words/photos: Denis Podmarkov aka dpod
2013 – Drake dropped one of my favorite albums of all time, “Nothing Was The Same.” Mac Miller released another favorite, “Watching Movies with the Sound Off.” Calvin Harris had some real bangers on the charts. “Iron Man 3” and “Fast and Furious 6” were dominating the theaters, and everyone and their mom was doing the “Harlem Shake.” Oh, and I had “Summertime Sadness” on repeat.
2013 was also the first year I had a DSLR at H2Oi. I was new to photography and had only had my camera for a few months. So please excuse the poor angles and bad composition. I need to thank Lightroom for saving some of those night shots with the denoise feature.
My best friend Andrey and I headed out to OCMD for H2Oi. We didn’t know much about cars or modifying them; we just knew we wanted to be part of the scene, wanted to see it and experience what we had seen on Instagram or VWVortex. IG was still kind of new at that time (remember only uploading one square photo at a time?), and forums were still a major part of the community. No one really cared for a social media shoutout, but everyone wanted a Performance VW feature. That was always the goal.
I don’t want to sound like a grumpy old guy, but back in the day, builds were just better. People didn’t build cars for clout, TikTok views, or social media fame. They built them to win awards, gain a magazine feature, and get a shout on VWVortex or Audizine, at least in the VAG scene. Photographers were competing for magazine features; spots were limited, and everyone, including myself, wanted to be published. Not saying all of that is forgotten today, but print is dying, and there’s more and more focus on short-form digital content now.
I wanted this to be a fun nostalgia trip for whoever reads this. If you have never experienced H2Oi in its prime days, I’m sorry to hear that. You really missed out on some of the best times. Times when being in the Dapper fam means you made it, when everyone wore Diamond Supply Co with a snapback, when Plasti-Dip was making waves and was a new way to modify your car, and when Rotiform was still somewhat of a new brand, and everyone wanted a set of their wheels.
I hope these photos bring back good memories for those who attended and appreciate how far you’ve come. I know I have a lot to be thankful for. For all of our friends who didn’t make it with us on this path of life, you are not forgotten and forever in our hearts.
With the sappiness out of the way, enjoy my first full H2Oi 2013 gallery shot with my Canon T3i.
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