Kyle Carbert’s Bagged Nismo Nissan Juke

Back on that photoshoot train again – trying to fit in what I can before winter comes. I still have a few more to do but it’s been so hard fitting things in with all these weekend plans lately. This shoot alone took a week of going back and forth with Kyle to schedule properly and to find time that would work for the both of us.

We settled on an afternoon shoot just outside of Calgary and although the BC fires aren’t a good thing – the smoke that drifted over that afternoon gave a nice hazy look to the sky and also filtered out the sun a little bit so that it wasn’t so glaring. I was pretty stoked to shoot Kyle’s Juke as I’ve never shot one before and it was nice to shoot something a little different this time around. Sometimes all you need is a totally different platform to give some inspiration to new angles or shots.

Take a look see…

One of my favourite rollers of the day was this sunset cliff shot.

JC providing me with his companion service once again. Honestly, 99% of my rolling shots wouldn’t be possible without JC. Almost every single one of them that I’ve done over the years has been with him. He knows where to go, when to speed up and slow down… He’s my rolling shot soul mate.

Some more rollers…

 

Kyle’s interior was also a pleasant sight as it was clean and well kept. Sometimes you get to photoshoots and they just completely forgot about cleaning the inside. His steering wheel was also customized where he had the bottom flattened to be a D-shape and then got it wrapped to be thicker. A very nice and minimalistic touch.

Kyle also traded his stock seats for a pair of Nismo Recaros – a very nice pair of seats in person all while retaining all the stock air bags and sensors.

A few more very clean and interesting touches was the hardline/tank set up in the back. Again, very minimalistic and clean. Kyle did the work himself on this and after having air myself and knowing some of the headaches it can have – I applaud Kyle for getting this all done on his own. Nice little Baymax sticker to finish it off as well.

Way before we got the Rav4 Hybrid, I was contemplating the Juke but it just didn’t have enough room in the back for stroller and kid things… That’s partially why I was excited to be able to shoot this. Living vicariously through Kyle’s build, I suppose.

The sun was just at the right spot for us that smoggy evening…

Me and JC posted up. Dynamic duo.

Kyle’s Juke retains a lot of it’s stock simplicity with a few additional touches here and there. It looks very good on it’s own but the red accents stand out well against the white and black.

I know the front of the Juke is quite different than most cars but that’s kind of what I like about them. It looks wicked IMO.

One of my dilemmas when trying to pick a location for Kyle’s Juke was whether I wanted it to be in urban/cityscape or nature. I opted for nature because I think it just suits the car well – it’s a compact cross-over and although it’s bagged and not really meant for any type of nature trek, it’s still it’s natural habitat despite its’ ‘equipment’ lol.

A very well-fitting set up with the Rotiforms.

A further shot of his tank set up

One other thing you might notice is that his over-fenders are paint matched – which is not usually done on the Juke until you get to the higher models. Something I personally didn’t notice until Kyle aired out. It’s much more noticeable when the body gets closer to the wheels that they’re paint matched as it flows much better this way.

That’s all folks! Thanks for watching!

Rocket Bunny V2 x Arise Sport

Finally a photoshoot! Man, it’s been a crazy summer – 1.5 weeks to go before baby comes, so I mean – it could happen 30 minutes from now or it could be another 2 weeks before we’re +1 in the family. Personally, I’m hoping it’s 30 minutes from now but you can’t rush a good thing, I suppose…

Anyway, I recently just spoke with Steve at Sunday School and we got talking about his build. We’ve chatted on and off over the last year or so and he’s been saying his RB FRS is coming together but slowly… At Sunday School, he was stoked to tell me that it was done! Fast forward a few days and he suggests that we should do a photoshoot together. I’m down as long as Diana isn’t in labour or baby isn’t already here.

Some background information – Steve is also a photographer, but he doesn’t shoot cars. He shoots people and weddings – the complete opposite of what I like to shoot. The fun begins when my good friend Steve suggests that we should do a photoshoot during the golden hours of the morning to get some good light. In my defense, “golden hours” means 8 or 9 AM. To a “people” photographer, I guess that means 5 or 6 AM, on a Sunday, the day after a late wedding we were just at.

Whatever – I’m game – I’ve stayed out for late photoshoots, I’ve done harsh-lighting mid-day photoshoots, I’ve done my definition of “golden hour” photoshoots at 9 AM but I’ve never done true golden hour photoshoots… And I’m always up for something new. So this post begins at 5AM…

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We agreed to meet at a gas station near Cross Iron at 6AM. The roads were dead, my eyes were burning, and the clerk was looking at me like I was crazy. The sky was beautiful though.

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So I couldn’t resist taking some snaps while the car was still super clean.

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We double-teamed the shoot with no usual help and that was fine. The roads were dead on the way out to the location so I attempted rolling shots on my own. I couldn’t miss the opportunity to capture the sunrise behind us.

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I’ll admit, if I could get up this early all the time for photoshoots – I would. This is the type of light you can’t get no matter what and it’s just so calming. The roads are so empty that it becomes more of a relaxing drive at this time. Although my eyes were dry as hell, it’s hard to deny it was a good time.

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We got to the first spot but didn’t stay there long. I think I took this one shot and that was it. Mainly because we got up this early but we weren’t taking advantage of the sunrise. Everything around us was blocking it… So we moved on quick.

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We found a road with some nice S curves and the sunrise right behind it so we parked right in the middle and did our thing. The nice thing about shooting at 6 AM is that no one is even going to be on that road to bother you.

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Two of the same cars, two different styles. It’s nice to shoot them together because you see how different they can actually be built.

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Steve’s car on Rotiforms and mine on Volks. Differences in approach are evident all the way around the car.

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I will say this – Rocket Bunny has some wicked looking body kits that genuinely compliment the shape of the car and its’ lines. I enjoy every car they have a kit for. Steve’s FRS just has an aggressive stance and it just looks good. It’s one thing to see RB in pictures and another to see it in person.

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Nose to nose.

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Only at a few points in my life of owning the FRS have I wanted to put a widebody on my car. I like the stock lines too much and I honestly dread the day that I decide I don’t want them anymore – what I would do with cut up rear quarters LOL. This shot in particular makes me want it real bad.

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Out back, Steve got custom blast pipes made.

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Wide load.

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By this time, the sun was coming up but the sky was still pale and the sun wasn’t harsh. Absolutely awesome light.

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Shot of Steve doing this thing… Which by the way, I hope to share when he’s done editing.

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On the other hand, like I mentioned – I enjoy the stock curves a little more. One of the reasons I absolutely love the Arise kit is that it accentuates the lines nicely. Not that no other kit does, but the Arise bumper does a good job of taking all the stock body lines and pulling them down and towards the middle.

That’s one of my pet peeves about all the kits that are available – it looks like companies just put something together and basically disrespected the body lines altogether. FRS kits are not the only ones – there are plenty out there…

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Ass shot. I love the wide look.

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One of my favourite shots… Bunny in the wild

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On the way back – the sun was getting a bit harsh and was against me but still nice shots nonetheless.

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Look at that rear quarter. DAMN!

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Well, we parted ways here. I decided to take one last shot of before taking my exit. *Cue Wiz Khalifa – See you again*

Would I ever wake up at 5 AM again? Yes. Under these conditions: I slept early the night before, and it isn’t on a Sunday or weekday. I’m still catching up on rest as I write this.

Poorform: Jimmy’s 2JZ Lexus GS

OK time to start the week off right! And what better way to do it than to end off the PoorForm triple threat photoshoot with Jimmy’s 2JZ GS!

I was originally supposed to get this up on the weekend but I ended up getting caught up in a bunch of things – my broken phone being one of them. However, this was one of the shoots I really wanted to share the most. Of the three cars I shot that weekend, I got the most shots of Jimmy’s GS. I would also like to add that I didn’t intentionally try to take less shots of the others at all – it just happened that a lot of the spots we went to were more suited for his GS.

There’s just so much to this car that it’s impossible for me to list it all out without it sounding like a magazine feature or article. Ultimately that’s not what my goal is on the blog – it’s just to showcase the cars that are happy to come out and let me point my camera at them and for you guys to see. A lot of the guys that I ask to come shoot with me have put a lot of blood, sweat, tears, and most importantly – money, into their cars and I appreciate them giving me that opportunity. I know it’s nothing close to a magazine feature but it’s enough for me to keep doing what I love doing. The best part of it all is that I get the even greater pleasure of shooting cars that don’t come out all that often – some only come out to shows. Some are garage queens that only see the owner to come wipe them every few days. Others get driven hard and are recognized by the community. Whatever the case is, it’s always a great time – Jimmy’s GS is one to go down as one of the crazier builds I’ve been able to shoot.

Let’s see why…

At first glance you’ll see a huge Greddy intercooler sitting up front and rarely seen Rotiform super concave NUE’s for shoes.

Out back is the meatiest tire ever and I absolutely love it. The wheels out back are 13″ wide and even the 325’s look stretched on them. Wait till you see it from the rear…

Shot of his fronts. Jimmy’s got an Endless Race 6 big brake kit with E slit rotors. It’s hard to see in person but the fit and finish of the Rotiforms are amazing. The colour of the centers reflecting onto the lip give it a slightly darker tone and it’s awesome.

Shot of the rear. Here you can kind of see that “slate/grey” tone in the lips.

325’s… Monstrous.

Up close and personal with the Greddy intercooler. Behind it sits a Koyo race radiator that you’ll see in the engine bay pics later.

That shot from the rear. Very minimal camber so that Jimmy can put as much of the 325 tire down as possible under the custom rolled and pulled fenders. Another awesome part of the rear is actually the Junction Produce 3 piece spoiler that’s been molded in. It’s seamless up close. To compliment the JP spoiler, he’s also got the L-Sportline roof spoiler as well.

The view from the front… or your view when you see it coming up in your rear view mirror. Jimmy’s plans for the headlights are to retrofit LS460 projectors in to finish off the front and compliment the TRD grille.

Profile shot of his wheel/brake set up.

Rolling from the rear quarter.

While we’re at another full body shot – a few other plans Jimmy talked about was getting his Vertex aero kit installed paired with an HKS Kansai hood and have it all brought together and repainted using the Lexus LFA 1F2 metallic silver. That should be the creme de la creme for it all once it’s done.

A shot of his engine bay and the monster 2JZ-GTE VVTi. There’s really just way too much to list, but if you’re really interested then you can post in the comments and I’d be happy to share them since Jimmy shared it with me. But in between the plethora of HKS goodies, Jimmy has quality parts left, right and center. I’m sure you can see a bunch just by looking at the picture… HKS T51R Turbo, HKS SQV, Cusco strut bar, a few custom PoorForm parts like his motor mounts and 30-40LS transmission.

Another shot of the wheels. Can’t get enough.

A shot for the ricer in me.

That big ol’ turbo.

Cusco strut bar…

His suspension – a set of Zeal Function PF custom short stroke coilovers have been custom valved to his liking.

On the inside, the HKS goodies don’t stop. He’s got the HKS AFK wideband/knock amp.

Over on the right side, he’s got the HKS EVC 5 boost controller.

Jimmy’s cockpit doesn’t get overlooked either. This GS is more of a sport-VIP look and I can totally dig it. He’s got a Bride Vorga CF seat with a Takata 4 pt harness. Up front is a Nardi steering wheel (Ridox Orido Edition – which is #1/200) mated to a Worksbell hub. His cluster is a TRD Aristo 320K cluster that was wired in by Jimmy.

Up close of the weave. It’s all in the weave, don’t you know?

A closer shot of his customer rolled and pulled rear fenders. Nicely done.

Again, it doesn’t stop at the engine or the wheels or even his interior, Jimmy also made sure to include some audio too. Ranging from Focal, Steg and Pioneer pieces.

The final shot of the shoot was the three PoorForm cars together. The final post to all of this!

Thanks again to Jimmy and Steph for coming out and spending the afternoon with JC, Rich and myself and letting us shoot the cars. It’s not everyday you get to shoot three Lexus’s that are all on point!

Again – there are way too many mods to list, and I missed a bunch so if anyone is interested, post in the comments and I’ll reply back with it.