This was probably one of my personal favorite shoots so far of 2013. The shots, I think, came out really crisp and the backdrop did a lot for the overall layout of the feature in Super Street’s annual Honda Issue. Now that the issue has come and gone I can show you guys the unused photos as well as the web versions of the photos that eventually made it to print. Not a lot of people have known this prior to today but like Yoon Saechao’s Super Street Feature, this one also had a high probability of not happening. It’s pretty cool that it ended up on the cover of the Honda Issue but to be perfectly honest, Reggie wasn’t even originally on my list of cars to shoot when I made plans to travel to the Northwest. The initial plan was to shoot Jeffrey Diaz’s (aka Citrus) Integra Type R but his car just wasn’t ready to be shot at that time. Actually, he’s still currently building the car and should be done with it pretty soon. A couple months back, both of their cars were remarkably similar in style and also in choice of aero mods. When I found out that Jeff’s ITR and another Honda I had planned to shoot fell through, I began the scramble to find cars. It’s not that Reggie Mah’s ITR isn’t nice, it definitely was. It was one of my Top Ten Hondas of 2012 so it had always been on my radar, I just didn’t think he’d be willing to make the drive down from Vancouver, British Columbia to Seattle, Washington. There was some distance, an international border, and a short time frame in the way so the probability of it happening just wasn’t very high. I began discussions with Reggie on Facebook about possibly coming down and he told me that he was willing to do it. I was surprised but it was an opportunity that he just didn’t want to pass up. After all, we don’t go up to the Northwest very often so when Super Street decided to fly me out, the doors of opportunity opened up for a lot of people up there. Getting him down to Seattle that weekend was a bit of a pain in the ass in itself, since he kept pushing the shoot back to add more to his car but it all eventually worked out and well, as you can see, his ITR became the cover car…

I enjoyed the final result of these photos because I think that the gloomy Northwest weather was well-represented in the shots. While I was there, I had to deal with nothing but shitty weather and I’m happy that I was able to capture it to show the world. We don’t hear from the Northwest much but the skies that you see in Reggie’s feature photos are pretty much how Seattle looks 90% of the time. It’s dreary, gloomy, fucking dreadful, and well, it’s nothing to rave about. You can go from rain, to hail, to sunny skies, to snow and ice all in the matter of 24 hours. It’s very unpredictable and presented some problems for me that ended up being blessings in disguise. In the end, the photos came out really dramatic-looking and being forced to shoot some of the detail shots with only natural light made for some interesting results. My only regret was not being able to get more exterior shots but that was due to the downpour that started as I was close to finishing the shoot. You can actually see the rain in some of the photos too. I like to strobe my shots with two independent electrical light sources and they don’t tend to respond very well to being doused in water, if you get my drift. Luckily I was able to get everything I needed in the time allotted…

It’s kind of a bummer but since the Honda Issue was released, Reggie decided to part his car out, sell everything, and moved onto a Scion FR-S that he is currently building. I usually frown upon people selling their cars right after they get their features published but hey, who am I to tell people what to do when they are faced with an opportunity to move on? Most of the time it makes the owners look like they are just cashing in on whatever attention they have because of their features but Reggie has been wanting a Rocket Bunny FR-S for awhile now so it makes sense. He saw an opportunity to get the car he wanted and cashed-out. I wish him the best of luck with his new build and it’ll be interesting to see what direction he takes the car in, considering how popular the Rocket Bunny kit has gotten here in the States. If there’s one thing I’ve noticed about how Reggie builds his cars, they always seem to be an amalgamation of different builds from different people. You can see with the ITR here that there was obvious inspiration from Anh from ATS Garage, the C-West aero kit has re-emerged in popularity within the last two years, and the remaining elements are motivated from looking at the Rauh Welt Porsche builds, as seen with the “IDLERS” markings on the tires and the sticker placement (i.e. Kid Icarus on the side). It’s a cool build and I dig it. It would just be good to see some more personal touches from him in the future to really differentiate himself as a true builder and not just your run-of-the-mill enthusiasts that seem to combine elements from other cars they see. Some would say that it is a bit of a harsh criticism but it’s nothing I wouldn’t tell Reggie personally. It’s not an attack but more of an observation. He and all of you can take it however you want, but it is my hope that he takes it in stride and uses the words to his benefit in his future builds. He’s a good guy and I like his willingness to put in work. His ITR was assembled in his garage in less-than-ideal weather conditions and the car came out rather nicely. Just imagine what he could do if he expanded his creative side…

Anyways, enjoy the photos below. Please don’t crop my watermarks and steal the images for personal gain. Click any of the images below for high-resolution versions of the photos that are pretty large in size. Thanks for looking and thanks to Reggie Mah for the opportunity for both of us to get our first covers. This was my first U.S. cover and first cover for Super Street so it will always be a memorable one for me…

Let’s kick it off with the eventual cover shot that was cropped to fit. The original image that I processed was much larger and you can see more of the background…

The alternate cover shot that I had proposed to Super Street:

That’s a wrap on that…. Thanks for looking…