Luftgekühlt 11: A Photographer’s Paradise

I rarely get to shoot still photos anymore. I’ve been talking about this more and more on podcasts, and I even mention it in my book Life at Shutter Speed. I guess it just comes down to the natural evolution of my journey through car culture.

That said, there are still a few holdouts for me – stories that I have to tell through still photography, and Luftgekühlt (Luft) is one of them.

It honestly feels like the show was designed for me and me alone. It’s the most well-curated, beautifully executed automotive gathering I’ve ever come across. I’ve been photographing Luft since Luft 2 back in 2015, and I’ve only missed one in all that time. The most recent event, which took place last weekend in Durham, North Carolina, marked the show’s 11th year of running.

The gathering centers around a single marque: Porsche. But even more specifically, it celebrates only air-cooled Porsches – basically anything before the water-cooled 996 generation of the 911 that arrived in 1999. Luftgekühlt literally means “air-cooled” in German.

Calling it a car show doesn’t quite do it justice. It’s more of a festival – a full-blown celebration of everything we love about the rear-engined German sports car; the community, and the culture that surrounds it.

Luft was founded by racing driver Patrick Long and Howie Idelson, and for as long as I’ve been covering it, my good friend and mentor Jeff Zwart has handled the art direction and curation of the cars.

At first, it was a simple one-day affair for me: show up early, shoot the load-in, capture the event, then stick around for load-out – the perfect recipe for a day’s worth of automotive photography bliss.

But over the years, Luft has evolved into a two- or even three-day challenge. The operation has grown so big that most of the load-in now happens the day before the main event. That gives me a rare opportunity to photograph cars in motion or staged against unique backdrops, free from the chaos of the crowd.

Load-in days – usually Thursday and Friday – have become my favorite part of Luft. That’s when I can truly focus on the beauty, texture, and patina of these machines, and on how they interact with the environment around them. Everything is planned down to the centimeter – the placement, the lighting, the lines – and it’s incredible to witness.

My mission shifts completely on Saturday, as I focus on the people. From dawn ‘till dusk, I’m capturing personalities, spectators’ cars, the cutest dogs in the crowd, and all those fleeting moments that create the atmosphere. Sometimes the most photogenic thing you’ll see is an enthusiast pulling out their own camera to capture one of these beautiful machines. It’s this endless visual dialogue that keeps me hooked.

This year’s Luft 11 was held at the former Lucky Strike cigarette factory – and as soon as I heard about the venue, I knew it was going to be special. The space feels frozen in time, yet it’s been beautifully modernized, with the old industrial bones now serving as office and public space for downtown Durham.

The Luft team has always taken pride in their venue choices, and honestly, the venue is as important as the cars. The whole point is to place these timeless machines in environments they were never meant to be in – and somehow, it all works perfectly.

Past venues have included lumber yards, shipping docks, Coca-Cola bottling plants, and even Universal Studios in Hollywood. Each location adds its own soul to the event.

One of my favorite moments every year is when Jeff Zwart messages me after the show – usually within 24 hours of me posting my photos. When Jeff places cars, he already envisions the potential photographs: natural frames formed by doorways or alleyways, interesting lighting angles, or reflections off nearby objects.

So much thought goes into every detail – down to how sunlight passes through a window or skylight at a certain hour. Some shots only exist for a few minutes during the entire show.

It’s become a personal challenge for me to figure out what Jeff’s vision was for each placement. This year, he even sent me screenshots of the shots I ‘got right.’ That’s the magic of having a legendary car photographer setting the stage for you.

Luft 11 was the first one to take place on the East Coast, and it drew an incredible crowd from all over the U.S. and beyond. I ran into friends who had driven up from Florida and the Midwest, and even a few who road-tripped from the West Coast – because of course they did. These are Porsches, after all. They were meant to be driven.

If you haven’t been to a Luftgekühlt, I can’t recommend it enough. It’s one of the purest celebrations of car culture I’ve ever witnessed. If you do make it out – you’ll definitely see me there with three Canon cameras, one slung over each shoulder and one around my neck.