Time for some highlights of what’s been published on Seen.Today during 2024 and the final numbers. A grand total of 2,976 photos were posted spread across 33 stories. Some familiar events got covered including NYCxDesign, the NY Auto Show, and car culture events from Carpark and Classic Car Club Manhattan. Travel stayed domestic this year with stops in Los Angeles, Miami and New Jersey. Without a doubt the best experience of the year was attending Luftgekuhlt 10 at the Universal Studios backlot. For 2025, I have a few plans on the calendar and I’m sure they’ll be plenty of new automotive, architecture and design stories to present here.
Here’s a selection of ten on my favorite images from the past year and some behind the scenes commentary about when they were taken.
Photos and Text: Dave Pinter
2024 NYIAS | Customs and Supercars
I found this gold wrapped Beetle just as load in for the 2024 NY Auto Show was wrapping up in the basement of the Javits Center. There’s a nice contrast between the round shiny forms of the Beetle against the hard matte angles of the Javits underground.
Pratt Architecture | NYCxDesign 2024
This model by Pratt student Kaimin Wang for a natural scientific monastery proposes a structure of thin flowing forms. Selected from the always overwhelming Pratt Shows year end design exhibition.
2024 ICFF + Wanteddesign
The Molo booth at ICFF was made from their signature pleated paper walls. The narrow pathways were like wandering through limestone canyons in Arizona. Visually interesting and it was fun to explore.
Gridlock On Governors Island
This was the first year I heard about and attended this all air-cooled vintage VW show on NYC’s car-free Govenors Island. You wouldn’t know it from the photos but a few hours earlier it was dumping down rain from thick dark clouds. Looking forward to checking out this event again in 2025.
Collectible Design Fair NY 2024
The first NYC edition of Collectible ushered in a flurry of interesting fall events. I really liked the fair which occupied two floors of the downtown hotspot of the moment, WSA. This stool/table was part of a collection of objects curated by Water Street Projects.
Luftgekühlt 10
I could have picked any random photo from this event to feature here. But this one summed up the combination of rare and exquisite Porsches creatively placed within the architectural environments of the Universal Studios back lot. It was a highlight of the year to be able to attend and share the photos here.
LA Car Culture
Any trip to LA means a stop at the Petersen Museum. No matter how I plan, I never seem to allow enough time to see the collection and special exhibits. One that required a couple hours itself was the lower gallery filled with show circuit lowriders. I can think of no better example of rolling artwork than the cars labored over by metalcrafters and painters for hundreds of hours.
Grassroots Edition Fall 2024
I trekked into New Jersey to catch this one day show of collectible and tuner vehicles. One of the highlights was seeing Rob Ida‘s “The Black Cat”, a homage to the 50s Bonneville land speed record cars. I appreciate the extent to which Ida altered the original Jaguar XK 120 into a stunning single seater.
28 Liberty | Carpark
Carpark closed out the fall calendar of car events in NYC with another visit to the 28 Liberty plaza. When the weather is good, I really enjoy shooting this event in the morning. The low sun creates interesting light shafts that quickly appear and fade as the sun arcs between the dense financial district buildings. That was the case for a few moments in the lobby behind this Audi R8.
Jaguar Type 00 Debut
Attending the launch of Jaguar’s brand reveal and Type 00 debut in Miami was quite memorable. Following all the background critiques and online comments post leak of the car earlier in the day, the anticipation was certainly deadened. However seeing the car in person is quite different even from the photos I shot. While the official images look rather 2D, I think this shot just after the sheet was pulled shows more of the concept’s surface subtleties.