Hey there, I’m Ren, it’s nice to meet you!
Welcome to my quiet pocket of Carblr, a small space I’ve dedicated to the things I get to work with every day. Here you’ll see snippets of my work life as a commercial automotive photographer, you’ll get some insight into my experiences with the hundreds (if not thousands) of cars I’ve driven, and perhaps even a bit of my own automotive endeavors as I buy, trade, sell, and swap my way through the vast world of automotive.
Now, before we get down to business, I would like to lay some ground rules and expectations for interactions in my space; this is a space for enthusiasts of all kinds, whether you are gay, straight, trans, cis, nonbinary, white, black, brown, neurodivergent, neurotypical, differently abled, conventionally abled - whoever you are, you are welcome here, and I will ensure that everyone is equally welcome here no matter what.
If you come here to stir up anything at all, if you disrupt the peace and safety of this space, you will be immediately blocked. The only intolerance I condone is for hate and hateful speech. I am one of those people that fell through the cracks in the community - I know how exclusionary, toxic, and judgemental the car community can and will be. Don’t bring that here.
This is also targeted to 18+ audiences. I do not have any guidelines against minors and families interacting, but please be aware that some language or adult themes may be referenced or used from time to time. We’re not posting NSFW or anything along those lines, but do bear that in mind as you go forward here.
I love submissions and asks, so feel free to submit your own content - I’ll always review it and add my own unique takes and perspectives where appropriate. Asks are a tough, well, ask without knowing me, so quick personal rundown; I’m a queer, trans, brown automotive enthusiast that’s grown up in the car scene since birth. My knowledge trends more towards the modern, but I grew up in the rows of MGs, Triumphs, Jaguars, Land Rovers, Austins, Rovers, and more at British Invasion in Stowe, and alongside my father and grandfather that hailed from a more recently independent British colony, so there may be bit of a bias there.
In my line of work with media, marketing, and automotive photography, I’ve gotten hands-on with basically any and every car below $350,000 made in the past 20 years, with a decent selection of American, British, and Japanese classics from the past 50 or 60 years too.
For those of you that frequent sites like Bring a Trailer or Cars & Bids, you may recognize some of my commercial photography - I shoot a lot of vehicles for my friends up at Northeast Auto Imports - so feel free to say hi from those places too!
From a personal perspective, I’ve owned about a dozen cars ranging from Chevy Malibus and Ford Mustangs to Mercedes-AMG, Maserati, Jaguar, Audi, and more. The current corral contains my 1988 Ford Mustang GT, 2002 Maserati Coupé Cambiocorsa, and 2017 Jaguar XF 20d Prestige. I do have a few more things in the works, but I’ll save those for future posts!
Outside of the car world, you’ve probably already noticed that I’m a photographer; I started with minimalist landscapes, light painting, and small slice of life-type content, in addition to my usual automotive work. My photography isn’t necessarily artistic so much as it is journalistic in that it captures things in a very real and tangible way as you or I would perceive them in person. I would like to delve deeper into fine arts photography and get back into traditional art mediums at some point, but those are goals for another time.
I’m a former athlete/jock turned nerd and absolutely love experiences and activities and games. I swim, ski, hike, bike, roller skate, ride horses, and can casually pick up most sports like tennis, lacrosse, hockey, and more. These days I lead a more sedentary lifestyle with my 9-5, but I do get to enjoy the downtime playing games like Dungeons & Dragons, Monster of the Week, and Cyberpunk RED with friends. I’m just diving into the world of board games and I’m slowly getting back into video games. I’m currently replaying Cyberpunk 2077 - single player, story/campaign-based action, adventure, thriller, open world, role playing games tend to be my jam.
I used to play the violin and guitar, and while I have prioritized different things in life now, I do hope to get back into guitar soon. I am an eternal music enjoyer with a vast collection of albums spanning all genres and eras and artists. I am always down to listen to new mixtapes/mix discs, playlists, artists, albums, genres, compilations - whatever! Please, please, please send me recommendations or your current faves, I am all ears!
I am also a massive stereo nut with a few different stackups for listening to music. Don’t get me started on talking amps, and DACs, and speaker pairings, and headphones, and tubes because we will be sitting here for a looong while. Same dealio with tech! I’m an absolute techie - technically a technologist by education as well, but absolutely a resident tech enjoyer. I love to build, tinker with, and work on computers, I am always buying new devices, restoring old ones, and trying neat and novel experiences in the world of tech.
At this point you’re probably wondering what I don’t do - oh, I am an avid reader, absolute foodie, traveler extraordinaire, writer, and movie buff - and honestly, I’m not sure. If you put me in front of something long enough, I usually find a way to enjoy it. But yeah, heyo, that’s a lot of me, so thanks for sticking around!
I’ll drop a few links to socials soon, but in the meantime, see ya around!
