Author Archives

stickydiljoe

'Stickydiljoe' aka Joey Lee is a freelance photographer, writer, and creator of The Chronicles.
Honda Homecoming 2021, The Secret Event We Weren’t Invited To… CHRNCLS Vlog 2021 #17

Honda Homecoming 2021, The Secret Event We Weren’t Invited To… CHRNCLS Vlog 2021 #17

While I was off on a little vacation in Hawaii, @HondaPro Jason sends me a message about a massive Honda event held at Honda headquarters in Torrance, California. I had no idea what it was, can’t say that I had ever heard of it before, and was also told to not speak of it until it happened. I was intrigued. He asked me if I was interested in going because he could try to get me a pass but I’d also have to wear this t-shirt and risk getting my family kidnapped if I didn’t follow the rules. Maybe that last part wasn’t true but it sounded serious after he showed me the 30-page instruction booklet and NDA to not post anything about it.

I’m terrible at keeping secrets so I went and filmed it. Here you go.
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The Hoonigans Club Days 2021 Coverage…

The Hoonigans Club Days 2021 Coverage…

Most of you will probably have noticed that I went on a little vacation for a week to Hawaii. It was a bit of an impromptu decision but I had been itching to get out of California lately. I’m so used to traveling I was honestly getting a little too comfortable being at home all the time so I wanted to get away. When Sara told me that she had to go to Hawaii to film a new project, I decided to tag along. This would not only provide me with the opportunity to catch-up with some friends out there, I’d also get to experience Hawaii from the point-of-view of someone who had lived their for half of their life. I grabbed all my camera gear thinking I might be able to see some car stuff out there but because of the current state restrictions, I found it difficult to host a meet or do anything car-related. After I checked into my hotel, I also realized that the WiFi was super spotty there so I couldn’t even get any work done—so I was forced to treat it like an actual vacation and did absolutely nothing…
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Meguiar’s “Portrait of an Icon” 2010s-Era Shoot…

Meguiar’s “Portrait of an Icon” 2010s-Era Shoot…

For the fourth installment of the Meguiar’s “Portrait of an Icon” series, we head into “The High-Tech 2010s”. This one was a difficult one for me because I wasn’t able to tap into my ‘nostalgia’ bag since the 2010s were just a few years ago.

I had to consider what were the big trends of that time, be it pop-culture or automotive, and 3 things immediately stood-out to me; bolt-on widebody kits, digital streaming services, and well, not to toot my own horn but—The Chronicles. I thrived in the 2010s and I don’t think many would argue that my work was very pivotal to the growth of Japanese tuning culture during that time.
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The Chronicles Midsommar 2021 Coverage…

The Chronicles Midsommar 2021 Coverage…

Behind the scenes, I’ve been quietly planning to do a meet over at the shop all summer long. The Chronicles & Coffee meets here have always been pretty solid but the main issue was being able to house all the cars and people that want to attend. Our facility isn’t particularly big and realistically, you can’t even fit 50 cars in our front lot without having to block most of the areas going in and out of the complex. I remember specifically there was one that we hosted here where I felt a sense of panic because it got so full that people could barely get passed the entrance gate. I started announcing these meets later and later with the last few going public less than 24-hours before. It alleviated the crowds but I felt like a lot of the older guys who aren’t online much would end up missing the event because they would see the announcement much too late. That and a lot of these enthusiasts have families and jobs now so a 24-hour turnaround isn’t exactly something most could factor into their schedules…
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The Transformation Of The IS300 Begins!!… CHRNCLS Vlog 2021 #14

The Transformation Of The IS300 Begins!!… CHRNCLS Vlog 2021 #14

Well, it’s been a long time coming but the IS300 Sportcross is finally back at the shop and we can finally start throwing all the goodies on there. The first thing we had to do right away was to put the Advan wheels back on and fully overhaul the worn-out suspension components. I was pretty excited to see the Exceed big brake go on the car finally as well but was slightly nervous about brake caliper to wheel clearance. Once that was all dialed-in, I started tinkering with other ideas and also swapped-out my interior for rare Modellista Qualitat stuff. Check it out, I can’t believe the car is actually back!!
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Extras, Outtakes, and More Details From The Meguiar’s 2000s “Import Tuner” Shoot…

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…
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“Import Tuner” Shoot & I Might Get My Car Back?!… CHRNCLS Vlog 2021 #13

“Import Tuner” Shoot & I Might Get My Car Back?!… CHRNCLS Vlog 2021 #13

Yes, bald Joey is back for this very special, highly in-depth, look at my latest work for the Meguiar’s “Portrait of an Icon” series. The theme for this month is “The Furious 2000s” which obviously, is dedicated to the automotive culture during the 2000s. For me personally, I wanted a seamless transition from my 90s-era shoot to this one, which theoretically would have taken place in 2001-02. This was a very special time in the import scene because Import Tuner magazine and all of the insane cars they featured were all the rage. The Fast and The Furious had just come out so the import tuning community was still very much an underground thing. For the shoot, I wanted to pay homage to this period in time and re-create an Import Tuner magazine cover shoot. Luckily I had some great friends who were willing to help 🙂

If you follow me on Instagram, then you’ll have already seen the results from this shoot. Now you can take a look into my creative process and how we were able to execute this whole entire shoot from the very beginning. It’s a fun one and a rare glimpse into how something like this becomes a reality.
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