Matt Engdall Photo - From AZ Teacher to Car Photographer | 344

Phoenix photographer Matt Engdall sits down in the Gilbert studio and traces the whole path: graphic design at CSU Monterey Bay, a short run at Central Coast TV, the dead-end jobs back home, then a surprise CTE teaching gig at Sandra Day O’Connor High School from 2019 to 2024. COVID put the camera back in his hands. High Line turned car photos into a January 2021 business. Leaving the classroom in 2024 made it full-time. Matt breaks down light painting classes with the Phoenix Photography Group, why he scouts a location for hours before a shoot, and how design hierarchy — what your eye hits first — is the same skill whether he is building a logo or lighting a fender. Jhae also gets the classroom stories: stage fright, COVID kids, and why “just go teach” is not the easy AI backup plan. Correction from the Jesse Iwuji episode: Matt Casto, not Matt Castro. Guest: Matt Engdall — @mattengdall_photo | mattengdall.photo Referenced: Tormenting Tarmac Ep 203 with Jorge Aquino · @tormentingtarmac Jhae on CarCast: NSX market + Zanardi Edition sale Timestamps 0:00 Intro, Revvit correction & Matt Casto correction 1:28 Coming up + Spark Forge 2:38 Welcome Matt / Tormenting Tarmac 3:24 Phoenix kid, Monterey years, Go Otters 4:45 Graphic design, KSBW, and the dead-end stretch 6:00 CTE teaching at Sandra Day O’Connor 7:11 COVID, High Line, business in 2021 8:36 Phoenix Photography Group & light painting class 11:08 Learning the craft and the photographer network 19:10 Scouting the spot that actually fits the car 22:35 Asking about the car before you ask for the booking 48:00 What teaching actually looked like 54:43 Classroom stories, COVID kids & movie knockoffs 59:26 “Just go teach” in the AI era 1:01:25 Everything you look at is graphic design 1:06:45 Hard Parking logo, hierarchy & detail shots 1:13:18 Why book Matt Engdall 1:15:19 Outro, Tormenting Tarmac & CarCast links Contact Email: [email protected] Website: www.hardparking.com Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/hardparkingpodcast/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hardparkingpod/ YouTube: youtube.com/@HardParking TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hard.parking.jhae Main Show Sponsors: Right Honda: https://righthonda.com/ Right Toyota: https://www.righttoyota.com/ Arcus Foundry: https://arcusfoundry.com Autocannon Official Gear: https://shop.autocannon.com/ The Warehouse AZ: https://thewarehouseaz.com/