturally growing up here, it was just the cool thing to do with me and my friends.
Back then, when we were just getting into cars, we would have $500 cars.
And the only way to make them better or improve on them is if we worked on them ourselves
and we still push them to the limit and drove them and enjoyed them.
But it all really just came from a love for cars and as time went on,
I quickly realized that for me to be surrounded by this community
and be in the car industry, I had to do something.
I had to have some sort of special skill and lucky for me, it was photography
and it worked out versus me wrenching on cars.
I love wrenching so much and I love driving, but it's not my specialty.
It's not my skill.
While I enjoy it, it's just not going to earn me a living, right?
So that's why at one point in time, I told myself I would quit all high performance driving.
I would quit tinkering on cars.
I sold whatever I had and I sold all the things that were related to cars and car culture.
I even tried to sell my one really prized possession at the time,
which was my 1972-40Z that's parked out in front in my garage.
And nobody would buy it at the time and I was selling it for very cheap.
I just told myself, look, I'm going to get rid of all this stuff.
I'm going to use all the money for camera equipment.
I'm going to use it to travel the world to improve my photography.
And luckily that worked out and now we're on the other side of this.
I am doing everything I can to drive and race and drift
and get behind the wheel as much as possible.
I want to use that moment there, that moment of singularity to like home in on
because to me, I grew up with car culture.
I grew up in my local town with a group of friends that all naturally had the same interests.
We all naturally went to car meets.
We went to events.
We went to anything that was on together.
And I think any group of friends that love cars,
there's always the person that's going to be the best mechanic,
the best tinkering, the best at working with them.
You've always got the photographer of the group.
Then you've always got the semi photographer at the group
that really just does it for a hobby as a way to keep the ADHD active
if it shows, like going around clicking.
And the group is made up of all of these people.
For you to pick up a camera and start shooting, did you ever see an image
or was there something that captured you that sticks in your mind
to actually take that step and become that person?
I think it wasn't so much about me looking into pictures
and saying that I'm proud of these pictures.
That came later on.
I think what's really special about photography
is when you show someone else their picture.
When you show someone else their car that they poured their heart and soul into
and you took a picture of it and you printed it out
or it's on your laptop or when you're showing them this,
the way you see it, it triggers something.
It's so interesting.
It's like, I don't know, something in human nature maybe.
Something that you recognize that is yours
but somebody else made something from it.
I don't know what it is.
I think it's something that I've thought about a lot.
But one of the moments or one of the things that I talk about all the time
is the fact that I'm at the best races
and the best events in the world.
We were just in Monterey for car week.
This year I was at Goodwood Festival Speed,
which is one of my favorite events.
I photograph, I speak every single year,
Formula Drift, so many incredible events.
Your car was actually in the quail,
which is insane.
Crazy.
You've also just released or pre-releasing this,
which we're going to get onto.
Yes, so what I'm getting to is I'm there.
I'm live.
I'm seeing the cars.
I'm taking pictures of the cars live, in person.
But so is everyone else.
Everyone else is there enjoying these cars live.
They can touch it.
They can feel it.
They can smell it.
They can hear it run.
But the funny thing is time and time again,
and this happens almost every single day I'm shooting,
somebody comes up to me and they say,
I can't wait to see your pictures.
But I always think to myself,
just stop right there.
The car is right in front of you.
Just look at it.
Just don't wait for my pictures.
Enjoy it.
But again, that's human nature.
You know, maybe they want to see it through my lens
and what I saw.
With that said, I mean, I appreciate that.
But I think it's hilarious.
Does that?
We're going to have something so good in front of you,
and it's right there in reality,
but we want to see the non-reality.
Yeah.
But even though it kind of is reality,
maybe it's because humans always strive
to see the best version of something,
and there is something about some pictures
that are taken that when you see them,
you can be looking at the exact same thing,
but in a photo it just looks ten times better,
albeit the editing, the lighting, the way it's done.
And I think that we also as humans
always tend to appreciate,
especially people that are in an entrepreneurial,
maybe have got their own business position.
We always love to hire or look for people
that are better than us at doing any given task
and tend to appreciate that.
Yeah.
And obviously, I appreciate it the same way,
but in a different way.
So for example, just this last week,
I had a chance to drive my R34 at Laguna Seca,
you know, going down the corkscrew.
So cool.
A track that was on every game growing up as well.
Yes.
I love driving that track so much,
and I was pretty familiar with the track.
So I felt comfortable to push that car,
even though it was my first time on that track with that car.
Died in.
So then I thought to myself,
I really hope somebody gets a picture
of this going down the corkscrew.
And it did happen, but that's another example, right?
I have the car.
This is my car.
I get to drive it anytime.
But what I treasure is a picture of it
going down the corkscrew with me driving it.
And I think that's something that I'm able to tap into
for everything, you know, with car culture.
People are just so excited.
There's this passion for this thing
that is not alive.
It's just plastic and metal and,
you know, this machine that we've given a soul.
Sierra, let's get moving.
Yeah!
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What I want to get into, though,
is to have moments like that in your story
and what you do is capture stories.
But to have moments like that in your story
when you can enjoy a car like that,
which was your dream, which was the thing
that the little teachers ripped off of that poster,
you had to turn your passion into something
that actually paid and paid well.
And I think it's a fair comment to say that
humans as a whole probably wouldn't look at photography
as the most lucrative career in the world.
You know, when you picture brain surgeons
or lawyers or business owners,
I don't really think that comes into it.
So to take that to this level,
I really want to get into the understand the how
because I had so many friends that the reason I
saw you for the first time, come across to you
for the first time, and never forget it,
was in my local pub.
And my friend had won the same car
on a giveaway competition in the UK.
And another friend brought up his phone and said,
I took some photos of that car,
but this guy took some better and brought up your photos.
And that was all the way in the UK.
Now those lads I was sat with,
you are living their dream.
That is their dream to do what you do.
So what do you think is the moment?
Because for me, when you talk about that moment
where you were prepared to sell everything
and ditch it for the lens, for the equipment
and for the travel and the experiences,
to me that seems like possibly one of the most
impactful moments in your story.
Yeah, it was.
I've made a lot of sacrifices to get to this point.
But I feel like not everyone needs to, right?
Your friends who enjoy photography
and also enjoy cars, they can do it their way.
That's the beauty of it. It's a scale.
It's not all in like me or none at all.
It's a sliding scale.
They could do it on their off time.
They could do it at events.
They could do it as a hobby.
Or maybe they take a couple paid gigs.
That's the beauty of it.
Not everyone needs to go as crazy as I have
into car photography.
But I welcome people who want to
because there's a place for everybody.
I mean, you probably saw it very evident
at Car Week this year.
There's more car spotters than there's ever been, period.
It was insane.
Off the chart and the place literally,
we describe it, because it was our first year
going there, me and my partner Edie,
we described it as a literal video game.
The place turns into a video game.
You can't comprehend what is going on
and it desensitizes you for cars
because it becomes so ridiculous.
There's like 6F50s that go past you one way
and then a Yesco that goes past the other way
and it's just like, what the hell?
What gets me is the enthusiasm, right?
What gets me are the people can't buy
on the side of the road, on the sidewalk,
sometimes with chairs set up.
And then you have the car spotters
that are literally running with knife hands
as fast as they can go just to get in front of the vehicle
just to get that shot.
Who the heck knows where any of this material goes, by the way?
I don't think there's that many content creators
pumping out this much stuff.
It's almost like a lot of these people
just do it for themselves
and that's what makes me happy.
You know, they're enjoying cars this way.
We actually parked the van when we had an off-morning
on one of the bends going out towards Big Sur.
We opened the doors just like this
and just sat and watched all the cars
coming down the road.
And that, to be honest, just as a car fan
get rid of the podcast or anything
monetized over the top of loving the automotive one.
That is just the purest form of enjoying cars
that you can be, not even behind the wheel.
Yeah, and this also is a great example you mentioned
earning a living as a photographer.
Honestly, if somebody were to look for money
or they're looking to earn a lot
doing photography or video or being in this car industry
it may not be the right gig for this person
because that's not what it's about.
Money may come eventually
especially if you're really good at what you do
if you're extraordinary, if you're very talented
and you have something to add to the community
but it shouldn't be the driving factor.
It shouldn't.
Your love for cars, your love for making connections
your love for traveling and making friends
and uncovering stories
that is what should drive you first, in my opinion.
Do you remember a first experience
stronger than a first paid gig?
Stronger than a first paid gig?
What comes to mind first?
Your first paid gig or like something that happened?
Honestly, around that time
I feel like I don't even remember really my first paid gig.
How did it start?
Can you shoot my car?
Yeah, something like that
or can we pay you to use these pictures?
It wasn't significant.
That part wasn't significant.
Did you plan to turn it into a business
earlier on than that moment?
At one point I was taking Baby Steps
and I was thinking that it potentially could be possible.
The reason why I knew it was possible
is because it already existed.
I knew people that did it for a living
and I looked at them from behind the fence
or from far away and I thought to myself
I need to be doing what they're doing.
I can do what they're doing.
I feel like I had it in me.
So then I just pushed really hard
in every single way possible to get to that point.
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Do you think without the launch of social media
back in 2011 I think Instagram launched
and we're able to display photos far and wide
I know we have Facebook, etc.
But did that also
I say put you on a global stage
just make you so much more exposed to the world
and different opportunities.
Yeah, I definitely think social media helped.
I was a pretty late adopter to it
part of it is because I'm not an Apple user
I use Android and as you probably know
Android
they were a very late adopter to Instagram
In fact, I remember the day I signed up for Instagram
I was at the Spa 24 hour race
in 2012
and it was just like that day
that they launched it and the moment they launched it
I signed up for it because I was jealous for a while
for that whole year that it was available on iOS
I was seeing my friends, you know, posting and sharing
like, oh, this is so cool.
I was thinking to myself, oh man.
And you weren't tempted just to go and get the flipping under quid
from the shop down the road.
No, part of it is because I'm a diehard PC guy
I've always been
you know, I come from a gaming background
I loved playing games
I love playing Gran Turismo and racing games
and Need for Speed, all of that stuff
so I feel like I'm kind of stubborn in that way
but it's also helped a lot later on in my career
because we are so lucky
it's so crazy that I've done a lot of work with Intel
I've done some work with Google
I've done a lot of work with MSI
they make incredible computers and that's what we use
and a lot of people ask me
and some people even make fun of me
they're like, hey, we need to start a GoFundMe for Larry
because he obviously can't afford an iPhone
but my response is like, hey, is Apple calling you
reaching out to you to work with you
or what's going on here
because I'm actually actively trying to work with these companies
and help them improve their products
yeah, sorry, I went on a tangent there
No, you're alright
in the early days being that introverted character
that you described
I can clearly see though
you are uber competitive
especially comes out in racing
and I think that anyone that becomes successful
has that competitive streak in them
but I never hear ever in the photography world
photographers saying, my pictures are better than his pictures
I do it better
is there a degree
that you do hold yourself to be like
you remember you upload a YouTube video
and it sometimes shows you like
will your thumbnail stand out compared to these 100 thumbnails
do you think about that and the shots that you're doing
not necessarily for a thumbnail
like for a shot in general and say
I'm capturing this moment on this corner of this track
and there's all these other guys stood here
but I'm making sure that the snap that I take is going to be unbelievable
does that go through your mind?
No, I feel like I'm pretty well aware
of where I stand in the photography world
I feel like I know where my skill level is
and what is possible with
if I'm in the right place at the right time
with the right camera
and I happen to get the right settings
I understand where I am in the hierarchy of photographers
and skill and knowledge and vision and all that
I think my true talent
is putting in more effort
to be in front of the good subject
so oftentimes I'm with photographers that are very inspiring
a lot of people ask me
hey who inspires you
which famous photographer inspires you
I always say that it's the people in the trenches with me
at the events
shooting these cars
at Car Week
at Pike Speak
at Formula Drift
at Goodwood Festival Speed
the people that I'm with
you know
trackside
suffering together
almost like
locked arms
just enough space for all of us
they've sought the passes
they've been through the process
they've grown ages to give them the opportunity to be there
those are the people that inspire me
because
I'll tell you right now
so many times
very often
I'm right next to somebody
and we publish our pictures
and after the fact
I look at their pictures
and I think to myself
oh my god
how did I not see this
they just figured out some different angle
or put a different spin on it
or
did something different
even though it was the same place
same time
same car
they were a better technical photographer
and that happens all the time
non-stop
but
the advantage that I try to extract
all the time
is to
have the access to
a certain collection
or a certain build
or a certain scene
or set something up
or whatever
go earlier
stay later
wait for the cars to roll out
I just put myself in a situation
where
I potentially could get a shot
that this other photographer is not even at
what is it
that created
that piece of your brain
that thinks like that
versus the guy next to you in the trench
I think
it's the motivation
it's the drive
to
be able to
create something
that's different
that's special
that's
maybe extraordinary
that
maybe is inspirational
I don't know what it is
jaw dropping
I love the phrase with photography
jaw dropping
because
there's like a small amount of photographers
that I'd love to have all of you
I've asked him several times
he's actually said no
but he's still so inspiring to me
as Alex Penfold
and I love some of the shoots that he
especially some of the desert shots
and it always was when it came up in my feed
picture picture picture
jaw dropping
he's a very good example of somebody
that I
look up to
these are the people that inspire me
because
these folks
are the ones that are pushing the limit
of what's possible with car photography
and I'm not saying I'm not doing it too
I am
I'm trying my absolute best
you know
I built a camera car
just to be able to
photograph
and film at speed
when these drift cars are
pushing their hardest
right
I always thought to myself like
well
they're there
what if I'm there too
it sounds so simple
and it sounds so dumb
but it's something that
I've just been working on
year after year and year after year
to perfect
it's just so much of that
you know
but to get on the tarmac
with that car
in front of the other car
is down to people
connections
opportunity
and reputation
that's the hard part
reputation is my favourite word
and it's become my favourite word
of all these podcasts
because I used to do this thing for a while
I would give a guest
three words that might mean something to them
and I'd ask them to pick the one
that meant the most
and every single time
five episodes on the chart
the person picked reputation
so I stopped doing it
because I knew
that it becomes one of the most
important parts
of absolutely everybody's story
but reputation is only built
over time
and it's built by people
starting conversations
and that can also be difficult
when you're a little bit introverted
and a little bit off the side
so how did you build
that early reputation
because there were so many people
that you'd have watched in movies
and that you'd ducked to
they've ended up being part of your story
that you then
ended up capturing their moments
so like
where was like a major point
in your earliest years as a photographer
where you really took a big step forward
in building your reputation
that's a really
good question
I think
if you see my storytelling
and if you
watch
our content
on YouTube
and if you see my written articles
something that was really ingrained
in me
early on
was
to be very positive
about the things that we're covering
there's
terrible builds out there
right
we try not
we try to avoid those
it's not
something that needs to be highlighted
what needs to be highlighted
are the
really
top-level builds
inspirational builds
and they don't have to be expensive
they could be the $500 car
but if there's a good story
and if they put heart and soul into it
then it's something that's worth telling
it's too easy to be negative in this industry
right
especially
if you're highlighting car culture
that's honestly
probably the easiest way to get views
is to be negative
to
be controversial
to
spark some fighting
you know
that's a great way to get a lot of views
a lot of interaction
a lot of comments
not
but
I feel like I've gone this far
by being positive
by being the opposite
yes
I try
I try my best
and you know
there are cars
that I photograph
that
may not hit the mark
and
I still try to focus on the positives
so if you believe that
and you're Mr. Nice Guy
and as someone comes up to you
and they can have the worst build in the world
but they're a lovely person
and I've struggled with this
as a podcast host as well
because we often
if we're showing our pictures
or videos or books to the world
we don't get to interact with our audience a lot
like
you're inside
you're shot behind your house
very
like encourage you're surrounded by the people you see every day
and then the people that you shoot with
you don't necessarily see
the hundreds of thousands of people all the time
that then support you
but you still have the same
level of
you owe them the same
because they're there supporting
watching
and my point is
what I struggle with
I get a lot of people that get
what's the word I'm looking for
what's the word
insulted
that's it
yeah
so I find that I have people that can
potentially
are not the right fit for the podcast
for me and for my audience
and I owe my audience the best possible examples of guests
and what my audience would love to watch
and they can't understand
why they wouldn't make the podcast
you find it hard that there's people
that would love to see you post
and write about
and do all these things with their cars
but you don't think that they're necessarily
the right fit for what you've built
yeah
I'll
give everybody a chance
and
sometimes people surprise me
but
I know what I like
and I generally try my best
to highlight what I like
but I'm also looking for
new and interesting things right
there's so much of our car culture
that
we have to look at
closer
especially if somebody
is in love with this thing
that they love so much they put their heart and soul into it
I should take a second look at it
and I should highlight it
but if you want to talk about reputation
I'm really relying on my reputation
for something that I'm going to do
next week
okay so
I'm going to try
my absolute best
to pursue the story that
I've been trying to pursue for a long time
on Monday
what's today today is
Thursday Thursday on Monday
I'm flying to Brunei
so
that face is showing it right now
you kind of see where I'm going
I'm putting my
reputation
forward
to basically show
the royal family
that I'm not there to
push any agenda or anything
I'm there
for cars
so
I'm not going to
go through life regretting
not trying
so I'm going to try
so by the time this comes out
you guys will see
if I succeeded
how the hell does that
opportunity
drop into your inbox
it's been
something that I've been
it's been something that I've been
taking baby steps
over the past couple years
to eventually
hopefully
come to fruition
I don't know
we'll see
the point is that
I'm going to put it out there
and then I'm going to show that I'm there
and I'm going to
put my best foot forward
and I'm going to be positive
but
there's no way until
there's no way for me to know
I'm going into the unknown
and that's often the case
when it comes to me
traveling and pushing for these cars
culture stories because a lot of times
and still happens today
I go to these places
the far reaches of the earth
wherever because cars are everywhere
people always ask me
why are you even here
why is this interesting to you
this is just a dingy old shop
and I just work on these old trucks
or I work on this thing
or I built this over time
and this is my car
why are you here
and I look at them
and I think to myself
you have no idea how cool you are
and how much of a trendsetter you are
and how much I want to tell your story
and how much I want to photograph you
and your hands and the cuts
that you have on your arms
and this blood, sweat and tears
that you put into this thing
so with that said
I'm just going to try
and by the time you guys see this
who knows
you'll see
many of you might not know this
but away from the recordings that I do in my van studios
I've actually got a digital marketing agency
now we specialize in a lot of automotive clients
but we cover everything really
everything is made up of PPC specialists
SEO specialists
and the most talented designers I've ever seen
which have done work like the Starnagloss website
the TWR website and many more
we've actually just built icon box
for the autoalex crew as well
meaning that people that watch their channel
can buy their favorite merch
seamlessly and in style
so if you're interested in starting a project
and you'd love to speak to us
just tap the link below
and let's hop on a call
magic is in the work that others aren't yet doing
and I think that right there
almost sums up that quote to a T
because it's looking for the places
looking for the shops, looking for the detail
that others aren't necessarily doing
if I come
to this hardback copy
of your book which must be
when I hear stories like
the opportunity of doing what you're going to be doing on Monday
it must actually be hard
to know in these 400 or so pages
when to stop
and say enough's enough
it's time to publish
because your story is ongoing
it's nowhere near over
so is that quite a tough thing to do as well
to be like well this cool thing's going to happen
and this cool thing's going to happen
yeah so
this book is something that I've been dreaming about
it's been something that I've been
thinking about
for a long time
I thought to myself that
hey maybe I had the 10 year mark
I'll do a book
or maybe add a 15 year mark
and then there was one point in time
when I was getting very serious
about making a book
when Ken Block was just doing his
Gymkhana 10
pretty much like the final Gymkhana
I thought to myself ok
once Gymkhana 10 is done
that means that
it's such a
big moment
and it's like a stamp
like a time stamp
in car culture history
like the great Ken Block
is ending this series
and might as well
end my book
with this series
and
for whatever reason I just couldn't get it together
and I'm glad I couldn't
because
I don't think
it was the right time
now I think is the right time
because I'm a big
I'm really big on round numbers
and while
20, 21 years
not so round
but
I just figured
if I don't do it now
when am I gonna do it?
There's meaning in time
can you
pinpoint for me a time in this book
a place in this book
you just mentioned a name that
anyone that's ever been near a steering wheel
and actually cared about it would know
which is Ken Block
he burst onto my TV screen
through top gear sliding
a black car around the streets of London
at the time a Hoonigan mobile
do you have
a point for you in this book
that summarizes where that started
or something really
really impactful
it's tough right
here
smell without a doubt
yeah the smell of fresh print
but smell of fresh print of paper
okay so
that was genuine reaction
genuine reaction
this is my most famous photo
and we're putting this on screen now
for those of you listening
on Spotify you can watch this in video form as well
if you're listening to this through audio
and if you're listening to this through app
I genuinely ask that you go and listen
to this now
like view this now in the pictures that are on screen
because this is jaw dropping
this is my most famous photo
and it was
during the filming of Climb Kana
at Pike's Peak
with Ken hanging two wheels off
at
probably the most famous corner
this is also known as Evo corner
which is where that
Evo 9
went off
and started rolling down the hill
and it was like a big moment in Pike's Peak history
this is
certainly a death defying moment
right if he went off
it doesn't end it just keeps going
and
yeah I was just very
fortunate to be able to
show one and a half that's in the van
as well and everybody through that lens
with your car in the background
because it's
capturing these moments
in so much talent
it leads to the ability of
having moments with things
like your cars behind us
it's interesting because when I think about
photography
when I think about car photography
especially working with somebody like Ken
he's really
helped me
put my images on the map
there's no
other way
for me to get my images
in front of so many eyes
one of
the tasks that I was always
really pushing
hard for
every time I was on set with Ken
or any time I'm on set
with the Hoonigan guys
or shooting Jim Khanna
Travis Pastrana
any time I have
this really important
task of being the photographer
my number one goal is to get that thumbnail shot
you know how important it is
to get that thumbnail shot
that's what's going to make somebody click
on 100 million
200 million
view video
and if you're scrolling the wheel
the moment that you pick the camera up
and you start scrolling your wheel
I'm guessing hundreds of shots of that moment
that must have been taken
this one was special in that
I did a huge panoramic pan of it
and I've told the story before
but
the actual photo is only this big
and what
the rest of it is
is a panoramic
so I just
as I was watching
listening to the radio and predicting
when Ken was going to come around the corner
I kept tiling this panoramic
of 20 or so images
I think it's a little more than 20
but I just I kept tiling
I kept tiling
but I chose not to photoshop
the camera in any way
I showed it the way it was
so you could see B cam is here
my buddy Brandon Cotto
he was holding the camera
for the second angle
the first angle was somebody that was just standing
right in front of me
and the director Brian Scotto was standing behind me
and
when Ken came around this corner
what a lot of people don't see
or a lot of people don't realize
is that he's drifting this way
this corner he flicks it the other way
and I kid you not
he
grazed our shins
maybe two to three feet away from our shins
to make this corner
that's something that you don't see
and I thought to myself
oh my goodness I cannot believe that happened
but when he stopped
I ran over
as fast as I could
you know like a car spotter at Monterey car week
and on the back
of my camera I had this shot
I was going to ask when did you get the chance
to show him that shot and I was imagining
after the paddock maybe a drinks
or something like that I showed him immediately
and that moment where
I showed him and I was so excited
made it onto the Amazon
show which is the Jim Conner
files and it's actually in the
intro because I'm so
excited I'm like
you know I can't believe I got this shot of you
doing this death define thing
yes tea like yeah
exactly
yeah it's
it's crazy
and I think about this all the time
I think when you look into
a crowd of people or when you're
like you mentioned if anybody has
held a steering wheel
as a car enthusiast
they know who he is and they've seen his videos
that means they've seen my photos
so
it's countless
there's no way to know there's no way to know
because of him and because
of all the incredible people that I've worked
with builders
drivers
everybody even mechanics
just people that I've been surrounded
with because of those people
my photos
I don't know
it's impossible to know it's impossible
to know how many people have seen my stuff
we talk about
those words that I mentioned that I asked
people when they come on and that
reputation usually is the one
that people would pick but when you
capture a moment like that and you're talking
about such an inspiring
individual
the word talent comes up again you've used
it so many times in this podcast
like
is it that that also inspires you
to take pictures just being able to witness
the raw
unedited talent of someone
that's able to do that
yeah
I really have to hand it to
I have to hand it to these drivers
even more so
now because now I'm
on the other side
of
really clawing my way up the ladder
trying to make a living
trying to make a name for myself
I'm so lucky that I get to race
and I'm so lucky that I get
to get behind the wheel
which in turn
means that I
get just the little inkling
of how difficult
it was for them
it was so easy
a lot of times in my career
for me to brush it off and say
what the hell why can't
you just hit your mark
we get our pictures we get the best
video ever and then we call it a
day
it's so easy for people to do that
right now when they're watching f1
how could you not see that
you let the guy pass
it was so easy to see or whatever
how could you make that mistake
how could you spin out
oh my goodness
I could not
believe the skill that people like
Ken, people like Travis
people like everybody that
I photograph
Tanner Faust
whomever
Reese Millen, Ken Gushi
all these people that I photograph
Sung Kang
all these people that I
shop from the outside
they have their talent
that's what they do
that is what they do
and that's what they're good at
and it's my job to capture it
and I have so much more respect
for these drivers
so much more
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we've spoken about a moment in the book
that perfectly summarises Ken
and also your relationship
with photography with Ken
and that you're able to share moments like that
can you show me
something in the book that is
by chance because as you said
you've sometimes got to be in the right
place at the right time
to capture the right shot and that's sometimes
standing places outside of ours
staying a little bit later
sometimes people set themselves up for the perfect shot
and it eventually comes
but is there something in this book that also represents
luck
and that ability of being in the right place
at the right time
there is a lot of that
well I imagine with
300,000's a half a million photos a year
it probably is
while I'm looking through this book and I'm
choosing
because it's hard to do that on the spot
sometimes you need to get a picture to actually think
of that was that time
I
I'll explain a little bit about
this book and what it took
to get to this point right so
my estimate
is that I've taken
about 5 million photos
in my lifetime
and
it may be
it's actually a very conservative estimate
because I'm assuming that it's more
especially because I have two
cameras
Canon
1DX
Mark 2
I have two of them
that have over a million actuations on them
each
like on the counter
so
the 5 million estimate
is honestly
probably very conservative
and those cameras were also part of your journey
when you were really ramping forward
your photography and what you were doing as well
because I heard you say you actually got a video
because we talk about so many still
moments
but also your journey, your story has become
about visual moments
about capturing video, about your YouTube channel
about the stories
I just can't, I'm sorry
I completely got off chat by looking at some of these
images because I don't think
what's beautiful about a conversation
sitting down on podcasts and turning our phones off
which none of us do a lot
you sometimes look at something
and you get so much more depth
in your brain to analyse it and to think
about something you don't normally think about
if I could just take the audience just for a second
on a random page
every single one of these pictures
represents
a story
if I said that's a picture
there's a story for you and how many
pictures are in this book
so we tried
our best to keep it to
2500
but it ended up being closer
to 2700
more than 2700
I think it's 2800
I was very
very particular
very careful about choosing
which images I want to
make it into the book
each and every single one
meant something to me
and each and every single one
was the best of a series
so
I'm so glad you mentioned that because
when you flip through these pages
and point at something
that could have been
a week, that could have been a day
that could have been a whole project
but it just got
distilled down to one
image
I think this is a car that I recognise
that's Magnus
and Magnus has sat on that very seat
off at me and I'm lucky enough to been to his garage
and seen the talent
that he also has
for how to make his cars look like that
he wrote
the afterword
for this book
so that's Magnus right there
and that photo
purely sums up Magnus because
I think the word
outlaw when it comes to Porsches
is his Magnuses
we can say he owns that, he's got trademark of it
if everyone wants to use that word
it's a pound and I was lucky enough to have a 911
and it had Fuchs wheels
but they were done in black, it was a 930 turbo
G50, I loved that car
but
it's amazing how an individual can be linked
to a point of a photo
that we see so much and many of
but
I adore him, I love him so much
he's such a great
ambassador
for the culture
and I've just been so
lucky to be able to connect with him
and I told
the story of how I connected with him
in this book
so
405 pages
and honestly
a lot of writing, I'm a terrible
writer, I'm just gonna say it right now
but I tried my absolute best
to do as much writing
as possible, to do as much storytelling as possible
and a lot of stories that I haven't told yet
and it was all
in airport lounges
on the flights
in cars
in transit
waiting for
some event to start or whatever
that's all the free time I had
for this year of me making this book
I sat down
in front of my laptop and I just started banging out words
and
Ryan
from Carrar Media who
who published this book
for me
he
inspired me with
starters
because he interviewed me and I told him
that's Carrar, let's go
from the release of the GTR
and who would have known
15 years later
I would sunset the GTR
for Nissan
and I would do the last pictures of the GTR
there's so many
crazy stories when I
turn the pages and I look at these
honestly I get emotional
because I think about
how much sacrifice and how much time I put into all this stuff
but
I tried my best to write as much as I can
and those who care to
read and to learn about
my story they'll
read it and
the cool thing about this book is it's backwards
chronological
and I did it on purpose so
somebody's flipping through the book
when they open the early pages
they see my best work
they see stuff from 2024
like December of
2024
is like kind of like the star
of the book and then it goes
all the way
to 2004
so it's backwards chronological
yeah you have like Sebastian Loeb here
you have
I don't know just so many
I can't make sure I can read all these pages
out of the audience
or maybe you should do the page number
but
anyways the point is that
I want it to be something where
you see my
work
I guess the D evolution of my work
go from something that
I think
is my best work which is my latest work
because I've
now over 20 years made
my connections
I've developed my skill the technology
is the best it's ever been
the Canon cameras are absolutely incredible
the glass is so good now
and then you keep flipping
and flipping and then you see okay
so now the style
is different right maybe
at one point I talk
about this in the chapters
it wasn't so much about
the beauty and the composition
the colors and the technical
challenge
it was more about
this is this personality
and I had access to this person
and I want to tell the story about
this car
being stuck here or
it crashed here or flipped here
it was more and then it goes
it evolves to like storytelling
it evolves to
here's
what the story is not
a technically good photo
but it's something
that's extraordinary that's happening
you know and on that
a moment for you
of capturing a photo that is
extraordinary might also be
a moment of absolute
sadness for someone else or one of the
worst moments in their life
and that's a really hard thing to balance
do you have a photo that springs to mind
in the book could summarize that
there is one
I'm so glad you mentioned
something like that and I'm like
there's got to take a picture of the page
because I owe it to everybody
I get every one of these pictures on the screen
and I may have to swap the batteries over
in the camera just a minute
first Instagram post
look at that 128 likes
but it's funny some
of the likes look July 27th
2012
24 hours a spa
it was during media check
I was getting my tab art
and
I saw this 12C
parked in the parking lot
and this is the photo that I got
with my Canon camera
and then this is the one that I got
on my phone because I don't know if you remember
back then you couldn't
use other pictures you had to
use the picture that you shot with Instagram
and then you post it
and I thought I myself I would have known that then
but obviously forgot that now yes
and it was square only
what about this photo
if this was one of the early days
what do you look at and love about
and what you look at and hate about it now
I wouldn't have taken this photo from this angle
because the wheels turn to the right
and it annoys me that there's a gap here
so if I were to take this again
I would have gone this way a little bit
and then it would have been cool because like the wheel
is out a little bit
and it gets rid of this gap
a couple other things
I feel like it's maybe a little
underexposed
I also shot it wide open
which makes it a little soft on the
edges but that was
the camera technology back then
I had the best but it was
still lacking compared to what it is now
just like a lot of little things
that I look at and like
I can't believe I did that
AI is having such an influence
in our world now because we're looking at a moment
now a snapshot quite literally
at a time where that wasn't a thing
AI is in
Photoshop
that background that you took
all those images to make a panorama of
you can now ask Photoshop to expand
AI is in the writing
that it's done is in the grammar
that it's done is in the ideas
that it's done it's becoming a weed
it's becoming something
so like electricity that's part
of everything that we do
is there any
AI influence in this book whatsoever
it's honestly my first line
in this book that I wrote
is no AI here
it's the real deal
that's not to say I don't use
AI in my photography
I use it to fix
my mistakes
and I also use it to correct
technology
now
I can finally go back
and fix
photos that were previously unfixable
and you do that
when I say fix
when I say fix
I'm talking about noise
I'm talking about ISO noise
so artifacts
from ISO I'm not changing
the car I'm not changing the color
I'm not adding things
what I am doing is
fixing
the fact that technology
wasn't able to handle this
back then if that makes sense
even though you talk about the
technology was so much passion as well
because of how far it's come during your journey
yeah I mean like you look at
better pictures something like this where I'm shooting
break rotors
in order to
achieve this sort of shot
it has to be dark
and in order to
in order to
in order to achieve
a shot like this I have to bump up the ISO
so much
but then in turn
back then
when you had to bump up the ISO
that also means it had so much noise
so what I'm doing now
I'm finding that I want to go back
and fix the photos that I was never
able to publish
or fix the photos that I always
thought were good and I could
publish it small but I couldn't blow it up
because there was a lot
of problems with it it was just not
perfect yeah see the original
question was
if we could pinpoint
some pictures that show
maybe something that is an amazing
photo for you but someone's
worst moment especially
maybe in that time and even
that page that I've held on now
shows one of those moments I fold
over and this page here
of Kemblok going through
this wall
this is a fake wall
they built this for
Gemkhana 4 this is the
set of Universal Studios
but
let me see if I can find it
but the
whole point is
I don't know what the point was
what were we talking about
could be someone's worst
there is a man on fire
hang on
I love your reaction
to this you know one thing
that you haven't done is you haven't
scrolled
or you haven't flipped the pages
yourself and
it makes me so happy to see
people
look at this book because
we haven't had physical copies
of this for very long maybe
two weeks because the publisher
hand bound this
for us so we can
show it to
people and
you know get in front
of the camera like when you show
other people their pictures and they're excited to have them
yeah exactly this was the same moment
for you so when
we had a chance to see these for the first
time I just
there was so many different
reactions right
if I showed the drivers
they would point themselves down
they're like I remember this I remember that it was crazy
you know and I show
people that put on the events
or I show personalities
it's all a different
reaction and it's so interesting
because what this has become
is a yearbook
like a yearbook
you know when you're in
high school you get a yearbook
and it's all your friends or whatever
this has become a yearbook for car culture
in our generation for the past
20 years
the people that
I encounter
these are the trendsetters these are
the wave makers these are
the people that are
doing something significant
for me to want
to tell their story
here's the picture that I was talking about
it's so small but it means
so much
why
this is the moment
my friend Justin Pollack
is there with his hands
on his face
just so upset because
he knows he messed up
and he
lost the championship
the formula drift championship he lost it
because
of his one small mistake
one entire year's worth of work
just
I wouldn't say thrown away but he just slipped through his fingers
literally slipped through his fingers
because he's the one behind the wheel
he's the one
in the cockpit
controlling this car
and he
after I published this photo way back when
in 2011
he told me I look at that picture
all the time and I think
I don't want to get to this point again
you know I this is what motivates me
to be better
to be a better driver
so that could be one of the most valuable pictures
that's ever been taken for him
I don't know it's crazy because
this is not a technically good picture at all
it's dark you can barely tell
what's happening but
when I originally published it
online and it was like
such a significant
moment it was a storytelling
moment
it made a lot of sense to
a lot of people if that makes sense it's like
this is literally the moment you lost
the championship
people go
their entire lives
now
now that drifting has become like a pretty
well established motorsport
it's what they dream
for it's what they aspire
to do you know it's
it's what they
put their heart and soul into
like what I've put my heart and soul into
these individuals these
gladiators really
put everything on the line
to become formula drift champions
or drift masters
or whatever series
you know so
this is something in their worst moment
really this justin pollock
I feel so at the time I was like
I have to take this picture
but I feel terrible for it
but I'm going to tell the story
and I'm going to document this moment
because that's what I'm here for
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this represents
exactly what you just said
is a moment that
Justin is so horrific at the time
but ends up being something
so valuable to them
if someone had a camera maybe they did
but the moment
for you that was closest
to that head in your hands moment
throughout your journey a moment that you think
is so horrific
at the time and it's tough to come back
from where would what would that have been for you
I feel like I've had
a lot of those moments
I've getting to this journey
I've had
I've made a lot of mistakes I have
and
that's part of it
that's part of learning
I mean I can talk about
I think one of them
is in here if you want to see
I've had a lot of crazy moments
but there's this one that I even talk about
here in this book
I scrolled to it right away
so this page is fun
because
this story
is talking about the time I spent
a night in Chinese jail
so
this
photo
in particular is the last photo
that I got before
this entire mob
chased after me and smashed my camera
yeah
but I talk about the story in here
what
so
at the time I was going to
China
I was going to all over the world
I was traveling all over the world to
photograph drifting, photographing car culture
so this driver who is scratching
his head
was upset
that the judging didn't go his way
right as you know
in drifting it's subjective sport
right
but in the judge's eyes
he didn't win
so he got fourth place
if you notice there's no fourth place
stand
he just happens to
butted his way into this picture
and he was just upset
he was just so upset
that he lost
that him and his whole crew
just started a riot
and pushed this backdrop over
and started
flipping things over
caused havoc
with the officials
and then so
guess what I did
I just started photographing it
I just did what I always do
I took pictures
and then you could kind of tell
what's going on here
guy has his hands on my camera
or my lens
this guy is getting upset
security this whatever
he sees me that camera
cause he sees me getting evidence
of them doing this
thing
and
he says give me my camera
and then I say come get it
and I signal him to come get it
and then him and all of his
entire crew
came to get it
which by the way there's video of this
but that's part of the story
and I started running as fast as I could
away from them
and then it just turns into this huge
dog pile of people
just
grabbing from my camera
punching me, me punching them
I honestly
can honestly say I got some good hits
then okay
honestly I didn't take any hits to the face
I did take some hits
but
I gave some close to it
and I'm not kidding you
say this in the story
but I'm not kidding you I purposely
went for
some individuals crotches
I'm not kidding
I'm not kidding like it's the world
versus me you know
and eventually I was pulled away by the cops
and spent some of my night
in a Chinese jail
exactly so
as this was going on I was there with
Americans right
the American drift team
they were in the stands watching
because if you were eliminated
or if you were part of a team whatever
you're just in the stands watching
like
two of the Americans got second and third right
I think that's probably one of the reasons why he was so upset
because he was beat by
you know one of the American drifters
that came to his home turf
so as this was happening
all the Americans started jumping down
from the stands
like
a big distance
like I'm talking about
like three meters three four meters
jumping down like they're
doing like a human rope
like lowering themselves down
to basically join the fight join the
riot and they all picked up
wrenches from
they had tools
and it was just like this crazy
scene it was insane
and I was the center of it
with this driver
so the police pulled me away
and they put me and the
driver in jail for the night
and the organizers of the event
came and build us out
and all of that story
is captured in these moments do you think
that one of the keys to your success
because we're talking about so many individual
stories because the photos
are triggering those inspiring thoughts
like how did that happen how did that happen
but do you think that one of your keys
to this success of your
story is the fact that you
click the shoot button when maybe
others wouldn't
let me tell you I had this
moment during this
melee
during this fight when
if you could imagine
holding on to something with your life
imagine holding on to
at the time I had a 1D
mark 2N
Canon
with a 17 to 40 lens on it
I still have that lens
today imagine holding
on to this camera for your dear life
and
a mob of people are pulling it out of your hands
and there's literally nothing you can do
to hold on to it and the camera is gone
that moment was
I wasn't really thinking
like oh they took my camera
I was thinking I lost these pictures forever
and then
because the Americans
were coming down from the stands like
God bless them I love them
so much with their
wrenches in hand and
metal pipes or whatever they had
they joined the fight too
and they were able to get the camera back
it was smashed already
you know they like
smashed out on the ground
they were able to get the camera back
yesterday
and then they
there was this moment where they
I didn't talk about this in the story but
there was this moment where they
handed the camera back to me
because like it was
to a point where they were helping enough
where it was like a good fight
they handed it back to me
and I literally handed it back to the person
and I went back to fighting
yeah
not quite that introverted self
well I just had to do
a photography
at the time
I'm not a fighter I'm a lover
this was probably
the biggest fight I've ever been in
and
I'm just glad I had something to show for it
in the end this driver
had to buy me a new camera I think
at the time it was so expensive too it was like
$6,000
back in 2007
but to get on to
the monetary side of things
if I was to flick through this
book and as you said you've done it
the opposite way round you had a phrase for that
what was it called
backwards
chronological
so we started with the McLaren
photo which was
well
so these
the first pages
let's see
Ken
yeah Ken flicking me off there's a lot of that
like the first pages
here
see
like my first ever
like for example like these
with a point and shoot camera
from behind the fence
and even this
this is my first time ever seeing a Nissan
Skyline
and these photos are so bad
and they're just so
like shaky
out of focus
amazing when it's super out of focus
like you said isn't up to scratch
in terms of the paint or the build
or whatever because it makes such a difference
when you see that but it's only when it's been explained
that you know to look but I look
at this and I think to myself
I was so in awe
of what I was seeing
something that I
only saw in video games
and also in magazines
and VHS
was in front of me for the first time
and I freaked out
and now I'm
very very lucky to have one
but that and not just one
one that literally was sat
at the quail
because it's perfect I've been underneath
that car it is I I literally
have a lot of pinch me I must be
Jamie moments and that was
one of them so the story of
that one I
bought it
in Japan and I enjoyed it
as my car in Japan unrestored
for
two years I drove around
all around Japan with my family
and I put about
10,000 kilometers on it
and it was just my daily driver
once it came
to age once it turned 25
years old it was legal to import to the
US I was thinking
okay that's going to come around the corner
I
need to pull the trigger
on a restoration if
if I want it to be
restored right it needs to be
done in Japan so I took it
to graduate Shida who does
the ones for built by
legends they build the mines demo cars
I told myself I need
to do this and I needed to do it
properly and I need to document it
and that's what I did
and we're talking about
a car that was left outside for 25
years it was well taken care of
still the interior was very clean
but it wasn't base
side blue it was fade side blue
and it was very faded
and it was mechanically
sound but it was pretty ugly
especially when I parked it next
to something that was a lot more
well taken care of maybe
it was if I parked next to a car
that was garage you can tell
right away it
was like a light blue
so then I thought to myself
I got to get it restored
get it done right
and we uncovered quite a bit of rust
and I showed all of that stuff
on camera but
now it's all new shock towers
all new
pretty much everything the only thing
that we left alone was
the subframe and that's something that we'll restore
here in the U.S.
but the engine is basically
turned back to zero miles
and it's just stock
stock horsepower
330 horsepower
dyno verified
and it's just something that I enjoy
and I drove it from Los Angeles
to Monterey
and displayed at the quail
dirty brakes and everything
you know completely filthy
after driving maybe
800 miles
and now at the tail end of this
I've put 1200 miles on it
in a week span
so
now I'm actively unrestoring it
but if you could
tell the person who had
their line
removed from their school
photo with a quote on it by the teacher
that you got that car
if you could tell that kid that
what would have his reaction have been about
one of disbelief it's just not a car
it's not just a car
it's something that
is a symbol
and it's significant
and it's
like a milestone
in my life
I think that's what it is
it's something that was so
far it could not be
as far it could
it might as well be
saying
like you could go to the moon or you can go to Mars
whatever maybe one day that'll happen
in somebody's lifetime
but it might as well have been
that for me
because we're talking about a car that was
never meant for US shores
and
so many other factors right
everything
I just never thought
I was just thinking to myself
I just never thought I would get to that point
I never ever
how does one learn to charge
the correct amount of money
to capture
a very special moment
to allow themselves to put themselves
in the position of owning
these cars and living the passion
that you capture through your lens
so that's a great question and that's something
that people ask me almost every day
especially
photographers they're like I don't know
how much to charge
it really comes down
to what your time is worth
supply and demand
it just that's really it
265 days in a year
300,000 photos you can take
so for me
it's about
time but it's also about the story now
right so
I'm lucky in that I get to
choose the stories that I
want to tell
and honestly
so much of what I do now is still for the passion
and I come out of pocket to make sure it exists
I
I keep mentioning Goodwood but
that's a really good example of one where
I
wanted to photograph
this year I wanted to
see what it was like
see the atmosphere
see how it's evolved
because the last time I was there was in 2017
it was a special year
so I thought to myself okay
I gotta go this year I'm gonna pay my own way
and see what happens
and tell stories and get
the best imagery
I physically can get
and just show the world
what this place is like
and what it's like to be there
and so
with events like that
I put in the time I put in the effort
I put in the money to make sure it exists
who knows if I'll come out
positive in the end who knows
I might come out negative I don't really care
the point is that
I was able to do it
and at the end of the day
I was so proud
of the pictures I was able to make
what percentage of photos
in this book
are from paid work
now I think it's
that's a really good question
if I had to take a really educated
guess
I would say probably
80%
wow
it was actually higher than I was anticipating
well
and that's a really slippery slope
when it comes to paid work right
because
what does that actually mean
is it something where
expenses were getting paid
or if I was paid to go somewhere
but I spent an extra day
or my afternoon
to shoot something
that's when it gets crazy right
so because I have such limited time
I always make the most of my time
always
always
when I was in the UK
I was so happy to be able to visit
ProDrive
always loved what they do
so do I
incredible craftsmen
and they're right on for anyone from the UK
that's driving and listens to this podcast on the road
they're right on the side of the M40
I want to say
it's not the M40
I forget the name of the motorway
you literally drive down it and it's on the less
and you go past ProDrive in that building
everyone that knows exactly where that is
peers over to see what is outside
it's next to an aerospace company
it's one of those things where I've driven by it
a couple times now
and every time I thought to myself
I know what's in there
I need to go in there
and this year I was able to make it
happen and
I just have to
make the most of my time
I just had that afternoon
blocked off for that
and no matter where I am
in the world
for example, going to Brunei
I have to stop by in Singapore
that's the only way to get there
which means I'll be
on the ground for this amount of time
maybe I'll visit a shop in Singapore
maybe I'll
end up with some crazy super car
story where
guy dug out the basement of his place
and you never know
and that's the beauty of car culture
it's endless
I can shoot for the rest of my days
every weekend
I can try
but there's endless amount of stories to tell
and there's also the beauty of it
and you agree with me
there's an endless amount of people to listen
and watch and enjoy
we can't
can't make content fast enough
we just can't
there's not enough time
that's the theme of this podcast
it's time
if you were to take your top 10 photos
from the book that you're the most proud of
if you had to
and there'd be 10 different ones every time
but do you think they would be
more from your paid work
or more from times like good word
where you went to something for the passion
and
I think
unfortunately one doesn't come without the other
you have to be able to
pay for it somehow
you have to be able to afford it somehow
I have to be able to
be there at the right time at the right place
let's talk about the back page
this is
a moment
that I will cherish and something that I'm
super
proud of
great
just
moment in time in car culture
this is Raleigh de Catalonia
right
the Spanish Raleigh
and
Ken Block was competing
in WRC
in his fiesta
this stage
called for every single rally car
including
whoever
Sebastian
was still driving around this time
I don't know
but every single competitor had to come in
do a donut around this roundabout
and continue on
that was
what the stage called for
an actual donut
guess what Ken did
he did
an extra donut
he did the donut
and didn't go
he kept going
and then that's when smoke started pouring in
because the tires were really getting heated up
and then that's when everybody started noticing
that oh my god
Ken is doing an extra donut
that's what Ken is known for
doing donuts
so then
this moment in time
he did it for these people
nobody else
what does it matter to him
thousands and thousands of donuts in his life
he's enjoying himself
what's one extra donut
but to these people that waited
here
all day
for this moment
and when I say all day I'll tell you another story about this picture
that is very interesting
this meant
so much to them
and to me
because he did it for them
and when I say all day
because
we have me
and Ken's personal photographer
Ron Zarris
we have a special nickname for this mountain
we call it
poo mountain
and the reason is because there's no toilets here
and literally
there is
human feces
all over this mountain
I'm not kidding
there's nowhere to go to the bathroom
and they have to stay here
and they have to endure this
just to watch this happen
I'm gobsmacked
it's insane
because that's the true automotive fans
I've grown up in such a privileged position
and people think it's privileged maybe
to have the
the box tickets
or the moments that have the best
typically the best view
but do you think the magic is in
the places that the others aren't standing
it's so interesting to me
because
I think this is probably why
even is crap
literally little crap
this is why
I feel like WRC and stage rally
is not big in America because
it's not the cushy
go to a
football baseball stadium
you have amenities
these people are suffering
to enjoy cars and car culture
I suffered
to enjoy this moment
did you suffer when you heard
about Ken's passing
it's probably one of the worst days of my life
I was in Japan actually
driving this car
and
he was going to meet with us
in two days
I was there for Tokyo Auto Salon
and he had a signing session
at Toyotires
at Tokyo Auto Salon
and he was
before that
he was
he was getting on a flight
in two days to go to Tokyo
from that point
and
it was terrible
luckily I was with my family
and
a lot of people close to him
called me right away
when it happened
I was very early
on in terms of finding out this tragedy
it's crazy because
nobody's going to replace him
it's just
impossible
there's always a word as well as the one that I try
and get people to pick that throughout
an episode or a conversation
people keep coming back to and that word is
talent
I don't think there's a better word to summarize
Ken
because he was so
fun of talent
I talk about
him a lot in this book
I talk about early on
meeting with him, working with him
and him giving me a break
and giving me the recognition
I pushed hard
beyond hard
I'm talking about
beyond my physical
limit
and probably
bad for my health limit
for people in this world
and he was one of them
it's fair to say that
it was always the most
for him
because
of what he demanded
from everybody surrounding him
but also
from that came greatness
you know
I'm talking about sacrificing sleep
I'm talking about
sacrificing my body
it's
when I say people
always
when they're watching my youtube videos
or seeing my instagram
when I complain about the suffering
they call me out and they're like
oh come on Larry it's not that bad
you can deal with this
or whatever
I'm talking about
full on
fevers for being sick
hoping out here
obviously that's a little look down upon
now
I would reconsider what I'm doing now
but back then
if I was up
all night with food poisoning
doesn't matter still needed to be there
on time for this moment
or else
it could be
extreme cold
extreme heat
it could be whatever
hell or high water
these pictures need to exist
and that's what we did for Ken
would he take an active role with you in saying
I'm gonna do this
you need to be up there
sometimes
we
Ron and I knew that he was gonna do this
nobody else knew
Ron and I knew
he was gonna do this but we didn't actually know
I think there was some conversation about
if he was within striking distance
of winning the stage
he was gonna scrap it
I think there was some kind of conversation like that
right
and there's always a real chance for him
to do well and win because he was
such a real man
but of course he's also the showman
and
when we saw
maybe he's like third on stage
or fourth on stage we're like
he's gonna do the donuts
yeah there's always stuff like that
and
it's always
his vision
Brian Scotto
the director's vision
of what the perfect picture
could potentially be
and they'll let me know
but I always have my own take
and the fun thing
that I've talked about a lot
is that the Easter egg
when you're watching the Jim Conner films
is to find me in the films because
I may not
be where the camera is
I find my own angle to what I
interpret is the best angle
so that unfortunately means
that I'm in the shot a lot
it's not where's Larry
so I can pretty much point
myself out in most of the
films but a lot of times
they've spent quite a bit of money
I'm so sorry Brian
for essentially photoshopping
of the scene
as we kind of come
to the closing stages of this because
I genuinely can imagine
being here with tea in the morning
coffee in the afternoon
and beer in the evening
with a camera above talking about
stories from every single page of this book
and I would do it because it's
it's bringing to life moments
I don't think there's anything better than
picturing what someone is telling you
I'd say the only other person
even on this trip
to explain the story so well
I've been able to picture the moment
visually from a still
was Jason Kamisa he was brilliant
in telling the story of one of his crash of a cliff
but this is just utterly
fabulous and if someone wants to get
one of these copies how do they do it
so I'm glad you asked
right now
it's available for sale
I think by the
time you guys see this it'll be
widely available
it's on Amazon
and we also
ship worldwide on
kararabooks.com
I think it's Kararabooks.com
I'll leave the links but the links will be
in the description below
to be able to purchase this and when I say
guys and this isn't even a sales paper
if you sit with a drink
or a beer and go through these
pictures and don't just flick and you look
at the detail it will absolutely blow
your mind and it will make you realise
what talent and passion has
gone into every single one of the five size
yeah so it
legitimately took 21 years to build
this book to make this book
and it's
on sale for $125
on Amazon
and also kararabooks.com
and
I hope you guys
if you love cars and car culture
if you grab one of these
I think you'll enjoy it
and
use it as your yearbook
if you're an active person
in car culture right now
and if you have this with you
get the drivers to sign it
you know get Sebastian Loeb to sign it
get
whomever
Romain Dumas
Vin Van Diemeer
and Magnus
tomorrow morning I have Magnus once again
sitting in this van
on camera to sign
the copy of this book
have him sign the afterword that he
wrote
but it brings me
to a close about competition
and competitiveness
because there'll be so many
introverted kids with cameras
listening to this
who you are their hero
and they've listened to how you
physically thought something you probably
never thought you'd do at the time of being
very quiet in school
and how you've pushed yourself to the limit
to achieve the things that you've done
you've also learnt how to charge
you've learnt how to earn
you've learnt how to bring things into your world
that could have only been a dream
and certainly more than a dream to the people around you
with teachers when you were younger
would you ever
happily call yourself
the greatest automotive photographer
of all time
no
I know people say that but
I don't think so
I don't
I don't think it's fair to
automotive photography
do you think that is
that's what I was going to say is that a fair thing to say
or is there photos that capture it
and how would you even judge it
it's a little bit like the competitions and what makes
that individual's books so angry
in that moment because
how would you judge it
it's just tough
there's no way to
say that
it's like saying it's the best pizza in the world
but do you think
if you were to ask all the people
that were present
during the making of the Jim Carna series
to
look at
a thousand pictures
and choose a hundred of them that were the ones
that were just incredible to them
do you think your name would come up more
more often than others
than others
yeah and I think a lot of that
does come down to
what I mentioned earlier
is having the opportunity
is having the chance
I just need
more chances
and that could mean
remote cameras
that could mean
moving around more
that could mean
having the best equipment
so many things
I'm very realistic
I know
in
like I mentioned the hierarchy of photography
I see things that inspire me every day
and that actually makes me so
happy because
there's so many incredible
projects related to cars
and car culture happening
every single day it's almost impossible to keep track
of all of them
the more of them that come out
the more that
that inspire me
the more that I see
the happier I get
because I realize
that it's not just me
it's so many other people like me
pursuing this goal
pushing this hard
for this craft
for this thing that we love
it's the biggest it's ever been
period I mean
thanks to F1
thanks to NASCAR
thanks to cars and coffee
caffeine and machine or whatever
it's
everything it's all of us
as this living breathing thing
enjoying this thing together
for me
the best
photographer thing in the world
it's just
it doesn't matter
it's also impossible
Larry Chen
thank you for joining me on road to success
I appreciate it
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