Wekfest Los Angeles 2018 Coverage… Part 4…


These are my favorite photos from that weekend. Easily. Like, if you were to catalog my body of work and you had to include a section of photos from recently, this set would be in there for sure. I didn’t even think I would have an opportunity to shoot the end of the day because I was busy running around and tearing The Chronicles booth down at the end of the day, but luckily, I have amazing friends and they did all that shit for me. As such, I was able to run outside to get some of the cars as they were leaving and the lighting was absolutely spectacular. It’s like golden hour, but a Southern California golden hour where you get this layer of smog that adds to the overall aesthetic of the day. It sounds so weird but you won’t find another golden hour like it. Just filthy fucking Cali sunsets man, haha. For real though, I had a lot of fun shooting that weekend. This new camera body has opened up my creative flow as of late and its just like pouring out of me. Sounds gross, but I really do just enjoy shooting these days. And I’ve also started shooting people again, something that I really stopped doing a while back. I don’t know why. I think one of the reasons why this site grew to be so big was because I was so good at capturing candids and people around me. One day, I just sort of stopped. I think I was just so overwhelmed with trying to capture everything that I saw, that was car-related, in such a short span of time that it killed me creatively. I lost that willingness to want to shoot life itself. And that’s incredibly important. When Tiffanie came around, she really reminded me how important it was to capture lifestyle and people, but during that period of time, she was shooting for me as well and for The Chronicles so I just let her do her thing. I wanted that to be her “thing” for The Chronicles. Now, all things considered, I want to regain that. That’s why you will start seeing more of an influx of lifestyle again. It’s important for me to really start developing myself further as a photographer and I learned to be so much more free creatively just from being around her and now seeing everything more with an open-eye. There are honestly some photos in this set that are probably book-worthy for Volume 2 that I have coming out next year. It’s interesting to see people’s faces now when I shoot their cars. People used to be sort of awkward and look away but now they have this wide-eyed smile and actually try to be a part of the photo, which is amazing. That’s as much car lifestyle as anything, right?…

Well, I’d rather have my photos do the speaking today so I’ll leave you with Part 4 of 4 of the 2018 Wekfest Los Angeles Coverage. There are still some photos from roll-in that Sunday morning, bits and pieces from the show, some more of ATS Phil’s Integra because I’m fucking obsessed with that thing, and the end of day photos, which are the gems of this entire set. Thanks for looking!…

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The guys from Central Pine brought out a pretty solid fleet of VIP-styled builds, as they always do, and Sam from Central Pine actually had to make two trips back and forth to LA just to get all his cars there. Above is Alex Duenas’ custom Aimgain Y33 Q45 running a catalog of T-Demand products and SSR Professor wheels. T-Demand and SSR go hand-in-hand in Japan so these guys have that look down to a “T”, all fucking puns intended…

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Tucking wheel while rolling with just a little window of light gleaming through the awning of the LA Convention Center…

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Sam Hagen from Central Pine’s personal Y33 Q45 build, running a similar set-up as Duenas’ Q. Check out those front and rear brakes too…

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Central Pine and T-Demand equipped 18 Crown still residing in California by way of Texas and Japan, static on refinished SSR Minerva…

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Ferny’s Supreme Camo Voltex Evolution IX….

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That full-bodied vinyl Season FW17 Yellow Camo inspired by Supreme…

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DPK David serving as Announcement David…

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Justin Aquino somehow always ends up on the microphone…

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DPK David as DJ TripleB and DJ Ronald pumping out the instrumentals because apparently you can get sued now for playing regular music…

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Autofashion Elroy disguised as DJ Rampage…

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Phil Sison’s Integra is at its best state currently with this set-up. Just imagine if we could realign the stars and get this car in the same grouping as the ATS Garage line-ups from a few years back. How incredible would that be? I’m glad its getting its shine now in 2018 but it still would have been pretty epic to see the complete line-up from one of the Bay Area’s best car clubs…

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CERAKOTED goodness paired with a beautifully plumbed K20A utilizing Pro Gold fittings and Brown & Miller Pro Gold braided hoses…

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CERAKOTED K-Tuned header to match the AT Power 45mm individual throttle bodies…

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Contrast and execution is key for a great engine bay…

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Bronze Mugen MF10, black caps, Brembo Monoblock calipers, and StopTech 328mm rotors…

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Ravi from CSF Cooling’s widebody Evolution X race car, once a World Challenge GTS-class competitor managed by GMG Racing…

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4B11T 2-liter engine upgraded with new Garrett turbocharger mated to a Sheepey turbo manifold, with XRP plumbing throughout, Rywire motorsports wiring, and Magnus Motorsports intake manifold…

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Sergio’s Evolution IX is a regular at all SoCal car events and its a car that I always stop to take a look at. I kinda like wingless Evos and this one is especially cool because of the crazy engine bay…

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Titanium piping everywhere, custom Sheepey turbo manifold with a dump straight-out the top, and like Ravi’s Evo X, also running a Magnus intake manifold…

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When Phil wins, the whole team wins. Fred Chapman, the guy behind all the Cerakote work on Phil’s Integra, holding the award in his hand as he should for all his time and hard work…

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…And then we exited the building to see the cars make their way out to the streets of Downtown Los Angeles…

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Jay’s beautifully-done S2000 running a mix of aero parts from INGS and J’s Racing….

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Love how the setting sun let the pearl flake on his S2000. Silver CEs are a great choice too for this set-up…

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Mazda RX-2 drag car that I wish I didn’t miss getting a shot of inside the show, loaded-up on its trailer on the way home…

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Leon Casino and his widebody, supercharged, NSX…

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Rare glimpse of Leon actually smiling. Love how his son is poking his head out on the passenger side. I guess the timing just worked out perfectly for this one…

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Moises Robles’ 93 CB Accord coupe with 5-lug conversion, Acura RL brakes and Volk CEs…

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Mike G and his “Tank” looking as clean and well-kept as ever…

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Huge congratulations to Jose Del Villar and his lady on their recently announced joint venture creating a baby together, haha. Always good to see car guys doing well and advancing in life…

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Daniel Song’s ZG-flared S30Z on Volk TE37V from GarageLife car club…

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Pretty impressive seeing this Vlene widebody Toyota 86 cruising at this ride height on deep-dish 326power wheels…

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ATS Jones and Dave Chik…

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I personally really enjoyed this photo of this Voltex Evo IX from Team Emperor. The lighting here helped to really showcase the lines of the Voltex kit and how well it flows with the factory body lines… Advan TCIII wheels don’t hurt either…

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Complete Junction Produce Lexus 2GS complete with gold-faced Scaras and JP brakes front and back…

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Derek Sanders just has one of those builds that just has an incredible amount of presence. Like, you don’t have to necessarily agree with its styling or execution, but you just can’t help but look at it. It just captures the eye, whether it be the custom 326power kit, the goldish/yellow hue of the paint, hell, even the Lambo doors, or a combination of everything together. It just has presence. And if you see it in person and you hear the built SR rumbling, you pretty much have to look…

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Derek wasn’t there, as we mentioned in the previous installments of coverage, but he was kind enough to allow us to have the car for the weekend, and Yuta took plenty care of it, abstaining from any type of reckless driving though he almost let the car loose a few times…

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Mark’s Verde Ithaca-painted Pandem V3 Toyota 86 on Rotiform wheels from Team Elevate…

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Black IS300 sitting low, tucking WEDS Kranze Vishunu wheels…

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Hanzel and friend chillin’, waiting to cruise-out in his Mugen-themed NSX…

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Two very contrasting styles and ideologies in this photo featuring Derek’s very one-off S13 coupe and Hanzel’s classically-styled NSX…

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Jeremy Allgier’s near-perfect Prelude build. I guess this was one of those rare times when I actually got all the photos of his car with the hood-on without any engine bay shots…

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Just a great looking car overall with all the right pieces on it. It’s not just a great Prelude build, it’s one of the better Honda builds in the nation…

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Wheelers Motorsports’ Varis Evolution X with its polarizing livery featuring a full Subaru WRC livery on one side…

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In a few years, do you think we’ll be able to look back and say that the Rocket Bunny V1 kit is a classic body kit of this era? Or would you already consider it that? I’m sure many could debate what this kit meant to this generation of car builders…

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Phil’s LS430 from Pure VIP looking great against the Los Angeles sunset…

Somebody posted a comment in one of the coverage posts asking about my thoughts on the guys from Pure VIP as a car club and as a whole. My answer? Well, I don’t know. I only know a few of them and have only spoken to those guys. Don’t know the others. Some of them tried to troll once when it came to my own car and the color choice, but I think it was all meant in good fun. I don’t have any thoughts or opinions because I don’t have enough experience being around them. I’m glad they are doing their thing and it looks like they are a tight knit group so I mean, that’s a good thing for the most part. They get a little rowdy sometimes but shit, when you’re around your friends and having fun, I think its generally pretty normal to get a little excited. Good for them and props to those guys for putting together some nice cars…

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Sang Pham on the other hand, is a giant asshole. Lol. All this dude does is bring random girls around me all the time and I have to trouble myself with trying to remember their names. It took me, like, 2 years to figure out if I should call him Sang or Andre and I just gave up one day and started calling him Sang because it sounded the closest to “what’s up man”….

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Ketchup, mustard, and Miracle Whip all in one place… The ketchup is off-brand though because it’s not a Type R like the other two, lol…

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I didn’t set-up this shot by the way. I was running around and these guys just had to get together for a blurry photo on their smart phones. I just happened to be around so I swooped in and caught the moment…

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Alex’s Integra Type R is spectacular by the way. +Sure wheels, paired with Mugen sides that just perfectly flow with the curve of the Crowhouse rear bumper, along with that Mugen front half bumper…. Just sick…

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Car so nice, had to shoot it twice…

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DPK David thinking about the ITR he never finished and Alex kindly rubbing it in his face… Oh look, my Odyssey is in the background too. I also have Ganadors and Mugen parts, lol… Oh shit, this is a very rare photo of my Odyssey and my Q45 together actually… and Darryl’s EM1 too…

Alright, that’s a wrap on this one. I guess you can call it a classic. Thanks for looking guys and have a great rest of your weekend!…

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2 comments

  1. Got a shitty build at the moment and now I’m all pumped to someday have it pop up here when I finally get my act together.

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