Matthew Harris of Dagmar Customs

Meet Matthew Harris, owner of Dagmar Customs.  He specializes in building custom hot rods and restoring classic automobiles.  With all the metal fabrication that Matthew does in the process, his shop is filled with all sorts of really cool looking machinery.  All that equipment served as the backdrop for today’s portrait.

Matthew and some very heavy equipment

Matthew and his 1951 Mercury

Hand-built running boards and fender for a classic fire truck restoration

Luis Loyola

Today, I visited my friend, Luis Loyola.  He is the owner of Loyola Auto Interiors in El Segundo and a serious car guy.  I met him years ago while surfing El Porto where he is a regular.

For today’s 365, I stopped by his shop and took a photograph of him and his trusty sidekick, Charlie – a talking African Grey parrot.  He says all sorts of funny things.  When Luis is ready to head off to lunch, Charlie often says, “Taco Time”, which is the name of a nearby quick service Mexican restaurant.  When Luis grabs his keys to head home for the day, Charlie will say, “Bye.  Tomorrow.”

I’m sure that as the year progresses, you’ll be seeing more pictures of some of Luis’ classic cars, but these will have to do for now.  Bye.  Tomorrow!

Luis Loyola in front of his latest project car

Charlie, an African Grey Parrot

Charlie performing for the camera

Damian Fulton Portrait

I had the distinct pleasure of photographing Damian Fulton about 5 months ago.  Not only is Damian an amazing artist (I’m a huge fan of his), but he is one of the nicest guys you could meet.  I’ve gotten to know Damian over the past several years because he is an El Porto surfer.

Damian lives a beach lifestyle, but it’s a beach lifestyle in one of the busiest metropolitan cities in the world (Los Angeles, that is).  Damian’s surf art is all about the juxtaposition of beach life and the trappings of an urban environment.  I wanted to capture that same vibe in a portrait of the artist.  The red and white smokestacks in El Segundo appear in many of Damian’s paintings and I felt that doing a beach portrait with the smokestacks in the background would provide the visual tie between the artist and his art.

I shot the following image using my Sinar P 4×5 on Fuji Neopan 100 black and white film.  I used Photoshop to combine the image with a scan of a glass plate negative to give it the old film feel.

Damian Fulton Portrait