Simplify. That’s been a big word for me lately. I think that in the past couple of months, maybe even for much of 2015, I’ve just been trying to do everything. I’ve been cramming so much into my days that it has become quite difficult to keep up with everything. Honestly, I know the photo content has been cut down a bit and the coverage has been less lengthy. Some would find that a good thing, but I know many of you who are used to how the site “used to be” would rather have things remain as they were. Bulky coverage with good photos has always been my thing, as well as being able to tell a story. I think that is what differentiates this place from other sites. With the introduction of the Vlog series, things have shifted a bit. It’s not a bad thing and I think it adds a different dynamic to the whole “personal” side of coverage. Everything personal that I’ve tried to capture in photos before has now transitioned over to video. I think it helps to add a new layer to the whole idea of showing you what goes on behind the scenes. Frankly, I started doing it because I just got bored. Bored of seeing the same stuff all the time and bored of seeing the same cars because we have so many events to attend out here…

I hope that you guys enjoy the video stuff because Der and I thoroughly enjoy doing it and when I come home now from events or from my trips, I really do look forward to going over them. Much like the same enthusiasm that I have when it comes to going through the photos. Though it seems tedious to many, I think that the video content presents a much more organic experience that photos just can’t. It’s not better, it’s just “different”. We never expected anything to come of the video stuff because we were just doing it for fun. We had the equipment already thanks to Der so we just started recording. Some how, which is still a bit of a mystery to me, it has taken off. The response has been great and we couldn’t be happier with it. I still don’t like being on camera, nor does Der himself, but its fun to show everyone else around us and what we do on a regular basis. It is essentially car life through our eyes and from our personal perspective. If you don’t like it, as always, you’re more than welcome to not watch them. I will still be moving forward with photos but I’ll admit, I’ve had to sacrifice some of my time shooting photos to capture video as well, particularly when Der isn’t around or can’t travel with me…

For Wekfest San Jose, I tried shooting as much as I could before the event started. Typically, once the doors open to the public, it is damn near impossible to get a clean shot anywhere. There are just so many people. The crowd comes in a flood almost and people are just EVERYWHERE. The idea every year is just to shoot as much as possibly before the show opens and once it does, don’t even bother. I think that is where video helps. You get to see the event from other angles that would otherwise be cluttered with people in photos. Every Wekfest San Jose event is a crazy one for me. The Chronicles has a booth space with merchandise so we have to set that up, then I have to walk around and shoot the event, and after that, I have to help judge the show because I am one of the lead judges for the Wekfest staff. This is all probably done in the span of 2-3 hours, so time management is key. Normally, I would find time to shoot the day before during the roll-in period of the show, but I had Yasutaka Shimomukai from Japan with me for the first time this year. He really wanted to check out the show and so I invited him out to not only attend Wekfest San Jose, but also the Spocom Anaheim event the week after. We wanted to set-up a portion of the booth during the roll-in day and then we headed over to San Francisco so we could go do some touristy-stuff with him. One another thing that factored into me not shooting during the roll-in was the debut of Floss’ 180SX. It took a team of people to help him unload the car so a chunk of or morning went to helping him get the car onto the showroom floor…

Overall, it was a great event. Sure it is busy but I am used to it by now. I’m not gonna sit here and tell you that I don’t miss the old Fort Mason venue because it was such a great environment, but I do think the San Jose show is growing and steadily improving. They try to introduce new things to the show every year without straying too far from the formula that made them successful and it has been good. Some changes are experimental and may not work out but for the most part, the show retains its title as the “Super Bowl” of North American car shows. I’m excited to see the rest of the tour this year but the San Jose show is always a big deal out here in the West. If you’ve never been, I hope you make your way out…

Below is the first group of photos that I captured that morning of the event. Enjoy..

Liberty Walk Dodge Challenger from LTMW on Rotiform wheels and Air Lift suspension….

Junior from Wekfest loves lowriders so he made sure a large contingency of custom lowriders were a part of the show. This Impala seemed tame compared to some of the incredibly intricate ones present that day….

Another Liberty Walk Challenger, this one on Infinitewerks wheels…

DPK Chuy’s Acura Integra Type R served as my booth car that day. His white Honda Integra Type R was also my booth car in the previous years at Wekfest San Jose…

Alongside the opposite wall of the entrance were a steady stream of custom lowrider builds for automotive enthusiasts to enjoy…

There were also some really high-quality domestic muscle car builds in attendance, like this Chevy Camaro Z28 owned and built by Mallen Fajardo…

Vinh Luong’s Subaru WRX STI from Royal Origin on Work Emotion T7R wheels…

Karl’s Porsche 997 on custom-built FLOSS Edition Work Meister S1 wheels…

Adam Mao’s BN Sports Lexus GS street drift build is currently on the cover of Super Street magazine. Make sure to go out and grab that to see this glorious build in full detail…

As mentioned, Wekfest San Jose marked the long-awaited (at least for us) debut of Floss’ Rocket Bunny 180SX build. It’s been so long since he’s put together a car inside and out that I almost forgot he knew how to build cars. He had been showing me photos here and there in the last few months but I really didn’t know what to expect. When we all finally had the chance to see it in person, it did not disappoint…

Floss and Strassesport really put a lot of time into creating this build from the ground-up as a bare shell. The entire chassis has been resprayed in a Porsche GT3 green tone and the engine bay has been cleaned-up for the SR20DET motor….

Instead of running the big wing that many of the other Rocket Bunny S13s have, he opted for just the duckbill wing. Inside the interior has received a similar treatment and the custom cage has been color-matched to the resprayed chassis. In the trunk is a dummy spare BBS E88 wheel to match the custom-built E88s on the car…

A last minute addition to the Wekfest San Jose line-up was the ever-impressive EF Civic build from Matt at M’s JDM Motors…

Dustin McQueary’s DA Integra running Asport individual throttle bodies…

Higgins Built EF hatchback with an immaculately assembled engine bay that’s been shaved down and smoothed-out…

Cool old school Datsun pick-up truck on Rays Nismo wheels originally from a Nismo Xterra/Frontier….

ATS Alex’s Spoon-themed Integra build…

AJ Antiporda’s C-West Integra with JDM ITR front end and Volk Racing TE37 wheels…

GJ from ATS Garage’s del Sol build with First Molding front lip…

Chris Sakai managed to get some time away from the family to bring out his multiple award-winning Civic build with full Rando aero and K20 engine swap…

Right next to him was another family man who snuck away. This is Anh Truong’s K20 Integra Type R build from ATS Garage…

Ferd Natividad’s RHD Integra from last year’s Super Street Honda Issue re-emerged at WFSJ with a brand new intake set-up. Not 100% sure why he decided to ditch the ITBs, maybe for drivability reasons, but in its place is a Skunk2 manifold paired with a custom intake arm and filter. Also new for 2015 is the set of white Work RSZ-R wheels…

Loved how aggressive this Ferrari 458 Italia looked on Japanese Advan GT wheels…

Liberty Walk Porsche 997 Turbo…

Liberty Walk E92 BMW M3 coupe on HRE wheels…

Vollkommen Design widebody Subaru WRX STI…

Will from Wekfest USA’s personal Rauh Welt 993 Porsche on SSR Professor SP1…

BMW M3 sedan with a custom-fitted Liberty Walk aero kit….

Bagged DA Integra on AG wheels…

Erico Meollo’s single-cam Civic from City Stars with First Molding front lip and SSR EX-C Mesh….

Widebody Mitsubishi EVO IX bagged on 3-piece SSR Professor SP3…

Subaru WRX STI also flared but on deep-dish Work Rezax II wheels…

Datsun 510 seated on a fresh set of RS Watanabe wheels…

This Impala was by far one of the best cars at Wekfest San Jose 2015. Just the level in detail alone is mind-blowing…

A closer look at some of the engraving work done throughout the car…

The small block Chevy motor receives an equal level of detail with any and everything insight etched to match…

Right next to it was another Impala that was brought out by Impalas Magazine. This one is much like the other but done in a blue tone…

The carb set-up and filter section is done differently but like the red Impala, this also had a ton of engraving work everywhere…

A look inside the interior with all the custom work and the incredibly small diameter steering wheel…

That concludes Part 1 of the coverage. I’ll get Part 2 up as soon as I can. Thanks for looking!!