Owners Manual
Issue 2
February 2020
Horse and Pony Show See the full spread of this beautiful GT500 inside!
Event Coverage
Concourse In the Hills
Person of the Month
Barney Lott Car Club Feature
Muscle Mayhem Themed Photoshoot
Smoke and Mirrors
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The annual “Concourse in the Hills� event, held in scenic Fountain Hills, Arizona, brings together car lovers, vendors, collectors, spectators, and general lovers of beautiful sights and sounds. Surrounding the entire man-made lake, the center of which is a fountain ranked among the tallest ever built, are hundreds and hundreds of exotic, rare, loud, and gorgeous cars of every year, make, model, and color.
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This time of year is the best time to be an Arizonan. We are reminded exactly why we deal with four months of summer brutality, because in exchange we get six months of amazing weather. The bright blue skies brought the colors of the cars to life, with the air still cool enough to comfortably walk around all day enjoying the views. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the fountain, which is powered by three 600 horespower turbines.
The spread of vehicles on display during this event was vast and varied. Rows of classic American cars, legendary imports, Italian stallions, British beauties, race cars, and even military vehicles (including helicopters) greeted attendees. Food and drink could be had at one of the multiple food vendors, and live music was also provided. I walked around the entire lake twice, spending a good five hours mirin’, laying down in the grass and dirt, and waiting for a split second break in the heavy foot traffic to snag the cleanest pictures I could. 33
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The entire history of the fountain, as well as the community itself, is available on the town’s home page. I would highly recommend checking it out for anyone who is even remotely interested in this town’s history. I learned a lot and have come to appreciate the town more. This festival is an annual tradition, so you’ll have more chances to see these amazing machines in the future.
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9 9 4 t ou b a d ke e a e t n o l l t You’ nds e i r f r . u y o n y o p of s i h t on
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“My name is Terry Leamon 45 years old, I’m a retired Railroad Engineer of 20 years for CSX Railroad. I was born and raised in South East Tennessee, in the small town of Etowah at the foothills of the Smokey Mountains between Knoxville and Chattanooga.”
I moved to Arizona in 2015 to Partner up in a Plumbing Business with my Wife, Brother and Sister In-law. My Wife Creea and I have a Beautiful Family of 8 children, a Son in-law and Grandson. We also have two dogs.” “The car is a 2008 Shelby GT500. I have always been a car/motorcycle enthusiast, and love all makes and modesl, but my life-long passion has been Mustangs. I have owned several different models in the past, from Fox Body to NewGen and now one of my dream cars, the Shelby GT500.
Like all car guys, I have big plans for the car. I bought the car used with 36k miles on it. It was untouched and bone stock, with approximately 500hp to the crank and 440hp to the rear hweels. As of the shoot with Adam, the car had just minor upgrades; JLT CAI, 1” 7/8 Kooks Headers with a full custom 3” exhaust and custom H pipe from @wickedwrenchaz, with fr500 mufflers and a custom tune. 8
The car is lowered 1 1/2” with BMR springs nad give it the stance it needed but I was still not happy with the overall appearance so I made the decision to get rid of the factory SVT wheels and invest in a new set of 50th Anniversary Shelby Super Snake Wheels. 20x9.9 in the front and 20x11 in the back, coated with CeramicPro by @rakkasanmotorsports. The wheels are wrapped in Michelin Pilot 4S tires, and the car finally has the look it deserves. What a difference it made!
“My life long passion has been Mustangs”
“The car finally has the look it deserves”
50th Anniversary Shelby Super Snake Wheels
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a Lott of talent
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Everyone, meet Barney! My name is Barney Lott, and I’m from Bellflower, CA. A super small city in LA county!
How long have you been doing photography and how did you get into it? I’ve been doing photography for 6 years now. I picked it up while I was in film school actually. A classmate/friend(Trey) of mine used to lend his camera to people in our class and one day I decided to ask him to use his camera and he said yes. The rest is history! If he had said no I never would’ve given it a shot so it’s funny how it worked out. So shoutout to Trey!
What are your favorite subjects and locations to photograph? My favorite is definitely landscape photography and anything that has to do with golden hour. I love warm tones and to get them naturally is the best! I like to create a nomadic, wanderlust type of feeling in my photos because I’m always wanting to be somewhere else.
What plans do you have for your Photography? I definitely want to have a functioning photography business in the future. Since I’m still new to AZ I’m kinda starting from ground zero but I’m excited for the journey honestly! 10 14
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What advice would you have for someone who is interested in gettings started with photography? Don’t worry about equipment too much in the beginning. Use what you have, it’s not a competition. Shoot every single day even when you don’t feel like it. Give yourself photography challenges to do so you’re constantly progressing with it. Google and YouTube are your best friends when it comes to photography questions. Haha they’re still my best friends to this day! Try your best not to pay too much attention to what other photographers are doing as far as accomplishments and things like that. Your time will come. Also, respect the process. Your skills won’t develop overnight so don’t try to rush it.
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Muscle Mayhem 19
Muscle Mayhem is a small but loyal car club just recently founded. Focusing, as the name suggests, on American muscle cars, their ranks currently consist of two Challengers and one Mustang. I asked the President of the club about their beginnings.
Adam, the President of the club; I wanted to get some photos done of my car. I came across a few photographers and there was one that I had seen that had Joes car on the Instagram page. I reached out to Joe (the Vice President) and asked about the photographer. Once I got my photos done I reached out to Joe again and thanked him and asked if he would be interested in doing a joint photoshoot. We eventually met up and became friends. Joe and I did a few more photo shoots together. After one particular shoot I asked him about the car club he was in and he expressed interest in joining a different club. I kicked around the idea of creating our own club and he was very receptive to the idea. From there we created a name, a logo, a shirt design and we put together all of the ideas that we wanted to do for our club. At this time we have three members but we will be adding 4 additional members in the near future. I would tell anyone interested in joing us to talk to members. Hangout with club to make sure it is what you want. All clubs are different and that is ok because people are different. Our club is definitely open for recruitment. 14 20
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We like doing a little bit of everything from car shows to hanging out at someone’s house. If anyone is interested in getting to know us and seeing if they fit in, we contact options on our Instagram page (@muscle_mayhem_cc). We are a family friendly club that likes cars. We accept American Muscle style cars. My favorite thing about my car is how it is stock but still grabs attention. I do plan on changing some things up but I’ll keep that hush hush for now.
Joe;
My favorite thing I’ve done to the car would definitely be the graphics! Even though most would thinks it’s the vertical doors lol. The future mod I’m most excited for is the newly designed beast that is currently in the works! No more nice Beast it’s time for the gnarly bad Beast to come out and play!
Brian;
Joe and I were in Arizona Car Enthusiasts a while ago. I saw he was tagging Muscle Mayhem and asked him about the club. The club is a great group of guys. We have a lot of fun together and it feels live we’ve known each other a long time, even though we haven’t. I love my car’rs power, the noise, and the new GT500 front end [not pictured here...yet]. I just want to stare at it all day.
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Adam
President
Joe
Vice President
Brian
Member
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Welcome back to the section where the happiest jar in all the land provides us with next month’s audience-suggested theme! Last month we drew the theme of Smoke and Mirrors. The theme for March will be Dia de Los Muertos!
Stay tuned for next month’s issue where I will release the full spread of this photoshoot. And if you have an idea or theme you’d like brought to life, let me know on Instagram @adamkiss.photography or at adam@adamkissphotography.com! Now please enjoy Smoke and Mirrors! 26
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This theme has been on my mind for a long time now, so when I drew it from the Idea Jar month I was mad excited to finally have an excuse to bring it to life. The old saying “Smoke and Mirrors” is a euphamism for trickery or craftiness, so it only seemed right that we create a wizard costume to embody this feeling.
This was my first time working with Angela, and it was a great experience! She showed up on time, was supre friendly and helpful with the setup, and the outfit we created together looked perfect. Trel, the car owner, is someone I’ve worked with before, and this photoshoot with his car was just as great as the first one. Not only did he come through and provide the vehicle for this theme on short notice, but he also helped with setting up the huge mirrors, loading and unloading props from the truck, and just providing positive vibes throughout the entire event. He even brought proper glass cleaner, which worked embarassingly better than the vinegar I was using to try and clean the 6 foot mirror. As usual, my amazing mom was right there helping the entire time, moving mirrors and grabbing rocks to hold them up. Her and my stepdad actually provided the mirrors we used, even letting me take their bathroom mirrors down for the photoshoot... they’re very patient and supportive people.
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The location for this shoot was a road leading to nowhere. More accurately, it leads to an unbuilt community that hasn’t been touched in the 15 years that I’ve known about it. On this day, however, the property owner happened to be holding open houses for potential land owners... just my luck! But fortunately he was understanding and let us wrap up our shoot. Once the smoke bombs went off, a police officer showed up as well, but he also just let us be, shout out to him. All in all I’m incredibly happy with the turnout. We did break one of the large 6-foot mirrors, but the other five were unharmed! And the final images are some of my favorites. The bold, vibrant colors and unique angles we were able to capture with the mirrors are super unique, and I also had a chance to practice my multiplicity skills (taking multiple shots of a subject and then making it appear as though they are in multiple places at once, as seen on the double spread at the beginning of this feature).
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Behind the Scenes
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