Image from the “Craft of Speed” MOONEYES Photography Book
“Craft of Speed” was never intended to be just a film. Instead, it was always meant to be an extensive multimedia project, using different forms of media to tell the vast story of MOONEYES, including a feature documentary, cinema events, documentary photography series, and now a photography book.
We launched the film first—a 2-hour long feature documentary that covers the entire history of MOONEYES, from Dean MOON founding the iconic American company to Shige Suganuma and Chico Kodama growing it into a coveted international brand. We knew that our film was longer than typical documentaries, which are 90 minutes or less, but we didn’t want to compromise this important history just to appeal to short viewer attention spans or film festival programming limits.
Then we planned dynamic cinema events to screen the film. Because we’re independent filmmakers, we knew that we couldn’t compete against the studios. Even more so, we realized that we’re actually vying for people’s precious time. So in addition to screening the film, we offered awe-inspiring museum visits, engaging filmmaker discussions, powerful photography exhibitions, limited edition artwork, gourmet food vendors, and more. Each cinema event is different so that even if you watched the film before, you would still have a new, unique, and special experience each time.
While we were making the film, we also shot many photographs to document MOONEYES with a related, but different artform. Photography is very powerful in that it attempts to record an important event with just one frame. Oftentimes, the event becomes even more memorable because of a single iconic image.
But filming a documentary and doing photography at the same time are not easy tasks, especially with a small team and sometimes only one filmmaker/photographer. We had to carry two different cameras, which doubled the weight of our gear. We had to choose the most powerful medium to capture an image. We were often torn by which one we decided on. But we quickly got into the flow of doing both at the same time, quickly switching cameras as well as mindsets.
We shot not just movie stills and behind-the-scenes photos but also documentary photographs that provided a different perspective of the story. Some images were featured in the opening credits of our film. Others were used in the design of our movie poster, website, social media, marketing materials, and more. We were honored to display some of the images at the CineMakina Community Photography Exhibition, alongside rising and veteran automotive photographers.
There have been some excellent books on MOONEYES, including David Fetherstone’s “MOON Equipped” which focuses on the company’s history during Dean MOON’s era; Laurent Barnard’s “Go with MOON! 1950 - 2010,” which covers the history of the company during Dean MOON’s era and part of Shige Suganuma and Chico Kodama’s era; and MOONEYES’ own “25th Anniversary of Excellence,” which celebrates their anniversary in 2016. So we wanted to author a different kind of book to add to the historical knowledge of MOONEYES.
We created a photography book that documents the world of MOONEYES, from the famous MOONEYES headquarters in Santa Fe Springs, California to Shige Suganuma, the Owner of MOONEYES, conducting a test & tune of his MOONEYES Dragster at the beloved Irwindale Dragstrip in Irwindale, California to Chico Kodama, the President of MOONEYES USA, building and racing his rear engine modified roadster at the epic Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah. It’s a snapshot in time of this enduring company approaching its 75th anniversary.
It’s not just a documentary photography book, recording important history, but also an art photography book, presenting history in a powerful way, interpreted through art. We’re big fans of painter, printmaker, and photographer Ed Ruscha. The images of the MOONEYES headquarters in Santa Fe Springs, California with their bold colors, graphic framing, and dynamic composition recall his iconic Standard Station painting. The black-and-white images of the MOONEYES Machine Shop turn its vintage metalworking machines into fine art. And the epic landscape images of the Bonneville Salt Flats were inspired by two of our favorite photographers, Ansel Adams and Sebastiao Salgado.
We hope that a beautiful, tactile photography book in this age of social media, where countless images are seen, liked, shared, and swiped away, can be slowly read, quietly contemplated, and forever enjoyed. We’re deeply honored to be able to tell the incredible story of MOONEYES. We’re very grateful to Shige Suganuma, Chico Kodama, and the entire MOONEYES family as well as their friends, colleagues, and fans. It’s important to preserve history, tell your story, share it with others, and inspire them in their own pursuits.
In celebration of MOONEYES’ 75th Anniversary, we’ll be releasing the “Craft of Speed” MOONEYES Photography Book at the MOONEYES Hot Rod Custom Show in Yokohama on Sunday, 12/7/2025. We’ll be taking pre-orders of the book from now until the show. We’ll start shipping the books afterward. Pre-order the book here and at our upcoming events.
We’ll be exhibiting with our friends at the the Japanese American National Museum (JANM) at the MOONEYES Open House on Saturday, 7/12/2025. They will be promoting their landmark exhibit, “Cruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community,” which will open on 7/31/2025 and run through 11/12/2025 at the beautiful ArtCenter College of Design / Peter & Merle Mullin Gallery in Pasadena. They just released their own companion book of the same name. Stop by our booth and learn more about both of our projects.
To learn more about “Craft of Speed”:
craftofspeed.com
To pre-order the “Craft of Speed” MOONEYES Photography Book:
https://www.craftofspeed.com/store/photographybook
To learn more about the MOONEYES Open House:
https://www.craftofspeed.com/newsarchive/craft-of-speed-to-exhibit-at-the-mooneyes-open-house
To learn more about JANM’s “Cruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community” Exhibit:
https://www.janm.org/exhibits/cruising-j-town