If you’ve ever searched for a book on motorcycle assembly or sheet metal fabrication, chances are you’ve come across a publication with Tim Remus’ name attached to it. Tim, of Stillwater, Minnesota, is owner of Wolfgang Publications with his wife, Mary Lanz. A writer and photographer himself, he admits people get a little confused by all the hats he wears. “Sometimes I’m the publisher and sometimes I’m the writer, sometimes I’m the photographer, and sometimes I’m the writer, photographer, and publisher,” he said. Although Wolfgang has Mary to copyedit and manage two full-time employees plus a part-timer, Tim is also working full-time at whatever task is at hand. “I wear whatever hat is appropriate for that day. Like every other small business person, you’ve just gotta do whatever needs to be done.”

Tim discovered his passion for everything mechanical when he was a kid and honed his abilities by fixing everything from lawnmowers to cars. He attended Dunwoody Industrial Institute, in Minneapolis, and later graduated from the University of Minnesota with a Bachelor of Science degree and a strong interest in writing and photography. He went to work for automotive shops while taking over his first publication, a motorcycle newsletter, with his longtime friend Mikey Urseth, and they turned it into Midwest Rider. Tim became a full time writer and photographer in the mid-1980s by starting his own magazine, Midwest Rod & Machine, with the help of two partners.

But when he began writing books for a publishing company, he quickly realized getting just 12% of the royalties for his work wasn’t going to work for him. That’s when he started Wolfgang Publications and took over the layout, printing, and marketing of his own books and those written by others. Since then he’s published some of the most popular how-to books in the industry, averaging about ten a year, he said. His most recent publication is geared toward hot rod owners. “What we’re doing right now is kinda neat,” Tim said. “It’s a book called How to Air Condition Your Hot Rod, which is a fun deal. It’s written by Jack Chisenhall, who owns Vintage Air [www.vintageair.com]; they’re the biggest after-market air-conditioning kit manufacturer on the planet. Jack and I did a book together about fifteen years ago, so this is really the third iteration of this book. I’m excited about it; it’s been a long time coming.”

Never at a loss for new book ideas, Tim is approached often by writers and photographers. “A lot of people do pitch ideas to me,” he said. “They find me on the Internet, they come from a lot of motorcycle people, and sometimes people will pitch me a totally non-motorcycle book but they found out about me through motorcycles,” he said. “We’ve started another imprint, a company within a company, called ArtKulture [www.artkulture.com]. We’ve had the imprint for about a year. ArtKulture does tattoo books and music books, airbrushing and pinstriping books and things like that. I like the art stuff, the tattoos, although I don’t have any. But I like it.” Fans of Tim’s how-to motorcycle, car, and hot rod books published under the Wolfgang umbrella need not fear; Wolfgang isn’t going anywhere. “I’ll never give up motorcycle stuff,” he said. “If I could do any one thing it would be motorcycle stuff.”

Tim also publishes a calendar every year. “This year it’s a classic Triumph calendar,” Tim said. “I shoot all the images and produce it. It’s a good opportunity to shoot some really nice motorcycles.” Tim also does a few shoots for magazines, usually for longtime friends and business associates. Photography is still a passion of his, and it was the field he’d originally wanted to go into. But as a freelancer, he found it easier to stay employed if he could write and take photographs, he said. “It saves the editor the hassle of hiring the other half. I found it easy to get book projects and magazine projects because I could write and take photographs and I could do both reasonably well; I’d probably get the project before they gave it to someone else just because I could do both. And it probably saves them money too.”

As if the world of photography wasn’t competitive enough, the giant leap in technology has made it possible for everyone to jump onboard the photography bandwagon and even rely on free digital imaging programs to make up for what they might lack in skill. Tim agrees that the impact its had on professional photographers certainly hasn’t gone unnoticed. “I find that because there’s so much digital photography and the cameras are so good, I think there’s less respect for professional photographers now,” he said. “I would hate to do fine art photography right now because I think it’s been diluted by this. I think people’s perception of photography has changed, you don’t get as much respect as you did just because there’s so much photography.” Tim is optimistic about freelance photography, however, and says there will always be a demand for the skill only a professional photographer can deliver.

Books and calendars by Wolfgang Publishing and ArtKulture are distributed by Quayside Distribution, and can be found in Barnes & Noble, Borders, Amazon, and other book sellers. Look for Tim’s photos of a Shadley Bros. bike in the upcoming issue of Barnett’s Magazine on newsstands this spring. To check out a full list of Wolfgang publications, or to read Tim’s blog and technical articles, visit www.wolfpub.com.