Fully Up To Date

I know I have been lazy and not updating this thing, but from now on I am gonna. Pinky promise!

So basically I'm just gonna fill you guys and gals in with whats been going on in my life with photos and what not.

I'll be skimming though a lot of stuff too catch up on currently what I'm doing, the photos are posted from oldest to newest in before the break lines. So enough said lets see some pics and words

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September 17, 2010, Fiona Gregory

So I met this girl Fiona, I jokingly asked to her to do pictures with me and she said yes, nothing was thought much of it, a few days later she facebook'd me asking if I was serious, of course I said yes, and I'm glad I did. Its led to an amazing friendship and much experience needed on my photo side.

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October 9, 2010 Mark Teng's Lamborghini Gallardo

Mark had invited me to go to cars and coffee in Tucson, I loved every second of it, the only down side was... i only got about 30 minutes with the Gallardo and we didn't really have a great spot to shoot it in. Oh well its still a Lambo!

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October 15, 2010 Full Race

So finally I am back at work with Full Race shooting their products. There has been many new things since then, one of thm being the one off manifold made for Geoff's R14. This is a RB26DET Wastegateless EFR manifold, the only one of its kind especially for his car. This manifold and turbo set up is projected to make over a 1000 horse power with ease. The manifold it self is a work of art, seeing as this is Full Race this isn't a surprise, over 3/4 of the welds are done with a special robotic welder that is in house!

I'm pretty confident this manifold will be in full production soon, and the estimated retail price with an EFR turbo will be around $6000 dollars.

To find more about the EFR turbo and prices, click here

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October 16, 2010 Chris & Debra's Wedding

I got an opportunity to shadow a wedding with a well experienced photographer. I learned SO MUCH in 3 hours. I have used those skills in my recent wedding I just shot last Saturday. He was very helpful and not afraid to speak his mind about photos and where I was. I enjoyed the learning experience very much and i was really glad I took the opportunity.

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October 16, 2010 Xtreme Drift Circuit Phoenix, AZ

Oh man did I mess this one up, these pictures were for Import tuner, my camera battery died as soon as i stepped out on the track, oh well you live and you learn! The event felt like any other drift event. Just the addition of gogo dancer which is always nice!

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October 22, 2010 Melissa Arencibia

Melissa, one of my friends friends, called me up for a gradation shoot! She treated me with a wonderful dinner afterwards.

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October 22, 2010 Siddhi & Pratik Engagement Party

Oh man I really don't know where to really begin on this one, since I am a very straight up person.. I really didn't enjoy this shoot at all. Some of the people were just eye balling me very rudely and the couple were extremely hard to work with. But what can you do.

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November 1st , 2010 I moved and we got a shop

Hi everyone, thanks for looking. We are Synergy Performance and we have just opened up shop here in Peoria. We are based out of Missouri but have opened another shop here in the Vally. We are here to help you with any of your problems that you may be having with your Honda, Nissan, or whatever you may have. We love new projects and arnt afraid to take a look at any job. We can do everything from installing new bolt of performance parts, diagnosing vehicle concerns, to even rebuilding you a new engine or transmission. We just finished an engine build for an Acura integra that make almost 800fwhp. We sale parts, we build engines, we even have the knowledge of hella flush/poke/stretch. We work late often even to help in those times when you need it most. So let us work for you and get you back on the road, or lets build something sick! Also, while we work on your car we can also do a photoshoot durring or after for additional cost, just let us know what you are interested in.

Call or Text:
Keith 573-576-7477
Charles 251-253-2032

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November 6th , 2010 Cars and Coffee Scottsdale, AZ

Dang, I missed the first half, but managed to find the 2nd half of it

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November 7th , 2010 Bryant Peters Chevrolet Silverado 1500

Me and Bryant have been putting off this shoot for the past 2 months. Well we finally got around to it, we had went out to a recreation area off highway 87 going out to Payson. I had been up for over 25 hours and my mind for creativity was extremely lacking, I completely failed at the action shots and we plan to go back and redo them.

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All caught up!

Formula D Las Vegas

Ahh Formula D, something I’ve had the itch for it ever since it started. I’ve seen plenty of photos from speedhunters, motormavens etc., and I had always looked at my photos from firebird, but they could never compare. I wondered why… I thought I was lighting and colors, but I had my doubts. But I was damn right about it.

This event was being held in Las Vegas. With this in mind, I knew it was going be in a parking lot. I was kind of bummed about it, but what can you do? I was just excited that I was getting a chance to go to Formula D. The trip got off to a rough start. A few hours before we were scheduled to leave, I was walking towards the Integra we were going to take, and it happen to have a flat tire… so I pulled some strings and got an extra pair of rims for the trip.

The trip didn’t feel too long, but I was happy to see the Vegas lights.

We spent the night at a friend’s house; the next morning was full of anticipation for the event. But of course, seeing as how I’m a chubby kid, I had to get my eat on before the event. We stopped at a nice Mexican restaurant called “On The Boarder”, where I had the most AMAZING fish tacos of my life!

Finally it was time to head to the event. We got there fairly early; so parking wasn’t bad at all. Now this is where things began to go downhill. First off, I was already pretty upset about that fact I didn’t get a media pass, and on top of that that it was hot, very hot.

We did a ton of walking around before the drifting even began, and I’m not gonna lie, the event felt like SPOCOM, but outside.

The biggest problem though out the entire event was location, location, location, oh and did I mention LOCATION? There was only ONE good spot to shoot from, and my 200mm just didn’t have the reach. Oh did I forget to say there were at least 50 people I had to fight though to get to the front? Not the mention the RUDE people that would purposely stand in front of me. The shots came out OK at best, but if I’d had a media pass, I’m sure I could have gotten better.

The last hours were just frustrating, I kept getting bumped into, and people were just being flat out annoying. Their comments were just ignorant as hell and some guy had this clapper thing that he’d hit every time they would drift. Let’s just say I wasn’t the only one getting annoyed by it.

I expected a little more, but the course was just so short and not technical at all. I guess they did their best with a parking lot. Overall, the event was ok.

Edited by Fiona Gregory

Tony & Glenn's Cobras

Oh man, another 6 am shoot; I wish I had a dial to tell the sun when to go up or down. It’d be really convenient and quite awesome :D ANYWAYSSSS haha, Tony, A friend Andrew Vicars, who I have helped with his photography and such, contacted me on Facebook wanting to do a shoot. I saw the pictures of his car and definitely was down for some pictures. The location I had chosen was back out at Papago Park near Tempe, AZ. I find it to a perfect spot to catch the sun rise. I usually park the cars on a roadway going to the Botanical Gardens, but this time they got pretty upset. We had 10 minutes to shoot the car and get out. I am completely not satisfied with pics, all are under exposed or the flashes didn’t have enough power to them. Seeing as we only had 10 minutes there, unfortunately, I didn’t get to shoot Glenn’s car at that location.

Next was a parking garage, Tony had mentioned he loved garage shots regardless of what people say. We were only minutes away from the ASU garage on the south side. I always shoot at the very top of the garage, but too my luck again, the top gates were closed. So I had to work with what I had, I noticed way back when, the scenery looking out though the garage, is breathe taking, especially during the morning. I am about 50/50 satisfaction with this set in the garage, again, not enough flash power…making rookie mistakes.

Next was another garage, but something unique, oh and did we find unique, we found a parking garage near ASU that was comprised of solar panels on the top level. I am really pleased on how these came out; I had plenty of light to work with, and not to mention plenty of room.

To sum it up, it was a great time and good learning experience for me, which every set is. As you can tell, I used all 3 lenes that I have, which is a first time for me. I just need to turn up the flashes next time!

Tony’s car is a 2003 Ford Cobra SVT. The mods are

Mods:

Engine:

-Steigemeier stage 4 ported and polished supercharger
-Kenne bell Boost a pump
-Siemen deka 60lb injectors
-SCT 2600 maf
-Reichard Racing blower spacer
-Metco 2lb lower pulley
-Billetflow 2.76 upper pulley
-SCT chip
-Custom tuned by Devin @ Performance
Solutions (515rwhp, 522rwtq)
-JLT Hi-Boost Intake
-Bassani ss x pipe with high flow cats
-SLP Loudmouth 1 exhaust
-Fluidyne radiator
-Fluidyne heat exchanger
-LFP ice box
-Moroso Radiator Expansion Tank
-Accufab throttle body and plenum
-Optima red top battery
-Billetflow 3 piece pulley kit
-Energy Suspension Poly Motor Mounts
-EGR Delete
-Mishimoto Radiator Brackets

Suspension and Tires&Wheels:

-Performance Solution Racing Lightweight K-member
-Maximum Motorsports Caster/Camber Plates
-MMR Coilovers
-Upr Extreme upper control arms
-HPM megabite Jr lower control arms
-Maximum Motorsports full length sub frame connectors
-Lakewood 90/10 front shocks
-Tokico Illumina 5 way adjustable Rear Shocks
-Welded upper and lower battle boxes
-10th Anniversary Red Calipers Front and rear
-Powerslot Front and Rear Rotors
-Weld prostar drag wheels for the track
-BBS RK Plamsa Wheels. 18x8.5 up front with an 18x10 out back.
-Nitto 555 Drag Radials in a 335/30/18 for the street, and M/T ET Drags with tubes and bead locks for the track
(26-10-15)
-Ride rite rear launch air bag
-SLP Line Lock

Transmission and Rear End:

-Spec Stage 3+ clutch
-Fidanza flywheel
-26 spline trans input shaft
-LDC clutch freeplay conversion
-Cobra bob stang shifter gasket
-Pro 5.0 shifter
-Solid axle conversion
-Mosier 31 spline axles
-Eaton True Trac diff
-3.90 gears
-TA Performance diff cover
-drive shaft loop
-Sperical Housing bushings

Interior and Apperance:

-LDC underhood Light
-Smoked,Clear corner headlights
-Tinted rear taillights
-Mcullough 5k HID's
-Raptor shift light
-SOS guage pod
-Autometer pro comp boost guage
-Autometer pro comp coolant temp guage
-Custom "SVT" Door Panel inserts
-Sequential Tailights by Webeletric Products
-Kenwood DVD/NAV Head unit

Glenns car is a 2003 Ford Mustang GT

Bonnie & Hawks Pad

Oh wow where do I start, this house is beautiful, that about sums it up. I happen to have a 14 – 24 with me, and course, I had to start taking pictures.

Me being ME…me and Kyle were messing around with the camera, and somehow the camera ended up on JPEG..so all these are JPEGS instead of RAW’s. I guess the results are quite respectable for a high end DSLR, but still pretty ticked about it. These were shot @ 1600 iso hand held, just for fun.

I might do a full set for the house owner, it’s still pending, if so, I’ll do a full write up on the house.

Pics pics pics

A Quick Morning Shoot

Oh man, dang Tori Blackwell woke me up at 7 am on a school night for this, I was extremely tired and really had no idea what was going on. That was a bad thing that day. I am not pleased at all with this set, I feel like I really lacked creativity and just everything. It was my 2^nd time shooting with my 50mm and still wasn’t quite familiar on how to use it, so many pictures came out unfocused, I need to get off the habit of using the auto focus finder on my d700 haha. It doesn’t work well under 2F.

Well to introduce you to these girls, the blonde, Shannon, the brunette, Courtney. Shannon happen to be a model for some Scottsdale Jeans company, so I didn’t really have to instruct what she had to do, she’s a complete natural at what she does, and does it extremely well. We worked together well and she was really easy to get along with.

Surprisingly this is Courtney’s very first time taking pictures like this, I was very surprised how easy it was for her to pose, and she was very easy to work, which is always a big plus.

Sorry no big blog post on this set, this day was mainly to get Tori shoot with my 50mm and show her some tips.

Heres some Pics

Miss Peebles Epicness

Let's just say I didn't forget anything this time! To put it simply, the first time we met up for this shoot at one o'clock in the morning, things did not go right. We had everything set up; the car, flashes, everything. I pull out my camera, and the camera feels a little light to me. I press softly on the shutter and I hear no focus. I forgot the battery. Grrr. Round 2! I put everything out on my counter, and made sure I had everything before I left. I loaded up with full batteries and tripods. I headed out around 12 a.m. This time, Bri was the one holding everything up. She didn't show up until 1 a.m., but seriously, can you blame her?

First off, this car is just stunning in person. It's absolutely unique in every possible way, from the zebra stripe airbag cover, to the insane poke in the rear. I love it all. The car is painted flat with, with black SSR Professors. The contrast between the two is just perfect. The fitment cannot get any better. There is just too much to list on this car, but the best part about it is it actually gets drifted, and by Brianna Peebles. Yes, for all you guys out there, she is a girl, and yes, she is taken. I always happen to run into her at every event where she is always actively participating.

Here is the list of the mods:

Motor
S13 RedTop
Ace Up Motorsports Wiring
Ace Up Motorsports Vmount with Dual Bypass Radiator Setup
Trust Turbo Elbow
Trust Downpipe
Ace Up Motorsports Blast Pipe with HKS Hi-power Center Muffler
ISIS Intake Manifold
ISIS Version II Exhaust Manifold
Greddy Rocker Arm Stoppers
ARP Headstuds
HKS SSQV Blowoff valve
255lph Walbro
Exedy Clutch

Suspension
Apex N1 Coilovers
ISIS RUCAS
ISIS Toe/ Traction Rods
Tein Front Tension Rods
Ace Up Front Brace
ISIS Subframe Spacers

Wheels
SSR Professors
Fr 17x9.5 +5
Rr 18x10.5 -8

Exterior
Version Select Type 1 with front Winkers removed
Origin 20mm Front Fenders
Origin Type 2 50mm Rear Fenders
Elevens Paint & fiber Flush Gas cap
Paint Done by Elevens

Interior
NRG Wheel and hub
Sparco Evo Seat
Team Tech Harness
STRI gauges
Rewrapped Dash

Enough talk, more pics!

Edited and Revised by Kelly Kindall

Bokeh Test

I absolutely love the shape of alcohol bottles, and the way that they are designed. They are designed to lure you in. Well, they definitely lure me in, and I also love taking pictures of them. When I take pictures of these bottles, the light reflects off of the glass and creates some amazing bokeh. Knowing this, I went down to our local Wal-Mart and had some fun testing out the bokeh on the 1.4 50mm. I am extremely impressed with the beautiful depth of field this lends has to offer.

Many people have asked why I haven't gotten a 50 yet. My response it that I wanted to save up for the 1.4. For those of you who don't know, the price difference between a 1.4 and a 1.8, is pretty big. You can purchase a 1.8 anywhere between $90-$100, while the 1.4 can be purchased for $520. Does the price difference really justify the .4 aperture number of difference? My answer is yes, and I've got the pictures to prove it.

Edited and Revised by Kelly Kindall