Sponsord by Duracell: Punit’s VIP Lexus GS450h

June 11, 2014 / jasonhoang / Leave a comment

Finally got around to shooting Punit’s GS450h since he’s finished with it (for now). I mentioned once before that I always find it funny how I hang out with these guys quite often but they’re the only ones that don’t have proper shoots. It’s always behind the scenes or just a half assed shot cause we were chillin’ somewhere. No one ever really asks for a shoot and I never really think about it because I’m busy trying to get another photoshoot done.

One of the reasons I bring this up is because I think about the last time I shot Punit’s Integra and that was back in May of 2009. I just started shooting, didn’t know much about dSLR’s, had my Canon XT with one lens and just pointed and shot things. Here’s one of the shots from when I just met Punit and saw his car… At the time, this car was a big deal locally. Real wheels (the meisters that are now purple and on Diana’s Fit), mint paint, low for 2009 standards and OEM plus. Hell, even by today’s standards his Integra would be considered clean. No where near aggressive but just comfortable enough for a daily driver during those nice summer days. Lots of things have changed since 2009 and I’ve had shots of it here and there but not a proper shoot. My hope is that Punit gets it all good to go this year and we can get a proper shoot going for him.

Noob status.

…

But I digress. Let’s move onto bigger and better things – Punit’s GS450h. Punit picked up the GS450h shortly after I picked up the LS460L and JC picked up his CT200h – the VIP bug was biting hard and we all wanted to do something different. For me, it came and went quickly – as you can tell, but my story can be saved for another day. However for Punit, he had the luxury and privilege to own a race car and a luxury daily driver. He takes care of his cars and it shows. Punit was quick to get on board and quickly bought a set of AME Shallen LX’s in a perfect fit for the GS body and of course with big wheels means getting the car as low to the ground as possible.

Punit started off with just coils and going as low as he could and drove that way for the first season of ownership. Finally over the winter he worked on getting the car on air suspension – the way a VIP car should be set up. There’s nothing more to say about Punit’s GS – it’s clean, functional, and it breaks necks. The GS is a popular platform and with that, you have a fine line between a half assed car with replica wheels and looks to be built by a former Honda owner OR a proper VIP-inspired car with attention to detail and care which also looks to be built by a former Honda owner. The latter here applies to Punit – I’m also glad to have played a small part in his build and decisions as he’s gone through it to what you see today.

One of my favourite shots of Punit’s GS. The fitment is fire and everything just flows so well.

Lets start off with a few rolling shots…

JC – clean your damn mirrors.

Clean.

Blue skies, green grass, Lexus. What more could you ask for?

Of course – snapped a shot of JC’s car off to the side.

A better shot of the fitment. Tight and tucked.

Anything you can spot here…?

The Mode Luxe side decal looking good. Originally I had created the image and placed it on Punit’s car as a test.

Rear quarter shot. The GS looks good from every angle.

What would a VIP car be without chrome?

A better shot of Punit’s fitment. All that dish in the back too. I love it.

Remember how I said it looks to be built by a Honda owner? Punit just couldn’t resist hanging Asimo with the Junction Produce items… LOL

Rolling to a new location…

Right by the lake. Seemed fitting.

Punit’s tank set up. I personally love love love the look of this. Looks so good in his trunk. Super simple and clean.

Chillin’. I need to get them to hold equipment or something…

Let’s finish off with the rest of the rollers. Looks HDR-ish, but I swear I didn’t touch anything… Polarizer works wonders.

One last one. Blurry – but I liked the concept lol.

Another one in the bag! Hopefully that Integra wakes up soon…

Enter: Tony Dinh’s Lexus IS350 – Part III

April 23, 2014 / jasonhoang / Leave a comment

The final part for Tony’s IS350. If anyone knows me by now from reading my blog, it’s that I have a love/hate relationship with rolling shots. I love them because when everything works out perfectly, it’s a great way to end the shoot. On the rare occasion, I’ll get nada for rolling shots and it’s a total bummer sitting at home after the shoot and finding out nothing came out the way I had intended. Sometimes it just happens with bad lighting, traffic, lack of time, etc. However, that’s not the case this time – Tony’s car was fairly straightforward except for the fact that he has the deadliest combination of wheels to paint colour – dark wheels on a light car… But it ended up working nicely!

Overall – it was a fantastic photoshoot for the first one of the year. Looking forward to doing way more because I slacked uber hard last year until the last minute. Not to mention that everybody has something new for 2014 (it sounds like I say that every year – but it’s a good thing). I personally love the attention to quality that is slowly coming our way with people’s builds and it just makes me itch to photograph them all!

Anyways – huge thanks to Tony for coming out as soon as I had messaged him for this photoshoot. It’s a great one to add to the books.

Nice gold and red combo of the Junction produce Tsuna and Fusa.

Diggin the 3000K DRL’s on this too. It was always one of my favourite first mods on my cars as well.

Of course we need another ass shot! Can’t get over how well the lip and and trunk lip go together.

Light/Shadow shot right under the Bow.

Rollers!

This was a great shot of Tony heading into the core.

The lines of the IS at the front quarter all the way to the back are pretty close to the 08 GS. I also loved this shot because it showed how low Tony rolls on a daily basis.

Another with a more monotone look.

Downtown cruising. Peep the Calgary Tower in the back.

And after the shoot chillin.

I love the side profile of the LS with the long wheelbase. It just looks so ridiculously long hahaha

That’s a wrap for Tony’s photoshoot! Hopefully some good ones to come! Punit just got his air install completed by Jackie last night and we got a few more cars just getting ready now to do more shoots!

Enter: Tony Dinh’s Lexus IS350 – Part II

April 22, 2014 / jasonhoang / Leave a comment

Part 2! We made our way downtown and JC found a new location we haven’t used before and it ended up being perfect in terms of lighting and shadows. The way that the shots turned out looks like it was at night with strobes but it was actually mid day with the sun beaming down with a few clouds in the sky. The way the overhead walkway was positioned and where the sun was coming from was awesome.

Tony’s car shined at this location because it just worked so well with the overall feel of the surroundings. Kudos to JC for this bad ass spot!

The shots turned out great and this is probably my favourite part of all the sets I will be posting. It shows a lot of the details that I enjoyed about Tony’s car that I think you all will like too. You might have guessed it by now but the rear is my favourite. I’m an ass guy. Ha!

Less talk. More pictures!

A great shot showcasing the lighting that I mentioned earlier. I did little in terms of making his car pop in this shot. Always feels good when a shot turns out just how you wanted it.

A better angle from higher up.

Us chillin on the other side. I’m pretty sure this is where JC started editing his hipster picture of the Bow.

FUUUU so dirty. I’ve been lazy to wash it because there’s been and will continue to be constant construction around my house and it will never stay clean so I will never try.

Another one of my favourite shots. That Wald lip spoiler is to die for. I wish the LS had one… The JP Vizage rear lip compliments it well.

More shadows.

A shot of his tucking.

Dual combined artsy shot.

More of that Wald. Can’t get enough.

And finally a shot of his Wald side skirts. Love the look of these as well…

Last part will go up tomorrow!!! If you’ve been around for a while, you’ll know what’s in part 3 😉

Throwback: Danny’s Subaru STI

December 30, 2013December 30, 2013 / jasonhoang / Leave a comment

Just hit me that I haven’t posted Danny’s STI shoot on the blog yet… I posted a few behind the scenes and edits, but never the full shoot. I went back and re-edited them slightly to try and give it a more gloomy feel rather than the warm, sunny look that you might have seen previously. Danny’s STI was really one of the driving forces behind my STI build. He built an STI that I had originally planned on building – using real Chargespeed pieces and Volk TE37’s. In some ways, his car helped me envision some of the elements that I wanted in my own car.

Looking back at my old post: Spy vs Spy – you can see some similarities.

https://lifewithjson.com/2012/07/02/spy-vs-spy/

But I digress… Danny’s car is one of the few that I know has been done up with the best of the best and I love it. The major differences between his car was that his was fast and quiet and mine was fast and loud. He opted to get rid of the “Subaru rumble” that everybody was so familiar with, because he hated it. I wanted to keep it… Because, well, I’m a ricer and I love that shit. Danny daily drives his STI even in the winter – with all parts on except for the TE37’s. I asked him near the start of winter if he had raised it at all and he said “Nope. Too lazy”.
You’ll also notice in some of the pictures that Danny has brought over some elements from his VIP past. Before this, Danny built a VIP GS400 – a beautifully done VIP car fully kitted with Junction Produce parts as seen below…

Now back to his STI…