#WagonLife Part 2: Jimmy’s BMW 328i Wagon – Winter Edition

October 9, 2018 / jasonhoang / 1 Comment

Had a chance to do another photoshoot with Jimmy on the weekend but this time it was inside VEX and his new winter wheels for his wagon. Originally, we were supposed to get together to do a Fall shoot on his TE37’s when the leaves were all orange/yellow but Mother Nature decided to skip Fall altogether and just get straight to winter. It never fails around here…

There was a bunch of snow on the ground and while the leaves were indeed yellow – it wouldn’t be much of a Fall shoot with snow on the ground too. Instead, I asked Jimmy if he had space inside the shop to shoot and well… There was more than enough space in there… I took some separate shots around the shop that I’ll share later, but we’ll stick to keeping this post to be Jimmy’s car only.

This shoot was a little different for me as I haven’t really shot inside a shop before – I was excited for this because it allowed my creative juices to start flowing. The thing about shooting inside a shop is that you’ve got limited angles and a lot of distractions that are not easily avoidable. You’ll see that once you start scrolling, you’ll notice a lot of other cars in the pictures and things laying around. When I photograph cars, I really like to use my surroundings as part of the picture rather than trying to avoid it altogether. I find that if you can manipulate the things around you properly, it creates a sense of separation rather than it just being “in the way”. You’ll find that in my pictures here – I used a lot of vignetting – which I don’t normally do – but I think it helped create a nice sense of isolation for Jimmy’s car in the shop and by colour-grading it to be a little more cool and crisp – your eyes always look at the car before everything else. As I previously said, I’m not trying to make you guys ignore everything else in the shop because they’re there as part of the picture – However, I do want the first and last thing you look at in the picture to be Jimmy’s car. The windows and the shop lights helped create spot lights and illumination for me to play with which was really fun to do… Let me know what you guys thought of this set.

Jimmy sitting really low on the BBS’s

One of my favourite shots of the day was this one. The rear garage door windows and the white lights paired with the white paint was perfect.

A shot here used a lot of shadows and miscellaneous parts sitting around the shop but Jimmy’s car still stands out perfectly well.

Jimmy’s TE37’s sitting on the bottom left corner of this pic… We’ll get pics of these on someday…

A close up Jimmy’s new BBS RGR’s and studded Hakkapelitas. Ready to dominate winter.

It’s hard to not love this front end – it’s so aggressive and clean.

The iconic BMW headlights

Is this Need for Speed or what?

VEX had A LOT of room for activities and lots of spaces I could go and walk around to get multiple angles. This was another good example of that.

Wallpaper?

Can anyone recognize the JDM Icon on the left there? Or was Jimmy’s wagon too distracting to even notice?

Hint: it’s red. lol

The sun was perfect that day as it shined through the windows. I always get lucky with the light when shooting with Jimmy.

A rear shot of the RGR’s

Up close and personal

I really need this wagon in my life. That rear is just so good. But I’m also an ass man… So I could be biased.

And a quick shot outside in the yard to show you I wasn’t kidding about the snow in the middle of Fall. Orange/yellow leaves and snow on the ground. Brutal.

End. You likely haven’t seen the last of Jimmy’s wagon – I’ve still got a date with him and the TE37’s so whenever the weather cooperates with us is when we’ll shoot – whether that be this year or next…

Adios! Stay tuned for some side shots of VEX in a separate post…

The True Bavarian Beast: Tommy’s ga”M3″over

June 2, 2015June 3, 2015 / jasonhoang / Leave a comment

Finally getting to some photo shoots!! I’m pretty stoked about the next few ones that I have coming up for you guys because they are quality, quality, quality. That’s the number one thing that really inspires me to shoot to the best of my ability – someone who puts in the time and let’s not forget money, into their cars because they don’t believe in compromise. Builds that move forward with that mindset naturally gravitate towards being amazing.

It’s truly rare to find a build that reflects the owner – Tommy is the exception – there are no cut corners and no lack of quality in his choice of parts or workmanship when it comes to fitting them. Let me step back a bit… Tommy is Diana’s (second) cousin for what it’s worth, so I’ve known Tommy and his M3 for a few years now and in many ways, I’ve heard and seen about his build but never truly got to take it in or appreciate what it was all worth. I’ve seen his car every year for the past few years in Driven, and every year he walks away with an award – no surprises either, as you’ll see when you start scrolling through the pictures. His car has made significant progress as time goes on and my God, the progress is definitely notable. No amount of words in this post could sum up the details in his M3… But I’ll try my best. Tommy is an extremely modest guy – you wouldn’t really guess that this was his car, but once you start talking to him, the pieces start to fit together.

This photoshoot happened the day after Driven – perfect timing since the cars are as clean as they can be. Tommy and I have been trying to touch base over the last few years to get the photoshoot done but our schedules never really matched up. I *think* I caught it in its prime – unless of course Tommy has more planned. Anyway, this was a super fun shoot – I do regret not taking more shots (lack of engine bay shots – fail on my part)… But Tommy has agreed to lend me any of his BMW’s for a photoshoot anytime… Yes, there are more in his stable. 🙂

Enough chit chat! More M3!

We’ll start it off with a roller…

Upon first look, you might not be able to see everything that I might have alluded to earlier… But it’s coming.

He sits on a set of 19″ BBS FI’s and an upgraded Brembo GT BBK behind them in white. When BBS first released the FI’s, I wanted them so bad. When I saw the price of them, I decided that I didn’t even like them that much anymore. Note: lying to yourself doesn’t make you feel better.

A closer look will show you it’s no regular M3… Those familiar with G-Power will know what I mean.

A somewhat closer look at the wheel and brake kit. Also a good look at the Vorsteiner GTS-V bumper. Beauitful.

Even closer and you’ll see BBS lugnuts

Check that rear… Paired with a Varis rear upper and lower diffuser. I personally love that he brought Varis into the build – they are killing it in the aftermarket game right now.

The majestic beast sits quietly on Ohlins TTX36 coilovers

Inside, the details just keep coming. Afterall, this is where all the fun starts, right? Tommy upgraded the seats to BMW Performance Seats retrofitted with power and a full wrap with Alcantara.

Paired with his BMW Performance seats, Tommy chose Schroth Rallye Cross 4-pt harnesses. Surrounding the interior is BMW Performance carbon trim.

Behind that is a rare BMW OEM GTS roll cage powder coated in white with a BMW OEM GTS rear seat delete.

And below all that sits a Halotron fire extinguisher – a nice finishing touch.

Some more details with the rear include a Vorsteiner double sided carbon trunk. The paint has been faded so you can see that lip of carbon as well.

Another roller 🙂

A closer look at the rear of Tommy’s M3 and you’ll see the matte look to the exhausts… which only means Titanium. Akrapovic Evo exhaust to be clear.

One more look at the wheel/brake combo. Just massive… You can also get a small peak at the carbon side skirts

This view – probably a very quick view if you happen to be in front of him at the track – shows a little more detail… BMW Performance carbon mirror caps. “Something” behind that grill…

Before this all ends, I want to say (as I said earlier) that I fully regret not taking engine bay pics – I don’t know what got over me. So I’ll lay it all out here for all of you wondering…

Tommy has fitted his M3 with a G-Power SKII CS Supercharger – as previously hinted by his replaced badges. Along with all of that, he’s added Vishnu Proceed with Meth injection and WPC treated OEM rod bearings and bolts. The M3 on its own is no slouch – with the help of G-Power… Oh the places you’ll go.

A closer look at the aggressive front.

A side profile. That hood hump. It’s also a good angle to see just how massive those rear rotors are.

That carbon roof…

Done! Huge thanks to Tommy for giving me the opportunity to shoot his car – he brought along his brother-in-law (Randy) as well who owns a sick Lotus Exige… Coming soon.

Kraft(werks) Fed: Terence Wah’s Subaru BRZ

August 28, 2014 / jasonhoang / 1 Comment

This shoot is a little more close to home for me – mainly because it’s pretty much the same platform, just badged differently and in a fancier suit and tie. Terence has actually gone through a decent array of cars since I’ve known him and I was surprised and excited when I found out he had a BRZ, and even more excited when I heard he had already supercharged it! When I first met Terence back in 2009 – he was building an S2000 and at the time (keep in mind this was 5 years ago), this was – and still is – a very good set up for a car that was beaten around the track whenever Terence could get out there. He has always been function-oriented, using mods that worked and looked good. I believe a year later, he had a J’s Racing hood, J’s Racing Wing, he changed the wheel set up to Volk RE30’s in a more aggressive fitment and paired it with Spoon brakes for the track.

Shortly after that, he got his hands on every Honda fanboys dream car – the NSX and while the dream was achieved, he didn’t hold it for too long. It sat in the garage most of the time and as much as he wanted to enjoy the car like it should’ve been, things just never worked out – and so they ended their relationship.

A shot I took way back in 2009 of his S2000 in its early stages. This was when I was still fairly new to shooting and practicing my skills and one of the rollers I took during this shoot made it into Import Tuner’s back page snapshots which became my first shot to ever be in print (as small as it was).

Enter Terence’s Subaru BRZ with a Kraftwerks Supercharger right beside the heart of the Boxer. Again, nothing much has changed in terms of Terence’s vision of building cars – functional and simple – and sometimes that’s all you need to have a car that you can just enjoy and not worry about e-fame or status.

One of the things you’ll notice is that he’s got the STI-style lip kit on to give the stock body a little more aggressiveness.

The BRZ headlights was one of the first things I fell in love with when I was in the market for a BRZ. This, along with push start button were the only two things that I liked on the BRZ over the FRS. Even though I would have changed it all out for something else anyway…

Nice little gurney flap on his wing.

Terence’s BRZ sits on KW V3’s – a perfect choice for the FRS/BRZ platform.

The shoes are BBS CH-R’s

The obligatory mirror shot – and JC’s mirrors are clean for once. (Have they ever been clean?)

Got into a nice alleyway and it worked nicely with the white. Reminded me slightly of my photoshoot with my old STI way back when…

Random rear shot and I would’ve put more effort into this if JC wasn’t in the way…

So I decided to take a quick shot of his car even though it was in the way just to be nice before rolling out.

Oops one more with the lights on 🙂

This shot makes me excited for some reason. I think it’s because I can’t wait to start modding the FRS and seeing something come together so simply with good quality parts makes me happy. The FRS/BRZ platform is so popular that it’s difficult to differentiate your car from everyone else – I usually compare the FRS/BRZ to the shadow of an S2000 – it is significantly cheaper brand new, it’s RWD, it’s essentially a 2-seater and it has parts for days from some of the best manufacturers out there to the cheapest ones. The combinations are endless and I often find myself shopping for one part for a week straight because there’s just so many.

Stopped by a gas station to feed the beast.

Here’s a good shot of the front end with the intercooler sitting behind the grill…

Reminds me of a Panda theme. I dig it.

Under that hood sits the main attraction…

Kraftwerks Supercharger – installed by Compact Tuning Lab, pushes about 270WHP according to Kraftwerks. He has yet to dyno it for true numbers but Terence said he’ll be getting to it soon as there is a race track slated to open up in Drumheller next year (we hope) and I’m sure you’ll see this there.

Still weird for me to see Toyota and Subaru under the same hood. It’s cool and all but still kind of weird.

An overhead shot of his engine bay – very clean and simple.

One more of the Kraftwerks power plant.

And the last one to close off. This shoot made me order parts…

Flashback: Almond’s Mercedes G500 & BMW 335

January 13, 2014 / jasonhoang / Leave a comment

Time for another little throwback… Again I apologize for the lack of any relevant content lately. I haven’t had the time to pick up my camera to shoot anything, not that there is anything much to shoot… I think I also feel a little uninspired lately. There’s a lot of exciting things going on that the last thing I really think about is picking up my camera and shooting. In a few days, it’ll be exactly 2 months until we move into the new crib and then another 7 months until the wedding. So you can imagine that there’s a lot of things going on in my mind and the last thing I’m really thinking about is my car. Although, I do want to start driving it again.

This throwback is back to Almond’s two cars – his daily, winter beating Mercedes G500 – which you really don’t see much of, and his summer fun car – BMW 335 full of Dinan goodies the last I remember. The reason I decided to do a post on Almond’s cars is mainly because we’ve been talking lately about shoes and whatnot, so that naturally reminded me of the shot I took of his wife in her Louboutins – a popular shot that I took and one of my personal favourites. I believe Almond also ended up printing it in high res and put it up in his house!

Almond really is one of the most down to earth guys and is a very humble guy that I am happy to have met. I met him when I got a job at Apple – little did I know that we’d soon have lots in common – the love of cars, fashion, photography… The usual. When I found out that he had the G-wagon and the 335, I was excited and happy – not because he owned those particular cars, but because it’s hard to find someone that “loves” cars and shares the same passion as you do. I’ve met lots of people that love cars, but their love might have meant an upgraded shift knob or some altezza lights. Same kind of love, but different type of passion. The moment Almond said “BBS”, I said “Stop, you need not say more”. #NoHomo

Anyways, I decided to also try a different style of editing on Almond’s pictures. I’m not gonna lie, I’m becoming a huge fan of VSCO and their edits (thanks to Alex Mack for telling me about it after I told him I spent $1.00 on camera+ lol). It’s also becoming quite a popular edit among photographers and you see it lots for people/object edits, but I haven’t quite seen it flow into the automotive photography side just yet. We’re still in the “sun flare” and slight HDR look – which is still a great look, but I wanted to try something a little different. It seems to work for some shots, but not all even though I applied it to all. I’ll see how I feel about it as I try it out more…

Let’s start off with that infamous shot of his wife and her Louboutins and his G-wagon in the back…

The edit works well here. The depth of field and the red sole… drool.

I almost cried as I was editing this picture. I feel my eyes watering as I write this… I’ll just keep scrolling before I start tearing up again.

His G500

Massive wheels that look dwarfed by the size of the G500

Also brought along his 335…

Almond also let me take his fisheye for a spin as well.

And boy, did I have fun with that…

JC’s Corolla!

Downtown Calgary and of course – cranes.

Great profile. Perfect for a summer fun car.

Two of them together.

Oh God, here come the tears… Keep scrolling, keep scrolling….

Rolling shots for days

I never ended up editing this shot but with the new edit, it works well. One of my pet peeves are blurry pictures, but sometimes (just sometimes) it works…