Foils - Parrish + Lovelace

A short film featuring artist R. Nelson Parrish and custom surfboard shaper Ryan Lovelace’s project FOILS

I produced and shot this short film featuring artist R. Nelson Parrish and custom surfboard shaper Ryan Lovelace’s project FOILS recently. The project was commissioned by the good folks over at Entropy Resins, makers of amazing bio resin.
We shot this at Parrish and Lovelace’s studios in Santa Barbara with a Covid-safe tiny crew and had a good time. Being the two characters they are, we had an entertaining day, including a lunch with Keith Malloy that consisted of a conversation which can only be referred to as unique.
Having documented Parrish and his work for over a decade we hadn’t produced a video/film before except for a vlog type video featuring a project in Berlin, so this was fun!
I’ll let Nelson and Ryan explain what FOILS is all about in the video. Enjoy!

A big thank you to all involved and especially Entropy Resins for making this possible!

Carey Hart for EasyRiders Magazine

A short film featuring Carey Hart for EasyRiders Magazine

Earlier this year, before Covid-19 had arrived, I did a production for EasyRiders Magazine featuring Carey Hart. This project was a stills and video combo. Stills aren’t released yet but I am happy the video is, so check it out below!

Many Thanks to the team at EasyRiders, Tate Larrick and of course Carey Hart and his team!

R. Nelson Parrish in Berlin

Vlog about a project of R. Nelson Parrish at Dreilinden outside of Berlin, Germany

During a recent trip to Berlin I met up with artist R. Nelson Parrish to document a project he had been formulating for a little while.
Enjoy this vlog of the two of us doing our thing in Berlin.

NASCAR at Auto Club Speedway

NASCAR - photographing and vlogging a racing series like no other

NASCAR at Auto Club Speedway

I am a portrait photographer. I photograph people. Most of the time in a studio setting. Controlled lighting, background, props. But then I also travel quite a bit and shoot editorial stories for magazines. I have been all over the world to shoot editorial stories and photographed while riding an elephant, 60 miles off the coast on a fishing trawler, hanging off a vertical cliff, while having food poisoning, underwater, the list goes on…

So naturally I am interested in the story. I try not to decide what to photograph based on my opinion on the subject matter. Actually, let me rephrase. If anything, I like to explore topics I either don’t know much about or have an opinion on which isn’t based on first person experience. If you really want to learn about a topic dive into it and experience it.

Queue NASCAR.

Through a close friend I was invited by Aric Almirola to watch the 2019 race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. Full access to the pits and drivers area. This is how you go experience something you don’t know much about. Now, full disclosure: I had been to a NASCAR race before, in Sonoma. But this one was a track and not an oval. (Yes, both are in California and both are NASCAR races…).

So what did I learn? Well, you can watch the video linked in this post to follow along. Otherwise what I can tell you is that the viewer demographic is rather narrow. And it is what you would expect.

Aric Almirola at Auto Club Speedway in 2019

But there is something else I noticed here and also the first time I went in Sonoma. NASCAR is a racing series that operates like it is the 1970’s. While Formula 1 cars and teams are run by technology stock cars aren’t. They fuel the cars during pit stops by gravity fed canisters and they don’t have much data on the car while it is on the track. What this means is that the driver is mostly responsible to deal with the car. Driving as well as communicating how the car feels and if something may need adjusting in the pits. I call it out in the vlog, it’s good old driving. No readings on the screen in the pits and then a command on how to drive. The driver actually has to feel it out and do it. (Now going around an oval, which is the large majority of events probably doesn’t require as much input as a regular track but I wouldn’t know that… I can only assume. And assumptions can be dangerous.).

Aric Almirola taking off after a pit stop at Auto Club Speedway in 2019.

Sooo… what did I take away from actually going to a race and experiencing it myself? It’s a lot of things that you have to go experience for yourself. You reading my account is just like reading any other. My point with this whole post is that to really learn about something you actually just need go experience it first hand!

You should still watch the video. Do it! It’s fun! It’s entertaining! It’s NASCAR!!!