Hometown Connections

Growing up in the East Bay, I have had my fair share of living the high life. Cars, Women, High-End Restaurants, and everything in between. I quickly realized, that it wasn’t for me. I liked things that had meaning, and not just a dollar sign behind them. I’m not knockin’ the people who value these things, just stating that is just isn’t for me. I loved where I grew up, made some great friends, learned a lot and made a lot of memories. Going to high school, I had my ups and downs, but I came out with a lot of connections that made it worth it. I met a friend, her name is Nikki Gray, she was a grade below me, didn’t talk much, until about a month ago. We both were on the same path career wise, and thought we should work together. She is a   student at FIDM, and for those of you that don’t know, that is a Fashion Institute. We linked up, put some ideas together and came up with this.

Good Friends & Clutch Cars

After working a lot with the car blogs, and really getting to know the scene, I have developed a lot of solid friendships. Getting to know people with a common interest and such a strong passion for cars, to me, has been something I won’t take for granted.. I have met a lot of awesome people, and made some really close friends. My buddy Jon Jon, US Airforce, was in Vallejo one day, and I was driving through on my way to a photo shoot on Mare Island. I saw him on the side of the road, didn’t have time to stop.. So I contacted him through Facebook and set up a quick shoot. Not knowing these pictures were going to go all over the net, I really jsut wanted to shoot his car. Fresh new paint job, fresh new kicks, and a whole new front end, I knew I had to shoot it.

A little history on the location of the shoot:

As the first United States Naval installation on the west coast, Mare Island and the now closed Mare Island Naval Shipyard have seen it all. From canvas to coal to oil to nuclear power, from sailing ships to steamers to nuclear-powered submarines, Mare Island has played an important part in American, Naval, and Vallejo history.

The military history of Mare Island began on January 4, 1853 when the United States purchased the island for $83,491. In September of 1854, Commander David Glasgow Farragut and his family arrived on the island. Farragut had been sent west to personally oversee the building of a navy yard in support of the Pacific Squadron.