My passion for motorcycles and sports cars
Hi, and thank you for visiting my website. My name is Rick. I have been a motorcycle and sports car enthusiast ever since I can remember. In mid 2004 (while stationed at the Burn center at Fort Sam Houston, TX), I enrolled in a Saturday and Sunday motorcycle riding course to prepare myself to take the motorcycle license written exam. Something I had always wanted to do since I was in my late teens. Over the course of a couple of months, before taking the course, I had been visiting this local motorcycle dealership trying to figure out which motorcycle and what size engine would best fit me to start off with. I settled on a 2004 Yamaha, 1100cc V Star Classic. After the successful completion of the motorcycle riding course, I went on to pass the written exam that following Monday; and on Tuesday, I asked my best friend Carlos (AKA Chief), to drop me off at the dealership because I was ready to pick up my brand new motorcycle. Boy… was I super excited as we made our way to the dealership! (LOL). There is a bit more to this story that may be a bit too long to tell here so be sure to ask me about it if we ever have the pleasure of meeting. I am sure you will get a good laugh out of what happened next on that Tuesday evening. My 2004 Yamaha V Star Classic would be the first of six bikes I would own over the span of 19 plus years. In early 2023, after nearly 20 years of riding, I made the decision to give up riding due to ongoing cervical spine issues. Even though I am no longer riding, my love for motorcycles and sports cars will never change.
Enter the visual arts
Besides motorcycles and sports cars, I have always had a deep appreciation for the visual arts and the performing arts. My interest in the visual arts really peaked in 2007 while I was stationed at Camp Casey, South Korea. I purchased a Nikon D80 DSLR camera because I was determined to capture these beautiful images of the manicured gardens I had visited while I was stationed there. Initially, I thought that my expensive camera was defective as I was not capturing the images I was expecting to see (LOL). Thinking back, I remember seeing something that said “read manual before operating.” But I’m a guy, us guys can figure tings out… right?! It wasn’t until one of the locals who worked on post gave me a quick lesson on shooting RAW and in manual mode. After that, I knew just enough to be somewhat dangerous with my camera. So in 2009 (a year after retiring from active duty), I enrolled at San Antonio College (SAC) and later at the Art Institute at San Antonio taking every photography class they had to offer. I was determined to learn everything I could about photography. What really started as a hobby, would soon turn into a real passion. It wasn’t until 2012 that I decided to get into the business side of photography. Initially I started doing weddings, quinceaneras, and some portrait work while taking evening classes during the week. At the same time, I was working a full time job as a Department of Defense (DoD) Army civilian at the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research/Burn center. I still work there to this very day.
Blending my interests – photography, motorcycles, and sports cars
It wasn’t long before I realized that I was spending my entire weekends working after shooting events so I shifted gears. I started only doing portrait work for friends and family and ocassional landscape and still photography on my own time. This allowed me to spend more time on weekends doing long distance rides on my motorcycle. Something I enjoyed doing to get away from the hectic and incessant work week. In early 2020 when COVID-19 Pandemic hit, photography came to a complete halt. It would be a couple of years after that I would slowly get back into doing photography. Capturing motorcycles, sports cars, and basically anything that is in motion has become a topic of interest for me. I believe that there is an opportunity to capture stunning images everywhere we go. I hope that you enjoy my work as much as I enjoy capturing them . God Bless.
