We all have to start somewhere, be it wrenching, painting, playing sports or, even worse, taking photos. March '03 was my first truck show as a staffer and, although it was in beautiful Santa Maria, California, I quickly learned the setting cannot take the photos for you.
Unfortunately, this on-the-job-training came at a cost that still haunts me almost four years later. Sick GMC Syclone owners Louis Robert of Brea, California, and David Chooey, of San Ramon, California, were to be my first ever feature truck shoots. I had beautiful weather, beautiful trucks, and a loaner camera, thanks to Senior Tech Editor Bob Ryder. To say I was unfamiliar with his film Canon A-1 was to say I could drive an Indy car after my tricycle training. During these four years, these images you see here have firmly rested at the bottom of our feature file because of my poor photos from that show. I'm here now to say: Dave and Louis, I'm sorry-but, here are your trucks in the mag.
I've learned a great deal in my nearly four years in the magazine business. Three important things that have stuck with me are: thank the ones who got you there, keep close the ones who've helped you along the way, and always help the newcomers who fill the shoes you once walked in.
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