In 2021 I walked away from my day job to do this for real. No plan B, no safety net, just a camera, a garage full of ideas, and way too much caffeine. Black Tire Media started as one person trying to make better car photos, and somehow turned into a full service automotive creative agency.

These days I work with BMW on a contract basis, and I have been lucky enough to shoot for names like Hoonigan, Toyo Tires, Discount Tire, Barrett Jackson, Avery Dennison, Wheel Pros, and Holman. That work has dragged me all over the country: dealer lots at sunrise, desert trails at sunset, rally stages in the rain, and studio bays at 2 a.m. I would not have it any other way.

The work I am most proud of is composite photography. Every final image is built from a bunch of separate frames, each one lighting a different panel or detail on the car, then layered together by hand. It takes forever. It is obsessive. But when it is done right, the photograph just feels real, even if a dozen separate shoots went into it.

My favorite shoots are still the messy ones. Rally cars covered in mud. Trucks buried to the axles on a trail. Overland rigs parked somewhere with no cell service. That is where a vehicle actually shows its personality, and that energy bleeds into everything else I shoot.

I also love teaching this stuff. The plugins, the presets, the long winded breakdowns, the random messages from photographers trying to figure out lighting. It is all become part of the business. Nobody handed me a roadmap for any of this, so if I can save someone else a year of trial and error, I am going to.

Black Tire Media is not a big agency with a fancy office. It is a network of independent creatives across the U.S. who are good at what they do and easy to work with. Commercial photography, commercial video, event coverage, creative direction. If it involves the auto industry, we can handle it at a level that holds up next to the biggest brands in the space.