VIDEO> Scenes from FD Long Beach

I am... a nonstop buyer of Japanese car magazines even though I can't read them, a long-time collector of rare steering wheels, horn buttons, deep offset wheels, fresh Kangols, hip hop mixtapes, and vintage Japanese automobilia. My background is in shooting advertisements and editorial photos for print magazines, as well as working with major motion picture studios in Hollywood. I love cars. I have a huge collection of vintage Toyota memorabilia and rare parts to go with all the cars in my collection. My life revolves around photography, cars and car culture. At the same time, I grew up around the culture of hip hop music, with a reverence for graffiti art and underground mixtapes. I've been involved with the emerging drifting scene in the USA since the late 1990s (as a fan), and began working with print magazines all over the world as a photographer in 2003. I eventually decided to travel all over the world to document drifting as it evolved from Japanese subculture to pop culture and authored my first hardcover book, entitled "Drifting: Sideways from Japan to America," in 2006 - the first book ever produced on the topic of drifting. One year later, I was contracted to create the first mass-produced and internationally distributed calendar on the same topic (2008 release). These projects were just a labor of love for me, so I never expected to randomly see my book or calendar on bookshelves and coffee tables in other countries. These projects certainly opened a lot of new doors though, like being contracted to help launch car culture editorial outlets for big corporations, like Speedhunters for EA Games' Need for Speed franchise, Driving Line for Nitto Tire, and NBC Universal's Fast & Furious franchise. Our website and brand has come a long way since it first started in 2009. Since then, we have launched events like 86FEST, V8BUILDS, and MotorMassive. Thank you to everyone who has supported us in our mission to share our website and our authentic passion for the automotive scene! -Antonio Alvendia • www.ANTONIOSURESHOT.com • @AntonioSureshot on Instagram