Aaron Thies · Bozeman, Montana
CPA by day. Bad ideas after hours.
Motorsports photographer, Land Cruiser troublemaker, autocross driver and permanent believer that the best stories begin where the pavement ends.
take chances
Who is this guy?
Not a spectator.
Most CPAs count beans. I count apexes, shutter clicks and the number of new noises coming from a 30-year-old Land Cruiser. Based in Bozeman, I balance the pedal-to-the-metal intensity of tax season with a life spent behind the wheel and behind the camera.
I am not a spectator. I am a driver. I have chased cones with Southwest Montana SCCA, run events with the SCCA, and crawled hard trails in my triple-locked, turbocharged Lexus LX450 with the 406 Cruisers and the TLCA.
Somewhere along the way I also became the unofficial bad-boy outcast of Cruise Moab—blacklisted, still showing up, and apparently incapable of taking the hint. Every good car story needs a little controversy.
I live the life I photograph. I know the line, I know the machine, and I know where to stand when the dust gets thick and the shot only lasts a fraction of a second.
Both sides of the lens
Drive it. Break it. Photograph it.
Track days, granite ledges and camera gear covered in enough dust to void a warranty.
The credentials, such as they are
Three lanes. One questionable résumé.
The driver
Autocross, track days, dirt roads and technical crawls. I understand the speed, the line and the split-second decisions because I have made them from the driver seat.
The photographer
Automotive and motorsports photography built around real action: flying gravel, hard light, body roll, tire smoke and the people who keep showing up.
The CPA
Yes, I really am a CPA. Precision matters in a tax return and a braking zone. One mistake costs money; the other sends cones into low Earth orbit.
The people and places
Where I show up.
Local autocross, national motorsports, Montana trail crews and one Moab event that may or may not still have my picture behind the registration desk.
Need the shot?
Let’s make some noise.
Cars are meant to move. Stories are meant to be told. If you are building, racing, rallying or getting something expensive dirty, I want to photograph it.