Rich Truesdell is a Southern California-based automotive photojournalist whose work has appeared in Motor Trend Classic, Octane, Mercedes Enthusiast, and most recently Total 911 where the current issue (#100) carries his interview with Porsche racing legend Hurley Haywood.
Last week Rich launched a new project on the crowd funding website Kickstarter, a photo book that covers 50 Porsche 911s, from the very first 1964 Type 901 to the latest 2013 911 GT3. The working title is “Porsche’s 911: A 50th Anniversary Album”. To fund the anticipated costs of renting a fully-equipped automotive photo studio over three weekends in June and July, Rich has established a page on Kickstarter. Here Porsche and 911 enthusiasts can back the project by pledging anywhere from $5 to $1000. In exchange, small backers will have their names listed in the front-of-book acknowledgements, while those who donate $25 and up can choose from receiving one of the first copies of the book, all the way to participating in a professional photo shoot that will result in your Porsche featured as part of the subject matter.
FLATSIXES.com Spoke With Rich About the Project
“The opportunities to place features in magazines is increasingly difficult over the past several years so I’ve turned to self-publishing niche books using Amazon’s CreateSpace self-publishing platform. Thus far I’ve published four books. Three cover the Amelia Island and La Jolla Concours d’Elegances as well as a book on the Fabulous Fords Forever! show last month. The fourth book is on the one-off 1967 Jaguar Bertone Pirana Coupe. All are available on amazon.com and the Jaguar book has sold over 300 copies worldwide,” said Truesdell.
“With this being the 50th anniversary of the launch of the Type 901 at the 1963 Frankfurt Motor Show and with there being so many 911s here in Southern California, I wanted to see if I could pull together a project to photograph a representative example of each year of 911 production, from 1964 to 2013. With the guidance of several well-known members of the Southern California 911 community I launched the project last week on Kickstarter.com in the hope of raising $7,500 to cover the anticipated costs of renting an automotive photo studio.”
“Personally, I prefer shooting in a studio environment where each car can be cleanly photographed in exactly the same way (profile, front- and rear-three-quarter views, a shot of the engine compartment as well as the interior) showing the evolution, page-to-page, of the iconic 911 over the past 50 years. But some Porsche enthusiasts, like Freeman Thomas (who started his career at Porsche AG in 1983 and is currently Director, Strategic Design at Ford) have suggested a different approach, shooting the cars in a hanger instead. Through Freeman, I’ve shot Don Murray’s 901, chassis #18 for an upcoming feature in Total 911, in Don’s facility, taking advantage of the natural light and he believes that this would be a better way to go. I’m considering this option but either way, the logistics will be challenging.”
The goal of this project, using the self-publishing, print-on-demand business model, will be to complete the photography by August 1, 2013 and publish the book the first week in September so it will be available on all the Amazon websites worldwide on September 12, 2013, to mark the 50th anniversary of its introduction in Frankfurt 50 years ago.
If you live in Southern California and would like to see your 911 in the book, please E-mail Rich with the year and model of your 911 along with a half-dozen exterior, engine, and interior photos. At this point Truesdell still has a number of decisions to make including if he will shoot in a studio or follow Freeman’s suggestion, use only stock-appearing 911s or a mix of stock, modified, and racing 911s. A lot will do with the number of cars he has to choose from as well as the feedback he gets from the Kickstarter and 911 community. As this is very much a grass roots project and Rich welcomes suggestions from everyone.
Kickstarter is turning out to be an interesting place to watch as this isn’t the only Porsche related project we’ve seen. You may remember the “Blackprint” project we showcased in our Porsche Gift Ideas for Mother’s Day and a few others have popped up here and there. We’ll keep our eyes out and let you know if we see anything else worth mentioning.
Besides being an accomplished photographer and journalist, Rich is the co-founder and editorial director of AutomotiveTraveler.com where he writes about a wide range of automotive and travel topics.
Other Porsche Blog Posts You Will Enjoy
How to Win A Professional Photo Shoot of Your Porsche
The Essential Buyer’s Guide: Porsche 930 Turbo & 911 (930) Turbo
The Lost Spyder Book Review
Porsche Books We’ve Reviewed
A Night at the Museum With Karl Ludvigsen: Interview and Pictures
[All Images Courtesy of Rich Truesdell]