Lowlife Days

No trip to Japan would be complete with out one of my partners in crime, Mr. Mike Alexander.

 I know that posting blogs, in the middle of the night is pointless. Well, not completely pointless since our brothers in Australia are up, but for the most part, it just means that most people won't see it. I'm going to take my chances though since I really want to share these shots. I've came to the conclusion that I have enough pics to post for a year.

Our early trips to Japan were all business. We found ourselves working all the time.

Here is Makoto cruising in his truck.

This is the time when my brain seems to spin the most. I've had a few drinks, and it's almost midnight. But after a very brief discussion with my good friend Mike Alexander about blogs this weekend and my lunch with Max Fish today, I got motivated. Looking for pics to help my buddy Steve Wilk from Wilk Worx I found a ton of cool pics. So I figured why not share. 

We were on our way to a photo shoot.

One of the many clean ass Japanese trucks we shot.

I found some pictures from my Lowlife Video/Mini Truckin' Magaizne days. I know that these days are gone and behind me, but they sure were some good times. My favorite days were probably spent traveling in the south, hanging with my friends from DIB and hitting all those southern state shows. But my trips from Japan come in close second. These trips were priceless. I honestly think they were so awesome, that they never even sunk in. I mean, here we were, a handful of American "jerks" doing our think in Japan. We didn't hold back, maybe we should have. After all the customs (I don't mean the cars/trucks) in Japan are so different. But here we were, being assholes, tearing shit up and attracting the cops (literally). All in all we never held back and were true to ourselves.

 Check out a couple of candid photos from some of our trips. 

I don't think a moment went buy that we weren't screwing around. Bobby from Sadistic Iron Werks most likely gave Makoto a nut shot here.

The Lowlife Mike I remember.

You should see this thing now. It's come a long way. This is when it was shot for MT magazine the second time. I think this thing has run three times in MT now.

Love this 720. Nissan 720's are very popular in Japan. Picking a clean one to shoot is easy, since most of them look this good.

I didn't shoot this thing. Mike Alexander did. I took advantage of the set-up though and sneaked this shot in.

I did shoot this thing. Shooting in the middle of the day isn't always something you want to do as a magazine photographer. But in Japan you shoot when you can, especially on our crazy schedule. But getting the train in the shot was painfully timed and I love this shot.

Strange photo shoot. The dad was here, and his hot daughter was the owner.

Believe it or not, this is the effect I was going for in this shot. The subject is Takuji Murayama, the President of No Regrets Japan. We were cruising in his body dropped Toyota Pick up.

I absolutely loved this photo shoot. I had to ride with the owner of this truck for what seemed like forever. He didn't speak a word of English and I didn't speak a word of Japanese, but we both spoke minitruck.

Relaxing in So Cal 2012

FOR THE COMPLETE SHOW COVERAGE CLICK HERE

Well this past weekend was one of the more anticipated shows in So Cal, and I surely have to say that it did not disappoint once again. This years show was much bigger than anticipated and it appears to quickly be outgrowing it's location.

Tito's truck was on display.

The RA crew really know how to put on a good family friendly show. The weather was great and the staff was prompt to get everybody situated. I look forward to next years shows.

FOR THE COMPLETE SHOW COVERAGE CLICK HERE

Old School Dreams

My buddy Mike Quigley came over with some cool stories and some cooler artifacts from days past. I figured I would share them on here. Enjoy.

(sorry for the poor quality and the out of place MOM logo) I had a broken lens that day and didn't even know it. 

CLICK HERE FOR THE WHOLE SET

WAS STK, OR WAS NICE

As I sit here and ponder about the future of my favorite build to date I wonder if shes worth resurrecting. But before I go into that, for those of you that by chance don't know the story. My 1994 Mitsubishi Mighty Max commonly reffered to as STK TRUK, then renamed WAS STK was in a horrible accident this passed weekend. In a nutshell a friend of mine rear-ended me on the 605 N bound freeway in a suburb of Los Angeles named Irwindale.

It was an accident, shit happens. The thing to think about now is where do we go from here. As of now, I haven't even met with the insurance adjuster yet. I have a feeling that they are going to try and butt rape me on the truck though. I know how these things work. But I also know what I have into this truck not only financially but emotionally. A couple of friends and I have started drawing out some plans for the outcome of this truck:

1) Rebuild it as it was! Not likely, why? Because it already was and has been. Does that make sense? The truck has already been born and lived a short but successful life. SEMA, Cover shoot for Mini Truckin' magazine, The Roadster Show, it really didn't have much to look forward too.

2) Throw it away for scrap. Not likely either. I'm not one to just toss out such a thing of beauty. Even wrecked she looks pretty.

3) Like a "Phoenix" rise from the ashes. Rebuild her in a way as to pay homage to the earlier build. This would be the most likely outcome. I wouldn't paint her the same but something similar. After all the thing I had the most props on was the paint combination on the truck. In my opinion it looked just right. Sure I wish the paint job was slightly better, but it still looked really good.

Hopefully within the next 48 hours or so I will be meeting with an adjuster from Geico. I will post an update and let everybody know where we stand. And if all goes well, she will come back better than her former self and will attend SEMA 2012. Keep  your fingers crossed.

My work

A few of the trucks I shot while at Mini Truckin'

I don't know why my dumb ass didn't have him close the door. I think I was in the moment.

This little LUV was the first cover I ever shot for MT mag. I'd shot one other cover at this point for Tailgate Magazine.

The 20th Anniversary shoot I did at Festers house in Arizona.

Shot this thing in the middle of the day in Japan. It's hard to tell but it's actually dark green.

1996-ish

Me with my 1993 Mighty Max, this is what it looked like when I joined Forbidden Fantasy.

Badass Toyota

I shot this thing for MT a few years back.