1. Introduce yourself(tell about yourself & who you are)

My name is Mike Palomar, and I am a car photographer and videographer located in Los Angeles, California I have been doing YouTube for 3 years now and I picked up a photography camera at the beginning of January 2022.

2. What are your passions in life that you are working towards?

I am very HEAVILY into the Car Culture and media production (photography and videos). I I’ve media work, love cars, and I love food hehe. I have 3 goals that I am currently working on. The first being to get my videos to be more cinematic. The second being resto-modding a 1970 Ford Mustang, currently this build should be done by the end of the year…hopefully lol. The third being to hopefully build a media production company where we are free to work my creative ideas.

3. What got you into car photography?

I have a friend from middle school who started photography and got involved in car photography right after high school. I was living outside California at the time but would visit SoCal constantly, by luck I ran into him one night at a boba shop, and we started catching up. At that time he was a professional photographer for a drifting magazine in Australia where he was living at the time. A few years later I moved back home to California and he did as well around the same time. I was looking for work and would hang out with him at car events. One day he mentioned I should start a YouTube channel about cars since I had video production experience since high school. So I said to myself one day, “Let’s actually try it out”. Started filming and filming non-stop, then at my 2-year mark I had met a lot of other videographers and photographers. My photographer friends suggested I try taking photos to get my video work into cinematography. Purchased a camera, and it’s been a HUGE learning experience since.

4. What is your dream car that you want to have or build?

There are a couple, not going to lie… I’m a car guy, sorry, haha. If I was to choose a dream it would seriously be a fight between a Lancia Stratos rally version, I actually DID get the chance to sit in one BEST day ever by the way. I also dream about Nissan Skyline GTR R34 in a midnight purple color, I have seen one and could never forget that first time seeing one.

5. How would you describe yourself as a person?

I would consider myself definitely as the energy in the room, an opportunist, the hopeful one that tries to keep everyone’s head up. If you personally know people know that I could be shy at first but I open up very quickly and I have a magnetizing personality. I like to have fun and work hard at the things that I am passionate about. I don’t give up too easily, get back up and try try again.

6. What are some struggles you’ve faced in life and how did you overcome them?

Living back in Southern California, it really is the Car Culture capital of the US. There are so many events constantly happening here, it’s almost like a movie every single weekend. Learning time management has helped me learn how to be able to take on 3-5 car event on a single day. The first 2 months of picking up a camera it was very difficult for me, I did not know some of the other setting and techniques that happen when taking photos. I pushed myself through it and by the 4th month I was taking quality pictures, the thing is to keep trying over and over. I have friends who complain that they don’t have a good quality shot, but the real secret to photography is to keep using your camera as much as possible, at this point I have had magazines and automotive media outlets start to take recognition of me, which I never ever dreamed would happen.

7. What impact would you like to make in the world?

On my journey through life, I have experienced so much and seriously tried to find my purpose in it. I have come to one to realize I have an eye to see things that other people don’t see, forget to see, find it hard to see. What I mean by this is that I have an eye to see the beauty in objects. Cars and photography/videography has given me and continues to grant me the ability to keep seeing the little details. My impact would be to let you see what I see, how I see, how I view, how I experience whether it be things, objects, and moments.