It doesn’t matter how gangster a car is or how much money is sank into it; when you’re shooting the car, if the owner isn’t cool then the shoot doesn’t feel cool. You leave the day with a sour taste in your mouth, and that is not something you want to have when you then have to write about the car/day/whatever later on. You have to think to yourself: “why am I shooting this car?” . I have met so many photographers who, as soon as you chat and start learning about them, you start to realise they shoot cars for THEIR photography or for THEIR source. Once you start featuring cars primarily to keep your work constant, in my opinion, you have lost all hope right there. Myself, I shoot cars to get a closer look at the car, maybe go for a few rides and to hang with someone who has the same thought process as myself, not just so I can get more work on my table.
This weekend past I put a shoot together, and it really hammered home how the cars and the photography just don’t matter. It is all about the bros…without them, shit just wouldn’t be fun. I would merely be taking pics for the hell of it, which is definitely not why I even started taking snaptures.
Sunday is normally a pretty chilled day for me. I am either at an event or editing/writing about one I had recently covered. However, I had been planning this shoot for a while now and was looking forward to the day (shit, I think everyone was amped for it). I had planned a full day for this; the whole shooting match: two locations, some highway cruising and a mad feed at a good eatery. So, woke up retardedly early on a day that you should be sleeping in on and got ready. Before I knew it, my mate Charlie and I were on our way to DFO to meet the crew. Sun was out, good weather, shit was going to be rad. We arrived at the DFO, got a feed at The Coffee Club (oh man, bacon and eggs go down so well) and headed out to spot numero uno.
Rolling on the highway heading towards spot one. Not hard to guess what car make dominated this shoot, the way the Civics (and Charlie’s MX) owned the road was just insane win. People were looking at us like they wanted to be us, riding so low and having a bunch of fun shooting cars while holding traffic up.
Matyi all smiles, and who wouldn’t be with the laughs we were having. Foy going to retarded lengths (literally, look at that facial expression haha) to get a good shot.
Saw this triumph, it was cool…I took a pic.
Sitting at some lights, few bros missing due to traffic light hold ups.
Got to the first spot, parked up and decided to go have a wander around the premise. Somehow no one managed to contract aids from this joint.
We threw Alex’s EG into the cave first, primarily because he was parked first in line. Started setting the gear and what not up, pretty awesome place to shoot I must admit, worked out way better than even I planned. The colour of Alex’s car is so gangster, even my Dad loves it.
All the boys hanging around shooting the shit, except for one person. The owner of the car getting shot, Alex. I wonder where he could be?
Check this fool out. His name is Alex, and he drank WAY too much the night before. I think we counted 5 yacks (vomits) during the day. What a piker haha.
Next up was Ash’s phenomenal EG. I struggle to even find words to sum up this car in all honesty. There is a more in depth feature coming soon with the pro shots of it, so keep an eye out. So I guess I better start thinking of how I can truly explain this car to you all, because when you see it in person, you really do drop your jaw. The public was snapping their necks at it, wondering why the hell it was so low, and probably just oggling the godlike BBS’s. So many props to Ash.
We shot Charlie’s MX5 at this spot as well, except it was shot in the rear garage where getting a pic was only possible with the big flash stands. More to come of his later.
It was mid day already so we bailed to get some food from Nandos. Best chicken around, awesome feed, I think everyone dug it. Lots of shit was spoken, heaps of car talking, and unbelievable amounts of laughs. Specially from one particular story, which we have already got heat online from. But hey, I can’t resist telling you all this story.
Basically, Ash and the boys dedicated a weekend to pulling out his B16A. The story goes that someone, let’s call him ‘Hotdog Man’, offered to come help as he had apparently done copious engine swaps and was a pro. So he rolled over, looked at the engine, told Tom to go get an engine crane before even unbolting the engine and then disappeared for 10 minutes. Ash, Tom and the others sat down, and next thing Hotdog Man walked out and sat down with a plate of five hot dogs. He proceeded to eat four of those hot dogs and feed the last one to the dog. One can imagine that Ash’s mum made the hotdogs for each person, but this guy was hungry. He then left after eating the hot dogs. Ash and the crew went on to pull a feat of pure insanity pulling out the B16A and putting in his new B18CR in 2 days wiring it up and all. Legends through and through.
But seriously, that is by far the funniest story I have ever heard. I just picture him slowly eating the hot dogs in front on the others. Must have been practicing for a hotdog eating comp or something.
Driveways…a dumped Hondas worst nightmare.
Got separated on the way to the second spot due to this set of lights having a turn signal that lasted as long as hotdogs at Ash’s house during an engine swap.
Tom, Charlie and myself made it through but had to wait for the others.
*Private road*.
Saw this RS4 wannabe….it was lame. I took a picture.
Fucking traffic lights. Also have a look at Ben at the back on the blower. If I was a cop you would be jacked bro.
Finally got to the second spot, which was MASSIVE. Here you can see us shooting Emilio’s EG while the others shoot the shit and yell at us.
Got some dope group shots. You should of heard the amount of swearing and general payouts that were used when we were positioning the cars. Luckily there were no nuns around. Although, why the hell would there be? Also notice that we colour coded the group shoot haha.
Finished the day off with some more laughs and chats. Also with Tom telling some weird ass story about a girl who did a 9m shit…
After that we all had some hugs and parted ways. Got some shots of everyone leaving so I could say their name and also give them a nickname just for kicks. Also shows who is who and makes you feel like you were there.
Ash “Hotdog mans BFF”
Tom “Enjoys talking about poo”
Aaron “Fashionably late”
Alex “The Spewmachine”
Dan “Cousin It from The Adams Family”
Charlie “I wish I owned a Honda”
Emilio “I love rocket-trains”
Holy shit, what an awesome day. Probably one of the best Sunday I have ever had. I have never laughed so hard in my life, so no doubt this will become a regular occurrence with these bros. Because at the end of the day, it is about the friendship and bromance between everyone. I can see long lasting bromances coming from this day. It really has created such an awesome atmosphere for the lead up to Jamboree as well. If this is what a day is like with 10 or so guys, then imagine it with 30+. Jamboree is going to explode, but again, who cares about the show? I just love spending quality time with my homies, having legendary chats and awesome laughs.
I live for this shit. Much love to all the guys who turned out.