Review: 'Life at Shutter Speed' by Larry Chen

Larry Chen’s new book, "Life at Shutter Speed," opens with his most recent work in 2024 from the Retro Havoc event in Kuala Lumpur going backwards in time as you turn the pages. Despite having attended almost every major car event on the planet, Larry still spends nearly 30 weeks a year traveling, shooting cars and covering automotive culture. With no shortage of motorsports and car events worldwide, there’s always something new – or old – for Larry to discover and share with his own 1.9 million followers across Instagram, YouTube or the Hagerty channel which has 3.5 million subscribers on YouTube where he has his own series, “Capturing Car Culture.”

What began as a picture book evolved into something much more. With a foreword by Jeff Zwart, who Larry admits he wished was his dad, and an afterword by Magnus Walker, the eclectic Porsche icon, Larry initially thought those would be the only words in the book. But as images were captioned by publisher Ryan ZumMallen of Carrara Media, Larry realized these stories needed to be told in his own voice.

“I’ve put my heart and soul into this book,” Chen says.

Resulting in a 20-chapter journey, each chapter representing a year in his career. Along the way, Larry writes his story on every milestone moment – how he became the official photographer for Formula Drift and the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, how he began working with Ken Block, and even how selling prints during COVID kept him afloat during uncertain times. And then coming back stronger traveling to Japan and multiple countries to shoot immediately after the pandemic.

Throughout "Life at Shutter Speed," you witness not only the evolution of Larry’s style, but also the progression of his gear and relationship with Canon – something which would become a big part of his journey.

What’s most impressive is the sheer range of automotive subjects Chen has captured over two decades. From Luftgekühlt to WRC, hot rods to NHRA, Gymkhana to Recoil, Formula Drift to grassroots drifting, IMSA to Baja, and car shows both massive and humble – Larry has covered it all. I don’t know how he has time to do anything else. He truly is the living embodiment of car culture. His car passion knows no boundaries.

This book isn’t just about cars – it’s about connection. As I read and appreciated each image, I realized that for Chen – and for many of us – cars are a language of love. There are as many people appearing in this book as there are stunning vehicles, and nearly all of them are smiling. They’re having the time of their lives enjoying what they love most – cars. Larry and I discussed how cars shed racial boundaries. He says he is welcome wherever he goes because of the common love for cars.

Naturally, the book is gorgeous. The photos are breathtaking. You can feel 20 years of automotive history on every page. But for me, what made it extra special was seeing friends and familiar faces – young Vaughn Gittin Jr. before he was Vaughn Gittin Jr., Dai Yoshihara fresh off the plane, Tanner Foust looking like a school kid and Keiichi “Drift King” Tsuchiya landing in LA as Godzilla did to Tokyo wreaking havoc. We were all there at GT Live in 2004, when JGTC and D1GP held their joint event at California Speedway. I hadn’t met Larry at that time yet, but he was in the stands with a point-and-shoot camera. A few photos from that event appear in the book – the moment, as Larry puts it, is where it all started. That single weekend changed car culture forever, and changed our lives in ways we couldn’t have imagined at that time.

So, thank you, Larry, for documenting this world we love – so beautifully and with so much care. "Life at Shutter Speed" is a must-have for anyone who’s been part of, or inspired by, car culture in the past 20 years. Here’s to 20 more Larry, we can only hope to continue to be a part of this industry we all love so much.

Watch Larry talk about the book in my interview on The Creative Drive podcast:

Life At Shutter Speed is available to preorder now through CarraraBooks.com or wherever books are sold. Releasing September 29th, 2025.