About AO Media
More Than Just a Moment
AO Media was created to tell the stories behind the helmets. These are stories of grit, growth, and joy found in youth motorsports.
What began as a father capturing his twin sons' journey behind the wheel has grown into something with a much wider purpose. AO Media exists to document and celebrate the emotional, personal, and developmental impact of racing. This is not just about action shots or race results. It is about preserving the moments that build identity, confidence, and connection.
Racing gives kids something few other activities can. It challenges them to rise. It demands focus. And it rewards effort in ways that stay with them long after the checkered flag.
Racing Builds More Than Skill
Motorsports teach more than just technique. Young drivers learn how to handle pressure, how to come back from disappointment, and how to trust themselves in fast-moving, high-stakes situations.
The track becomes a place where discipline and freedom live side by side. A space where kids can take risks, learn through failure, and grow in ways that traditional environments often do not support.
I have seen firsthand how children who may struggle in classrooms or other settings often thrive on the track. Racing gives them structure without confinement. It gives them focus without restriction. And it gives them a chance to develop not just as athletes, but as whole people.
This is where confidence begins. This is where young minds find clarity and young hearts feel proud of what they are capable of.
The Intersection of Mental Health and Motorsports
Alongside my work with AO Media, I am actively engaged in the field of mental health. My focus is on trauma-informed care, emotional resilience, and the systems that shape how we grow, heal, and connect — especially for boys and men who have long been told to keep their emotions buried.
What I’ve come to understand is that youth motorsports holds incredible potential for emotional and psychological development. Racing offers more than competition. It creates a space where young people are allowed to regulate their emotions, build healthy relationships with pressure and challenge, and develop a true sense of identity and belonging.
In many school systems and traditional team sports, kids are asked to sit still, follow rigid rules, and conform. For those with high energy, strong instincts, and quick-thinking minds, this often feels misaligned. Motorsports turns that upside down. It rewards focus, decision-making, spatial awareness, and emotional control. It gives structure without suffocation. It offers freedom with purpose.
And in a world where so many boys are still told to toughen up, stay quiet, and push feelings aside, racing becomes something powerful. It becomes a space where intensity, emotion, and self-expression are not only accepted but required. These young drivers are not just learning how to compete. They are learning how to face fear, stay grounded under pressure, and come back stronger after setbacks.
AO Media lives in that space. It exists where story, sport, and emotional growth come together. The goal is not simply to document these moments but to honor them. To validate the experience. To reflect the pride and effort behind each race. And to remind kids and families that what they are doing matters — not just on the racetrack, but in life.
About Patrick
I’m Patrick. I am a father, a visual storyteller, and someone who has spent much of his life learning what it means to truly heal and be seen.
For years, I worked in residential design and construction, building physical spaces for people to live in. The work was creative and demanding, and it taught me how to bring structure and beauty into form. But over time, my focus shifted. I began to realize that what people often need most is not just a place to live, but a place to feel connected. Connected to themselves, to others, and to something larger than their daily routines.
Today, I build something different. Through AO Media, I create space for stories to unfold. Stories of growth, resilience, and becoming. I also work in the mental health field with a focus on trauma-informed care and emotional well-being. I am especially passionate about supporting boys and men as they reconnect with parts of themselves that the world often tells them to hide or silence.
Motorsports became a powerful lens through which I saw all of this come together. I watched my sons come alive on the track. I saw how structure and speed created focus, how risk gave way to confidence, and how the racing community offered them something many kids are missing. They found belonging. In these moments, something deeper was happening. Behind the intensity and motion, there was presence. There was clarity. There was a kind of awareness that felt timeless.
Racing creates a space where young people experience a shift in consciousness. It invites a deep engagement with the moment, where mind, body, and emotion come into alignment. For many kids, especially those who do not thrive in traditional systems, this is where they begin to see themselves differently. They access something grounded, something intuitive, something real.
AO Media exists where my love for photography and film meets my belief that every young person deserves to be recognized not just for what they accomplish, but for who they are becoming. This work is about more than capturing action. It is about honoring meaning.
This is not just photography and film. This is presence. This is purpose. This is how we remember the moments that shape us, one frame at a time.