Dusty Times - Issue 05

At Custom Wheel House we embrace the spirit of competition with a thirst to succeed.

We test ourselves by looking beyond what we thought possible in every endeavor. Our aim is to engineer products, collaborate with partners and share an authentic story with our customers at the highest levels, and it is not enough to merely hit the mark. It must be the top step of the podium, the biggest trophy, the best in the business. Innovative ideas combined with precision execution is our strategy for victory and the parallels to competitive motorsport are no coincidence. In order to supply supreme products to pinnacle teams and provide meaningful partnerships to race promoters, we draw upon the insight only provided by being participants ourselves. Our genuine devotion to these endeavors is a direct reflection of our integrity.

In this fifth issue of Dusty Times we celebrate the passion of competition and those that compete with words of encouragement usually reserved only for moments when maximum throttle is necessary: Go. Like. Hell.

Jaynes

McMillin

Parrish

John Naderi

Everyman For Himself (Page 51)

John spent his formative years in Southern California’s San Fernando Valley, alternatively lifting ‘80s Toyota trucks ridiculously high and slamming them impossibly low. Helping feed his passion for everything and anything on wheels, he grew to become an accomplished, award-winning multimedia innovator, working with some of the largest brands and influencers in the automotive space. These days, he’s more concerned about how to cram his gravel bike, surfboard, and bed into a converted 4x4 van in order to live his best hipsteror-homeless life.

Drew Martin Charming Survivor (Page 25)

Drew uses the camera not just as a creative tool for his career, but a vessel in which to “hawg all the fun.” This is probably why his imagery evokes a longing feeling in his audience to be a part of whatever is being captured.

Happiest in the dirt or salty water, Baja and the Sierra are two places he prefers to find himself most. This makes Southern California the ideal spot for home base where he lives with his wife, son, and dog.

Always down to take the cruising long way, or the much harder shortcut. Either way he’s going to have a dusty smile behind the lens.

WESTx1000 (Justin W. Coffey & Kyra Sacdalan)

Semi-Charmed Life (Page 77)

Conceived in a coin-op laundry room in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, what started as an excuse to ride dirt bikes in Baja has become a portal into the lives of two authors, photographers and cultural bloodhounds. Whether they’re documenting the infamous Baja 1000 off-road race, crossing the country on a pair of Indian Scouts, investigating Japan’s eclectic motorcycle culture, or riding their dual-sports from Barstow to Vegas, the idea stays the same…

“You don’t listen to anybody who hasn’t done exactly what you want to do.”

Dave Shively

Stopping Speed (Page 9)

Dave Shively is an award-winning journalist who serves as the Content Director for TEN: The Enthusiast Network’s Paddlesports Group. As the longtime managing editor of Canoe & Kayak and senior editor of SUP magazine, Shively established a respected voice

in the sport by grounding unique profiles and travel narratives in paddling experiences documented from Nunavut to New Orleans. The Colorado-bred, California-based writer won a 2017 Folio Eddie Award for ‘Healing Waters’ (Canoe & Kayak, Winter 2016), a series of veteran profiles exploring PTSD and the transformative power of the outdoors. He lives in San Clemente, California.

STOPPING SPEED

Staying ahead of the world’s toughest racers to capture immortal moments takes serious self-taught talent, a whole lot of drive, and endless organization in between. Marian Chytka is not slowing down.

Words Dave Shively Photos Marian Chytka

For Marian Chytka, it’s not about holding the camera and making it go click.

Booked for commercial and event racing shoots back to back to back—Paris to Tokyo to Morocco—it’s not just field production by day and photo processing by night. In any other spare moment, Chytka must dial in every detail for the annual centerpiece of his stacked schedule: The Dakar Rally.

“It’s about everything before,” says Chytka, speaking during the only September downtime that the endlessly in-demand photographer will have in the next two and half months: the airport terminal shuffle en route to his Paris departure gate.

To properly prep for the early January event, which crisscrosses

Saudi Arabia west to east in 14 stages, his vehicle needs to be ready by november to ship from Marseille to Jeddah. Storage for computers, power banks, extra generator, overnight camp gear in separate custom boxes, plus all the basic safety requirements of full roll cage, harnesses, and race seats: Every inch needs to be accounted for in the Land Cruiser that gets him off the tarmac and onto the course, which he insists on taking off-road himself to access the right photo locations. (“I need to be responsible if something goes wrong,” he says, “we get stuck in the sand, too.”) He’ll rent another support 4x4 to run stage to stage on the tarmac, which only adds to the logistical chess that is directing a team of six, chasing the rally, covering and editing images for over 50 clients a day, shooting each on course plus lifestyle imagery at the next bivouac arrival point.

“The more effort it takes to organize,” he says, “the more rewarding it is when you are there at sunrise in the dunes—you see the first bike and get the photo.”

When Chytka first got hooked on the experience of creating that perfect image, it came without all the baggage. Growing up in the Czech Republic, photography was just a hobby until his brother Viktor (still a perennial top-10 Dakar co-driver with Martin Prokop) invited him to shoot his car at the 2010 Dakar in South America. There were no 3 a.m. wakeup calls, no expectations from big-ticket clients like Audi or Monster Energy, no pressure. Just one car to shoot and Argentine steak for dinner.

Chytka gave himself two years to make a go of it as a professional lensman. He already had a degree in law to fall back on if the career never launched. His self-taught skills took quick hold, especially on social media in 2011, where rich imagery fed Facebook well during its rapid expansion. The sudden footprint (@mchphotocz) led to DMs from random brands and a handful of travel opportunities that only kept linking and leading to bigger opportunities beyond.