- Up next on Curate.

- Being a good photographer is taking yourself and your work seriously.

It's such an unusual event that you really don't have to do anything to make it look more interesting.

- Metal sculpting was, honestly, it was just a, it was a fluke.

I, I can't draw to save my life.

- Thank you for tuning in.

We are grateful you're here with us for another episode of curate.

I'm Jason Kypros.

- And I'm Heather Mazzoni.

- In his latest project photographer, Michael DiBari rejects perfection in favor of presence working inches.

From the chaos of demolition derbies, - He captures mud motion and mayhem focusing on authenticity over spectacle and the humanity.

In a riotous, rollicking world of smash 'em up, derbies - Perfect is very subjective.

I try not to think too much about perfect.

If I'm close, I'm, I'm okay with that because ultimately it's the image.

It's the image of someone really excited and throwing up their arm.

That's gonna be a really powerful picture.

If it's a little bit off or if it's not, it's still a powerful picture.

And that's what I try to keep in mind.

The perfect part of it is, is when you print it, you know, does it look good When you print it, is it overall too muddy or does it have good tonality?

That's what I'm, I'm kind of looking for.

So yes, it has.

I used to be a lot more particular when you print in the dark room and you'd print, you know, a picture 20 times.

When I was in college a long time ago, my professor had photographed a couple derbies in Miami, and since then I've been fascinated with it.

It's very dangerous.

I mean, cars are hitting each other.

They're wearing helmets and ne neck braces.

They have rules to protect them, but it is dangerous.

- It's just like chaos, illegal way to wreck into other cars and still enjoy it.

- A driver that I root for the most is probably Andy.

Andy Anderson.

He is a local firefighter, retired navy.

- I get a lot of questions from my family in Spain.

They'll like Facebook message me, be like, Hey, like, what do you do?

You don't get hurt.

- And he's a really nice guy.

I know his wife, his family.

I always thought he was a crazy guy and just, you know, 'cause he'd win and he would be like, so unassuming.

- My dad Derby when I was a little kid and I've always wanted to do it.

And then when I was in the military, I got stationed here and one day I was sitting around, I was like, I wanna build a derby car.

And I built it and it just, it was like from there on, I was good lot.

A lot of people just go out there, like you said, they think it's just, oh, go, go, go.

Crash, crash, crash.

You know, destroy your car.

But it's not about that.

It's where you put the car, how you put the car when you make your hits, make all your hits count.

- Several favorite moments.

When, when I'm photographing Andy, my friend driver.

And when he wins, that's always exciting.

- The more calm you are, the better driver you are.

Even before a derby, before I'll run like a lot of people around talking and everything else, Michael tell you, I'll go sit in the car by myself and be like, Hey, leave me alone.

Let me sit in the car by myself.

Let me my zone - And photographing it can be dangerous.

I'm pretty close.

I I don't use big long tail photo lenses when I'm photographing.

You kind of want to be calm.

I think that's a similarity.

Yeah.

'cause if you get too excited because of what's happening in front of you, it's hard to concentrate and make good pictures.

Like good framing.

It's like if somebody is just wins a derby and they're jumping on the car and, and, and you know, screaming, you might not see, you know, a little boy in front of the car that's, you know, looking at the driver in, in awe.

So you kind of have to remain calm so you can see the whole picture of how things might not be right in front of you.

- Biggest difference, - I don't put myself in danger.

A lot of times I get hit with mud because the tire spin and, and it just shoots it out.

- You could see my driveways just covered in mud.

Especially when like the derbies that are in the Red clay, that the clay is so bad, it just sticks everywhere and it stains everything.

And then when it rains, it just plugs everything up.

It's just, oh, it's horrible.

- I, I find that, you know, the mud kind of gets everywhere and that, that, to me, those little details are more interesting than the smashing.

- When you're in the car, it's, it's complete chaos.

You're just worried about other cars and doing other things.

So when I see his pictures I'm like, wow, I didn't know I did that.

Or I didn't know I, I had that angle on that person or other things.

So it's, it's actually helped out a lot.

- It is mixed gender.

There are many women that drive.

This is Renee and she had won the Mad Dog Trophy and the Mad Dog is the most aggressive driver.

You've won that before though.

- I've actually, yeah.

I've won a, I've won a couple Mad Dogs.

Actually one of the biggest shows, it's called Baher Cash up in Ohio.

And I got a Mad Dog there one year.

So that's, I think that's one of my best trophies.

- Andy always asks me if I want to drive and I really don't have a desire to be out there.

I'm fine just watching it.

- I actually have tried to get Mike into a car.

He tells me, you know, he tells me I'm crazy actually.

'cause he does a lot for me.

You know, I love the guy.

He takes pictures.

He lets me see it from a different angle.

So I'm always like, Hey Mike, I'll let you drive a car.

And he's like, no, no.

I was like, come on, Mike.

- Being a good photographer is, I think just taking yourself and your work seriously.

I don't change anything around.

I don't manipulate anything.

I are as authentic as I can make them.

Sometimes I use a, a light and, and light someone's face, but most of the time it's natural light.

But it's such an unusual event that, that you really don't have to do anything to make it look more interesting in, they're out smashing up cars, so they're really, they're not thinking about, you know, how they look or their hair or if their shirt, I mean, they're usually mechanics and you know, they're greasy because they're working on the cars.

They don't think about that stuff, how they look or how they're presented at all.

They're just real people doing something that's really crazy Sometimes.

- My home track, which would be in South Oak at the Peanut festival, that's, that's probably my all time favorite track just because it's home and it's close, my family can go see me there.

And I've done really, really well At the Peanut Festival, - The best people to photograph are the ones that are natural and authentic.

- What if you could go back in time with WHRO plus you can step into our time machine and explore rare footage, local history and unforgettable moments from our archives.

Stories that shaped our community and still resonate today.

It's a look at where we've been and how it connects to who we are now.

And watch all of your favorite WHRO channels live plus a library of local stories at your fingertips.

Download WHRO plus to your smart TV or device today.

- Listen up.

It's about to go down in case you forgot.

Let me readjust my crown.

See, I lost I once 'cause I left my throne address some peasants for way too long.

Yeah, I'm a queen and that's who I shall be.

I just haven't acted like it lately.

Oh.

So I'm picking myself up.

I got my own bag because the way it was, it just can't beat that.

No, I spent too much time, no change.

I'm free.

I'm breaking the no change.

I'm free.

I'm breaking the silence.

Listen up.

Lemme tell you what happened to me.

I've been abused physically and mentally and I lost my love thinking I never be love again.

I found this, see I fell part.

This world felt like a lonely girl.

No go.

That's why I left my ground.

So I picked it up, dusted off, living my herd on the ground.

Now I walk with the new stride and I won't give up now.

Much time no change.

I the no change brick.

The silence.

I spent too much time.

Too much time.

Hey, don't change.

Free brick.

The silence, no change.

I'm free.

I'm breaking the silence.

Never surrender.

'cause you feel unworthy.

Everything's gonna be alright to see Life doesn't have to be series of tragedy.

Never surrender.

'cause you, it's alright.

Dust yourself up now and go tell your story.

Change the too time.

Hey, no change.

I'm breaking the no change.

I free, I'm breaking the silence.

No chains up.

No chains up free.

No chains up.

Oh no chains up free.

No chains up free.

No chains up breaking the sun.

Yeah.

No chains, no chains hump.

No chains hump.

The no chains.

No chains, no chain.

The silence.

- When Pat Tozzi left Naval Special Forces returning to civilian life, he found himself searching for a sense of purpose, focus, and connection.

That search led him to the workbench and the slow deliberate craft of building custom motorcycles - In shaping metal.

Pat discovered something he didn't expect.

A way to quiet the noise to heal and to help others do the same.

His work at Green Devil Garage is both art and therapy and he shares it with anyone willing to learn, build, and begin again.

- So Green Devil Garage started after a year long deployment in Afghanistan.

I had a 79 shovel head that just wanted to kind of tinker with.

I wanted to rebuild the motor called up Bird neck cycles.

He answers, I say, I want to rebuild this 79 shovel head.

He asks, is it leaking?

And I said, no.

Is it running?

I said, yes.

And he said, leave it the F alone.

And hung up on me.

So I went up to the shop and started talking to him and he let me come in and start just working on my bike there.

He saw that I had a gift.

The talent people heard I was there.

He started getting busy.

He didn't want to be busy.

So he told me to go start my own shop.

So that's where Green Devil Garage came from.

My creative process when building a motorcycle comes from charitable causes.

The first motorcycle that I actually built to being the Extortion 17 caused.

I did the Crusader 93 Cubic in Japan from SNS and six Speed Baker.

So that thing not only looks old, but it flies after that was for N 22, which is an organization that brings attention to the 22 veterans a day that take their lives.

Metal sculpting was honestly, it was just a, it was a fluke.

I, I can't draw to save my life.

I actually had another charity reach out to me.

Tomahawk Charitable didn't hear from him until about two months out and they're like, Hey, you still playing on doing something for us?

It was like, I can't build a motorcycle in in that time.

How about like a Indian chief headdress at a sheet metal?

They're like, ah, it sounds awesome.

I came up with like three or four different feather designs until I found the one that like when you look at it, you're like, that's the warrant.

So I drove it down.

It's in Nashville.

Who knows what it'll go for?

Maybe five, six, $7,000, something like that.

It started out at I think five grand and then it went up to 10 and it kept going.

It sold for $50,000 at that charity event.

And I, it brought tears to my eyes.

It did a lot of good for, for a lot of people.

The following year I actually did a Epoxy River table.

I made a full red wing eagle that inlaid into the epoxy.

It came out beautiful.

I ended up selling for $65,000.

Blew me away.

I was inspired to join the SEAL teams 'cause my, my dad till I got into a bit of trouble and I had a choice of war or jail.

So I looked at the hardest thing I could do and the SEAL teams seemed like the, the spot for me.

I was an explosives expert.

I was a master breacher for many years.

My change came from just hitting bottom.

And the, the military is not a conducive place for mental health, especially the, the Special forces community.

I got back to church, I got into mental health.

I, I felt a massive change internally in myself, just kind of start to grow.

And once it started to grow, I, I had, I had to stick with it.

I thought that I was just a workaholic and I'm a perfectionist, but I went to one of the TBI clinics after, you know, getting blown up thousands of times we were doing art therapy and you go in and they actually start explaining the neurological benefits.

So for me, that made things click.

And when I'm concentrating on just one thing, it just turns off all the stories and all those years of, of fighting and just hate.

And once you find your talent, you don't use it for, for you, you use it for, for everybody else.

And whether that be just bringing people in here and teach 'em how to weld or wrench on things or making an art piece that, you know, monetarily helps them out.

There's just so many different layers that you know you can use your talent to, to really to help other people.

So at Green Devil Garage, we have in-house, in shop programs also have YouTube programs where people can not only just learn foundational mechanics, welding, metal art, things like that.

Not only do we give them, you know, mental health practice with that quieting, you know, all those years of stories down.

But we also give them a skillset that, you know, if they did so choose to be a welder later in life.

They have a foundational understanding, but they also know that it's something that can continue to help me with my mental health.

The future for Ring Devil Garage is really, I just want to continue to grow in, in every aspect of, of what I I do.

And I want to give that back.

Well, because it's done so much for me.

At the end of the day, your morals should match what you want your legacy to be.

If I could say to my younger self, don't be afraid to fail.

Do the right thing.

Take care of the people around you.

If you can lay down in bed and be happy with what you did, that's what mattered.

- Love is in the air and in full bloom on WHRO.

Plus escape into sweeping romances like Pole Dark Weathering Heights and Victoria where passion, longing, and unforgettable stories come to life.

From windswept Cliffs to royal Courts, these are the dramas that make your heart race and keep you watching.

Just one more episode and watch all of your favorite WHRO channels Live plus on-demand, favorites and endless romance.

Download WHRO plus to your smart TV or device today.

WHRO plus the Smartest Way to Stream.

- Welcome back to Curate Presents.

I am Kayda Plus and I am here with James Person and Gordy Price.

How you guys doing?

- Great.

- Great.

- Thanks for having us.

- Yeah, of course.

I wanna talk to you guys about full access films.

- Full Access films is a place where stories and horrors come together.

How did you guys get - Started making films - Together?

- I wanted to make a film about Crawford Road and James said, oh, let's go for it.

- I thought it was a great idea.

- Yeah, - Yeah.

- Okay, well what exactly is Crawford Road?

- It's a place in Yorktown.

It intersects with the Colonial Parkway and most people are familiar with Colonial Parkway from some of the murders from the early eighties.

- We filmed scenarios that we thought might have happened and turned it into a fictional movie, which blew up on us, I guess.

- Was there a court case you guys were involved in?

- I got summoned by the Park Service for filming illegally on Park Land without a permit.

Long story short, we took it to the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court turned it down and then what, six months later, Congress does the Explore Act.

- And now as filmmakers with small crews, you can go on any state park and film without being cited.

- So what's that like going through all of that?

Is that frustrating?

Does it slow you down?

- It held the movie up for seven years.

Oh wow.

Yeah.

We have a documentary that chronicles the case.

It's called the Explore Act.

And that's on - Right Explore Act, price Sources Bar.

And that's streaming on possum.

Possum flicks house.

- So you have another one called Blood of Saltville.

- Yes.

Blood of Saltville brings light to a Civil War atrocity.

200 Union soldiers were slaughtered and executed and these were the first time that Confederate soldiers ever saw Black Union Soldiers.

We thought it was important to bring light to this tragedy.

- What type of movie is it?

- All of our films have been fiction where we would take a great story and ideally they're Virginia based stories.

- Okay.

- Some have actual real connections to areas of Virginia and some are just stories that we create.

But the locations are all here in Virginia.

What does the future hold for full access films?

- Well, we got a new movie coming out called The Lost Causers.

- This is a story that centers around an event that happened in Charlottesville, the Unite the Right Rally.

So we thought that would be a great foundation to launch a family story involving some conflicting feelings centered around whether they thought it was a good thing to do or not a good thing to do.

- Alright, so where can we find your films now?

- Well, there's one movie I would like Hampton Rose to really see.

And that is The Blood of Saltville that's streaming on Tubi right now.

You can go and watch it.

- In fact, I brought you somewhere the official Saltville t-shirt.

- Okay, I get a Saltville T-shirt.

Yep.

Okay.

Alright, well thank you guys for coming by and I'm gonna go check out The Blood of Saltville.

- Well thank you for having us.

- Of course.

- And I hope you enjoy the blood of Saltville too.

- I think I will.

- Awesome.

- So what do you think, Heather?

You wanna venture down to Crawford Road and see if all the urban legends from James and Gordy's film are real?

- Well Jason, I grew up not far from there and I can tell you everything in their movie is true.

- Oh yeah.

Heather.

Heather, - We'll see.

- Hello.

New day.

Yesterday was Craig Day.

Thought that I would maybe give up on my dreams, but then something deep within told me to think again.

So when I thought about it, life's not that bad.

You just gotta the gotta go with the flow now let them get to me.

Everything not happen up till now.

I'm sad.

So I can be happy.

I can be happy living life.

Feeling easy with, feel so much better with a piece of having a whip.

He like Sunday morning, Sunday kind.

The lover gives you peace through the storm, through the storm.

With the confidence in knowing you are stronger.

You are stronger.

You can chill your back, relax on tomorrow.

Just say to yourself, it's over.

I just gotta, I gotta go with the flow now.

Let them get to me.

Everything not happening until now.

I'm set and free so I can be happy.

I can be happy.

Living life easy.

Feel so much better.