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.

1966 Cadillac

I had a huge love and fascination with Cadillacs for the longest time. I've definitely had some cool cads. My favorite would have to be my green 1966 Coupe De ville that I bought from the original owners. It wasn't perfect, it even had a shotty paint job, but it sure had the right look. As much as I loved that car though, I never got over my first Cadillac. It was a 1966 Coupe also that Max at Bio Kustumz installed a 1965 rear end.

 Why did we do it, just to be different. It was a really cool car and when it showed up to Freakfest in 2006-2007 I took advantage of the situation and put the two cars together for a few shots. Check em out.

Lost Projects

What probably could've been my best project ever. It was a 2006 Mitsubishi Raider. Unfortunately the Real Estate market crashed and I lost my job as a Realtor for a while. I went to work for Mini Truckin' Magazine and it just didn't pay the bills. The truck was never even started.

You ever have an idea so good, you have to put it down on paper. I do. It's how I function. Everything gets written down somewhere, it used to be on paper, but now it's on my phone. When it comes to trucks and cars i seem to have ideas bouncing around in my head all the time. Unfortunately I don't have unlimited resources and money so I just can't build them all. I have been fortunate enough however to finish a few. Here are a few renderings of trucks I never got around to building. (Don't steal em') lol

The original version of project STK TRUK, which later became WAS STK. I've always wanted a black Mitsu.

This is a project which I still consider. Let's see if anybody goes and builds it. I wanted to build it on the Mitsubishi Montero platform. I came up with this concept around 2004-2005. I through the idea to Max Fish at Bio Kustumz and later To Brandt from www.graphicdisorder.com who helped me come up with the rendering. Notice the bottom grill which caused me some grief for a while lol

This is one of the original versions of what would later become "NR 2" and then "Bring It On" I did start to build this truck. It was amazing. Craziest thing I'd ever envisioned with the help of Max Fish at Bio Kustumz. The truck got sold last year to finish WAS STK to somebody on the East Coast who wishes to be anonymous. 

The finished version of "Bring It On" Again, like I said, it got sold to finish WAS STK last November of 2011

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

Danger Zone 2012

It dawned on me that I uploaded the pictures to Danger Zone 2012 but I never posted them or the link here on Mind Of Macias.  Well here you have them.

TO SEE THE ENTIRE SET CLICK HERE!

WAS STK on GrinderTV

Check out GrinderTV's newest video featuring the Mitsu. This video was shot about two weeks before the accident. It's amazing work by Brian Goude and the staff at GrinderTV. Make sure you check out there site by clicking here. GRINDERTV 

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