I went to the 2009 JEGS Engine Masters Challenge in Ohio earlier this year to shoot some video and photography for Mobil 1 Racing oils. They had these hero cards out featuring my photography at Performance Racing Industry (PRI) this month in Orlando, Florida. Jason Small grabbed some for me at the Mobil 1 booth and they look fantastic. My photograph of BES Racing Engines had a great feature photography I took above with their LS7 that made 719hp all motor.

Before Baywatch and the pollution was a very crowded Venice Beach. This photo was linked on CurbedLA and I had to post it. I have been on a vintage Los Angeles kick lately and this was a great moment in time. I cannot believe the beach was this packed back in the 20’s. It looks like less people in Los Angeles had jobs back then compared to now.

While reading the LA Times today I learned that 40 miles of Angeles Crest Highway is closed indefinitely due to the Station Fire. Just before the fires I took out this 2009 Scion tC RS 5.0 for a photo shoot and drove around half of the highway. I hadn’t been up the highway and up Mount Wilson since December 2004 when I came to visit for JGTC. With the whole area closed down for quite a long time I am glad we captured the area in it’s beauty before the fires attacked it.

According to Caltrans the reason for the long road closure isn’t from the pavement being damaged but the fires have ruined guardrails, street signs, and the road stripping. Lucky we took the Scion tC up when we did because I am guessing the road will be closed close to the rest of the year. Anyone that has any recommendations for any other roads I can use to shoot on in Northern/Western Los Angeles I would love to hear suggestions.

You can check out my review of the Scion tC 5.0 Release series over in our Road Trips section of Wrecked Magazine. I know next month we will be testing the new Nissan 370z for our website so stay on the lookout for that hitting the Road Trips section as well.

Currently over 35,000 acres have been destroyed north east of my house in Los Angeles near Mount Wilson and on Angeles Crest Highway. Driving home from Walnut yesterday you could see the insane smoke clouds looming on the mountain range.

I wanted to go explore and snap some photographs since this is my first big Los Angeles fire during my nine months living here. Instead, I spent the morning combing the Internet and found some amazing photographs from the fires as they burn. I cannot really see much from my house due to Laurel Canyon and the Hollywood Hills. Here are some great photographs that will leave you speechless.

Check out the fires in Los Angeles proper as well out by the ocean. These are pretty crazy as well!

We are finally making our trek back down the 1,200 mile Pacific Ocean/West cooridor back into Los Angeles. With a late afternoon start we headed down Washington and somewhere in Woodland, WA we spotted this old barn off the highway and went out for a photoshoot. The local police were not as keen as we were on the idea and we got escorted back to I-5 and moved on to Portland, OR. We stopped at Rogue Ales Public House in downtown Portland for a quick bit which is where I am blogging from now.

The snap I took was a photo I was able to get off before the police ruined our great shooting location. Stay tuned to my page and the main blog where you will find much more information on how much I am loving the Hyundai Genesis and how fun our 2,000 mile trip up the west coast has been.

Wallpaper Version of the Barn Hyundai Genesis Photo:

http://www.wreckedmagazine.com/images/joeyredmond/hyundai.barn.wallpaper.jpg

So over Thanksgiving I moved out to Los Angeles with the rest of the Wrecked Magazine/PM Lifestyle staff. After a temporary place we moved into this place here in Los Angeles. Above is our kitchen with some sweet Formula D bar stools.

This is a photograph from the front door. You can see our living room area and the kitchen. You can see our Yankee Stadium New York City subway sign above my bedroom door.

Falken Tires held an auction earlier this year and we have had his D1GP Championship door in our living room for a few months now. A great piece I am glad we scored at the auction.

Here is our magazine collection sitting in our kitchen. We have quite a collection from Wired, Fast Company, Inc., Maxim Magazine, Transworld, Skateboarding Magazine, GQ and a ton of different car magazines.

Here are some of our Japanese magazines out on display including a recent Drift Tengoku.

These are some old school publications featuring drifting. It is the original print of Drifting Magazine from APG with Ken Gushi on the cover. The other magazine is Andy Williamson’s old book C-16 with Ryan Sage and Jim Liaw on the cover in 2004 back when Formula D was brand new.

Here are some Road & Track magazines from over a decade before I was born. A nice and cheap ebay find.

Here is a collection of Maxim Magazine bindings from years ago (back when the magazine was thick enough to print on the binding).

Here is a small sample of our video games from Nintendo 64, PSP, JDM Playstation 2, Playstation 3, and Xbox 360. Gotta love Crusin USA and WCW/NWO Revenge.

Here are two photos from the common area of the apartment. The top one is our laundry/front door area of the apartment.

Here are two snapshots from my bedroom. The second picture is my editing Mac and my great Reebok yoga ball.

On Sunday before SpoCom I met up with Steve Goldfield who drove this Maserati Gran Tursimo S on the 2009 Gumball rally. We did a Gumball driver profile with him at our sister website www.luxuryvice.com. We shot the car right by my house on Sunset Blvd. at the old Sunset Beach location. After a quick shoot I was off to SpoCom which you can find here on Wrecked Magazine http://www.wreckedmagazine.com/blog/2009/06/15/spocom-2009-gallery/. A busy Sunday that ended up with us watching the NBA Finals at Smooth’s in Long Beach as the Lakers took home the championship.

Well the Gumball 3000 is over and sad to say I wish I was still on the open road with 120+ cars driving somewhere. Next year’s rally seems so far but I am going to have to make it from rally to rally it looks like. If you want photograph overload of my work you can visit www.luxuryvice.com for thousands of my photos I took on the Gumball 3000 rally. If you want to hear my story in detail check out www.speedhunters.com for my diary of the rally. Below I just posted up 10 photos I really loved from the Gumball 3000 so check it out.

Full Resolution of the LMP2 Mazda Vehicle

The American LeMans series is an entertaining one to follow through the year. I grew up just an hour away from the amazing Petit LeMans at Road Atlanta round of ALMS. Above is one of the LeMans cars I am most familar with is the LMP2 class Mazda. Thanks to the guys over at Mazda I got to see one of their LeMans effort machines at a BP station in downtown Los Angeles last year and got to hear about the new 2009 program at their motorsports luncheon (where we got free In & Out).

Full Resolution of the LMP2 Lowe’s Acura

Full Resolution of the Falken Tires Porsche and XM Radio Acura

Our partners at Wrecked Magazine Falken Tires brought out their Porsche to do battle at ALMS which is a very exciting venture for all of our friends in Fontana at the Falken office. Here is a photo I snapped as the XM Radio Acura prepared to overtake the Falken Porsche in Turn 10. The XM Radio Acura is in another class and the pass did not change the Porsche class position.

Full Resolution of the Piloti Ford GT

Full Resolution of the Chevrolet Corvette Battle

This was the best battle I watched take place during the whole Streets of Long Beach event. These guys really duked it out for several laps and I thought the black Corvette had it in him.

Full Resolution of the Ferrari ALMS Car

I saved the best for last, this is my favorite photo of they day by far as the Ferrari soars around turn 10. The framing and detail on the race birm really make this shot gorgeous. The focal depth and bright orange cones make it one of my favorite race photos I think I have taken in some time.