SEMA 2015: Rigs and Rides

The Diesel World staff dubbed me the SEMA virgin. According to the crew, checking out the Los Angeles Car Convention, as a kid, wasn’t comparable to roaming the 1-million square-foot Las Vegas Convention Center (during SEMA) as an editor for the largest diesel magazine in the United States. One was a car show for the public: the other was the automotive industry’s premier trade show, and it was about time I saw it for myself.

This last November would mark my first time witnessing the behind-the-scenes action of the automotive industry (meeting advertisers, shaking hands with celebs, attending photo shoots, and well, conducting business) and I was anxious to take it all in. It would also be my first time getting paid to travel, something I had always wanted to get paid for. How many guys can say they get flown out to Vegas—to take pictures of diesels?

UNBELIEVABLE…

When I observed the rows of customized vehicles lined up as far as I could see (and almost as far as I could walk) I realized that browsing the SEMA show wouldn’t be like any other show I’d attended.

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I entered a room near the Lexus booth, and eager to capture some diesel rigs, sprinted past the array of rainbow-colored rice rockets and onto the South Hall where most of the real talent was parked.

I don’t need to say much more, but know this, as my colleagues and I snapped as many pics as we could in a four-day period (which passed like a blur) we didn’t have a finished product in mind—not really. We just knew these rides were worth immortalizing, and that if we put them together…they’d make one heck of a gallery.

So, enjoy flipping over the next few pages’ worth of content. Someone has to appreciate all the hard work we put in at SEMA. DW