Imagining a parallel timeline where The Chronicles had its own original Netflix series called “SPEED AND STYLE” with a Top Gear-style format for the fourth installment of my “Portrait of an Icon” series for Meguiar’s…
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Extras, Outtakes, and More Details From The Meguiar’s 2000s “Import Tuner” Shoot…
I had an unnecessary amount of fun putting this project together. From start to finish I couldn’t have been happier with the results. To be fair, it was quite a bit of work and a lot of planning involved but it’s oh so satisfying when everything comes together the way I envisioned. Once I figured out what photos I wanted, how the cover needed to be laid-out, and all the little details, I had a good feeling it would be well-received. Everybody loves nostalgia, especially car enthusiasts. Just to be able to look back at a time when everything felt new and their were no rules is amazing. The early 2000s represented a very different time in the automotive tuning community. There were no ‘standards’ set and people were really free to express themselves with their cars. Now it seems like more of a popularity contest than anything. Everybody just wants to be ‘someone’ on social media. Everyone wanted to stand-out and be someone back then as well, but there was no social media yet. The only platform for comparison was real life interaction and you didn’t have thousands and thousands of people to compare yourself with everyday. There was less pressure amongst your peers because the sample-size was much smaller. Sure the styles were a bit over the top back then but honestly, it’s not like everyone has it figured out in 2021. We’re all just in a bigger pond now thanks to the internet. I don’t want to go too far off into a tangent about this entire subject so let me get back to the Meguiar’s project…
Meguiar’s “Portrait of an Icon” 2000s-Era Shoot…
One of these is not like the others. For the next installment of the Meguiar’s “Portrait of an Icon” series, we leave the ‘90s and head into “The Furious 2000s”. When I first agreed to be one of the creators on this project and understanding it’s theme, the first decade I thought of was the 2000s.
This was a pivotal time for me and a turning point that lead me into a life of cars and also becoming a freelance journalist for various magazines catered to our community. I eventually would work for Import Tuner magazine but by then, much had changed. My favorite era of the magazine was from 99-2002. The cover spreads during that period are burned into my memory. My favorite being the LJ Garcia/Francine Dee issue.
When I came onto this project, the first concept I came up with was to pay homage to that magazine. What I needed was a studio with an infinity wall, the perfect car and a model outfitted to fit Import Tuner’s style for the time.
You’d think that finding the car would be the hardest, but right here in SoCal I had a gem in Sean Stell’s FEEL’S widebody Civic. He’s had the car since 2001 and he even had a set of Racing Hart C5s to match.
For the model, I called in a favor to an old friend and convinced her to come out of retirement to grace the faux cover. She had been on the cover before but in IT’s later years and always wanted to have a shot similar to the covers from the 2000s. I’m so glad Jenn Q was down to help.
My original concept was for it to be a behind-the-scenes look at an IT shoot with a stand-in photographer, model being prepped and Sean cleaning his wheel. What ended-up happening was me laying out an entire cover spread with a few sample pages inside to match the actual aesthetic of the magazine. I used all my favorite elements of Import Tuner from that era to re-create the cover and those who collected them will instantly recognize all the little details. I even create a calendar spread since those were popular then.
At a glance you wouldn’t even know that it wasn’t actually real. Thanks to all involved who made this possible, it was a ton of fun putting this one together and a dream come true for me to execute my vision.
Meguiar’s “Portrait of an Icon” 90s-Era Shoot and Unpublished Photos…
Earlier this year, I was contacted by Meguiar’s and invited to be one of five creator’s to be on their “Portrait of an Icon” campaign to celebrate their 120-year anniversary. I was honestly a little surprised at first to hear from them since there are so many good content creators out there in the industry but was deeply honored when I got the details of what the project was all about. It was to be a generational piece, spanning five-decades from the 1980s to the 2020s, each themed according to the time period and the main caveat being that there had to be a “Meguiar’s Easter Egg” hidden in the photo. Each photo must have one of their products, that existed during that particular generation, present. It didn’t have to be blatant or in your face, and just had to appear somewhere within the photo. Think “Where’s Waldo” type of hiding, which is basically hiding in plain sight. The more it blended-in with the photo the better. It didn’t take a whole lot of convincing for me to agree to be a featured artist in their campaign because I was presented with absolute freedom to do whatever I wanted. Over the years, I’ve been offered and turned down a number of projects because I felt it was too restrictive in what they wanted and expected from me. When I feel that type of creative ‘stunting’, if you will, I shut off and just can’t find myself wanting to produce anything. This project was the opposite of that. I could get a check and have creative freedom doing what I enjoyed? I’m in…
Time-Traveling Back To The Nineties… CHRNCLS Vlog 2021 #12
On this episode, I take you guys back on the road with me on three different photoshoots throughout Southern California for the ongoing project I’m working on for Meguiar’s. You guys got a short glimpse of the 80s-themed shoot I did for them with a E-AT Civic a few episodes back and the next one I’m shooting is dedicated to the 1990s. If you’re a Honda guy then the nineties will undoubtedly be your favorite era. That’s when Honda made the best cars and the import scene was still in its very exciting early infancy. Being that it was a shoot focused on that era, many tiny details had to be incorporated into the shoot that were plucked from that time and obviously, the cars themselves as well. In-between shoots, we also found some time to stop by Unit B to celebrate our good friend Kristian Wong’s birthday. This is a good one and I hope you get overwhelmed with that nineties feeling while watching!
2AM Photos With Battlecraft…
Being that our shops are so close to one another, Kristian tends to walk over here at random hours of the night to watch tv or shoot the shit. Earlier today, I asked him if the shop was clean cuz I wanted to test out some lighting equipment that I planned to use this weekend.
I hadn’t shot with strobes (battery powered remote flashes) in almost four years or more so I’m sure I’d completely forgotten how to use them. I don’t know what made me want to shoot with them since I feel it’s a bit dated in how it ‘polishes’ a photo but I wanted to try something different than what I’m used to these days. Anyways, he said the shop wasn’t super clean and the Civic was on jack stands but he could put wheels back on the car if I wanted to play with my camera and lighting. So around 2 am he comes by and helps me lug all that equipment over and we drink some White Claws. I snapped a couple photos and it made me realize I had no idea how to use strobes anymore. Long gone we’re the days when I used to haul this stuff around everywhere for magazine shoots.
Cruising Through Osaka With Yanagi’s EG6 and Masashi’s S2000…
Typically around this time, the only visitors at Yasu’s shop in Osaka would be me. Wekfest Japan is usually happening during this period and I’d be over there getting ready to go to the show with him. Because of the global pandemic, and numbers still rising over in Japan, the border has been closed off to foreign visitors and I haven’t been able to return as I would usually. From what I saw online, like the rest of you, Wekfest Japan was a great event. There were less cars and the crowd was likely smaller than usual, but it was expected with the way things are going right now. With Yasu being so busy with work, not wanting to catch anything, and me not even being there, he decided it would be best if he just stayed behind this year…
Chasing Nostalgia…
Suspend all disbelief. I don’t think I was ever after the idea of creating an actual game more so than actually creating a ‘feeling’. It’s simple, it’s plastic—but within it is imagination, a healthy dose of attention to detail, and well—a little piece of me. Here’s a little keepsake to remind us of when we were young and how to still be a kid even after we grow old…
Can It Be Real?…
Just when you thought it couldn’t get any more real—it’s definitely still NOT real, lol. When I randomly came up with the idea to create a SNES game box a few days ago, I had no idea it’d be so well-received. I honestly thought people would think it’s kinda corny but maybe that’s exactly what we need right now. A little bit of nostalgia to remind us of our childhoods never hurts, I guess. So I took it a step further and created the intro for this imaginary Chronicles video game that must actually exist somewhere in an alternate dimension. I took some old photos I shot from the past, did some cool 16-bit-style stuff to it, added some assets I found from around the web and turned on the game for the first time, haha. I’m currently in the process of producing more game boxes for those who want to have one as a keepsake. It makes for a cool collectible/art-piece for the enthusiasts who support The Chronicles. Hope you like it!!…
The Chronicles ‘Highway Attack Challenge’ in 16-Bit…
Anyone that knows me will tell you that I enjoy collecting things, especially if they are nostalgic and/or remind me of my childhood. I grew up in the ‘90s and a lot of my time was spent playing Super Nintendo. It was always so cool to go to the store and see new games come out and holding them in your hand after they were taken out from behind the display case. Just seeing all the boxes and the box art was so cool. Lately I’ve been trying to consistently be in a creative space so one day I decided to create something that had a mix of both my childhood and what I do as an adult now. I thought it’d be cool to imagine The Chronicles as an SNES Racing video game. It’s completely unrealistic because the eras don’t match-up, nor would a game ever have these types of features or graphics but the main thing I wanted to do was create the box art for this imaginary game.