out now: LOWTECH – The California Issue #1

Now I can admit it: When I started LOWTECH seven years ago, it was supposed to become a printed magazine. The idea with the blog only was to have an easily manageable public platform so I could share my observations and obsessions with traditional hot rods and kustoms. So, it rather was – and still is – some kind of experimental laboratory for my photography and my writing.

Seven years later and after having spent one year in Southern California, I just knew I had to do it. Let's get this shit on paper. Because even though stuff tends to live longer on the interweb, paper still gives you the feel like its made to last. Not forever but at least to last until it ends up on the stack next to your toilet bowl or on your greasy workbench where your buddies spill beer and WD40 over it.

Now I'm holding the first copy in my hands. And just staring at the photos on paper kinda makes them come to life, instead of being only colored pixels on a computer screen. Paper fucking rules. So, now I have to come up with some clever marketing copy in order to get this thing going. But honestly, even if I'm gonna sell a gazillion copies I'll hardly make any profit. I just think it would be neat if people see what I saw while spending 12 months among Southern California car culture.

Okay let's see: It's not a magazine but it's not a book either. I wanted it to have a soft cover so it doesn't look and feel like your aunt's shutterfly album from her last trip to Tuscany. It has 106 pages, to be exact, they're in full color and there's not much written. Well, there are a few words, but they're more some sort of thoughts, rather than accurate descriptions of what's happening. Some of the stories are like a best of selection from my blog posts. Some stories and a lot of photos haven't ever been published before. And there's a lot of stuff that I just put in because I felt it had to be in there.

But there's also a whole lotta stuff that didn't fit in, for the simple reason that it would have gotten too expensive. I know, it's still expensive the way it is. But since there are no ads in the magazine – magazine, there I said it! – and since I wanted to have overall control on the creative process, I decided to publish it via blurb.com. Lame, I know. But this was the only way I could do everything by myself and don't have to take care of packing and shipping and all that shit involved. So, if you like what you see on LOWTECH, chances are you'll like what you see in LOWTECH – The California Issue #1. I'm gonna post some previews the next couple of weeks. You already find a little preview here where you also can order a copy: http://www.blurb.com/b/4662193-lowtech. And let me know what you think when you got yours.