Event Coverage | AutoCon 2012

July 23, 2012

Night Import: Photography by Nick Schultz | Words by William Lee

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Hello hello! Wow. Long time no update haha. I know my blog has been pretty quiet throughout these past few months, but most of you guys see the updates I make on my fanpage, so don't hate me too much. A lot of things have been happening to me other than work and I had to keep myself occupied other than going to car shows, which is one of the reasons why I've been so quiet. I was actually thinking about my activeness in the scene yesterday while browsing through the net and realized my activeness went down 80% compared to last year. Many of you guys who personally know me, know exactly what I'm talking about. Some of you guys greeted me as if I came back from the dead once I showed up at a show before haha. Well I'll try to be more active next year, so that all you fans won't be disappointed.

Well last week, one of my favorite car shows from last year happened this year at an earlier time and I was pretty stoked on planning to attend the event. Yeap~ it was AutoCon! I actually met up with Justin, Nathan, and other staffs who were a part of AutoCon last year to discuss about future plans with the event. I didn't know exactly what was happening back then, but I was fortunate enough to be a small part of AutoCon and glad that Justin and Nathan favored my blog. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend AutoCon this year because of a wedding I had to attend, so my apology to all of NI fans and to Justin and Nathan. Although I wasn't there to do a coverage, our contributing photographer Nick Schultz and videographer UMWorks attended AutoCon and as always, they brought us flawless work. Check it!

Event Coverage | Motion Auto Show 2012 (Pt. II)

May 22, 2012

Night Import: Photography and Words by William Lee

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Harro~! Welcome back NI fans. I really appreciate many of you guys leaving comments and liking my part 1 coverage of MAS 2012. It means a lot when a compliment is made on whatever I do that's involved with cars. I'm just a blogger and NI is a personal blog, so whenever I do get a positive feedback, that means I'm doing something right and you guys are enjoying my coverages and features. Right?

While in the topic of feedbacks and compliments, something pretty awesome happened last week at a bar/lounge I go to in koreatown called Gaam. If you love food and drinking, then you should know about this place because it is THE spot in ktown to chill with your homies. On Saturday, I met up with Steve and Luke, who are very well known photographers, to have some 'fun' (you can define that word in any way) until the place closed, which was around 2am. Afterwards, a guy named Jin came up to me, asking if I was the owner of Night Import. The conversation continued on and I found out he was a huge fan of my blog. He even knew all the recent posts I made on this site you guys are in right now. I really appreciate all of ya'll who take a look at the photos and words I post up on the fanpage, but I appreciate those who check my official blog even more. I'm just mentioning this small story because I want to say thanks to Jin for coming up to me and complimenting about my site. *thumbs up* Also, shout out to my new friends Steve and Luke who really made my day on Saturday. It was CHILL!

I gotta get back to my MAS coverage instead of talking about some random events that aren't related, so fast forwarding to Sunday, there were a lot of things I saw and heard other than cars in general. Some are confidential because I don't want to create some drama, but there will be some short stories/opinions/thoughts I want to mention for certain photos I'll be posting up today or maybe in my part 3 coverage.
I remember last year's MAS was really packed. When I mean by packed, I'm talking about cars parked close together and few aisles overcrowded with spectators. But for some reason, I felt as if the crowd was lacking and not a lot of teams/crews participated. It sort of brought back the memories of last year's event schedule when Nisei, MAS, SpoCom, and Wekfest were all happening within 2 months or so. Anyways, I decided to start off with one of my favorite cars at MAS, which was this WALD Black Bison LS600h built by VIP Auto Salon. I actually saw this car in ktown while watching the Lakers play and it was rolling into a lot filled with people waiting in line to eat at a restaurant. I don't know about you guys, but if I was one of those hungry people in line, I would've been a bit full checking out this car. Stunning!

Event Coverage | Hot Import Nights 2012

March 13, 2012

Night Import: Photography and Words by William Lee

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As mentioned in my coverage, I attended Hot Import Nights right after LTBMW's 2012 meet. I was thinking about staying longer at LTBMW because cars were constantly coming in and the quality of cars were so much better compared to last year's meet, but realizing how much of a struggle I had at HIN 2011 when all the lights were off and tons of people walking back and forth in front of the cars I wanted to take photos of, I left at around 2:15pm to arrive a bit early and take an advantage of my media pass. The actual show started at 3pm, so going in at least 10 minutes earlier was good enough for me.

Now, many of you guys might not know this, but last week's HIN was supposed to happen at Irwindale Speedway along with XDC. What the hell happened? Irwindale Speedway filed bankruptcy, so the place is now gone! Well...not gone, but it's basically closed down. What HIN planned to do got fuked up and instead of cancelling the show, they decided to rent out a different place, which was at Fairplex in Pomona, CA. I'm just glad the show still happened because many enthusiasts missed out on HIN last year and wanted to attend this year's event. I enjoyed myself checking out some new rides when HIN was at Los Angeles, but what I really enjoyed was the overall mood of HIN because it brought back memories when I attended HIN back in middle school! Although I got into the scene last year, my first car show was HIN, so it was pretty dam epic to attend it again last year. I think I went right when the show started and left late because it was so fukin dark inside the convention center I had to wait until the lights were back on to do coverage.

So~ being excited while driving to Pomona, CA, I arrived, got in line to get my pass, and entered a building where HIN was taking place. What I usually like to do before I start a coverage is to walk around the whole area and check out the cars. After taking a quick glance, I walked around and took some snaps. While doing my coverage though, I don't know what the fuk happened, but I lost interest in the show within 40 minutes and this is when the show actually started. I'm not saying the car show sucked at all because it was actually dam good. Tons of models, cars, and people, but I think it was because most of the cars that did show were the ones I usually saw at other car meets/shows. I mean..I've been doing this for months now, so had no clue why this feeling struck me. Am I getting tired of this scene already? or is it because I want to see something new? Ah...fuk it..I don't know what the hell I'm talking about right now, so let's get on with the coverage. The lighting wasn't as bad as HIN in Los Angeles, CA but my camera has its limit, so I did have some difficulties taking shots here and there. Yeap~ the photos will be shitty! I tried to take photos of cars I've never seen before, but like I've just mentioned, most of the cars you will see today are the ones you guys have seen in the previous coverages.

Nightlight | Memorable Rides of 2011 (Part 2)

January 9, 2012

Night Import: Photography and Words by William Lee

INTRODUCTION
"What the...I thought he was done with the Memorable Rides article.." Yeap! I was~ but sitting down at Starbucks yesterday and thinking about my blog like always, there were a few more rides I just had to give some spotlight because of its well-built figure and uniqueness other than the 10 cars I introduced to you guys in my Memorable Rides of 2011 post. This is why living in California as an automotive enthusiast is like a blessing. Well-rounded quality cars will mostly be in California and those rides are good enough to stun the world. On top of that, there will always be a car show or meet within every single week. What more can you ask when everything you want as an enthusiast happens in CA? It reminds me of my automotive childhood (only a year ago because I didn't know jack shiet about cars back then) when I went to my first event, then to the second on the following week, and then next week, next week...next week...you know how it goes. I obviously can't remember every single ride in the scene throughout my active years, but the ones I do remember means that those cars had a strong impression. For all you girls, it's the feeling of going inside Louis Vuitton, seeing a newly released bag, going home and thinking about it 24/7. Without further ado, I would like to continue with my choice of memorable rides from 2011.

Event Coverage | HIN 2011 (Pt. II)

December 5, 2011

Night Import: Photography and Words by William Lee

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Welcome back to Night Import! Hope you guys are visiting the blog often to catch up with my articles, because things are about to get serious! Just playing~ As long as I can entertain you guys while at work, home, in the bathroom, with your girlfriend, ... you get the point v(^-^)v
My last partly coverage on Hot Import Nights will be a good one because the photos I'm about to share with you guys came out pretty decent considering the short amount of time I had to cover the whole area when the lights were on during the award ceremony. By the way, congratulations to all the winners! It's always unpredictable to know who will win which category because judges aren't the same for every car show event. Each judge has a different perspective when it comes to certain makes & models, so hope no one was frustrated with the judging and stuff. It's all about having fun and enjoying the time spent with friends and family right? Let's get on with the cars and see what was up at different areas of the huge ass showcase lot. The cover photo for Part 2 is the well-known VIP team in SoCal, BP VIP. It's been a while since I got to know a few members in this team, and I was surprised to see some of their rides with a new look! Click on "Read More" at the bottom right to see their rides.

Event Coverage | Motion Auto Show 2011 (Pt. I)

August 22, 2011

Night-Import: Photography and Words by William Lee

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I'm trying to figure out on how to explain the awesomeness of Motion Auto Show (MAS) yesterday. If this is your first time hearing about this event, then you're not missing out on anything because this is technically a new event. Check out my coverage on Pro-Motion Distributing Grand Opening to read more about it.
First off, let me say this event was the best event I've ever been to. Usually, you'll be seeing me say 'one of the..' but for the first time, I have to admit, Motion Auto Show was totally off the hook.
Just to clarify something before some of you guys think I'm bull sh*ting, it's not because I won an award. I didn't show my car thinking I was going to win  because it wasn't done and even if it was, I show my car just to show a tC can be modified cleanly because facing the facts, many but not all Scion tCs are modified in an unfavorable way and immature drivers drive it. I've never showed my car at a major event and to be honest, I was a bit excited to see how things were going to be staged. I planned on taking my camera on Saturday when most of the Car Show participants were rolling in, but I was busy as hell trying to fit all the pieces and prepping my car on Friday night, I forgot (-_-;).
*Big thanks to Dino Images for giving me a ride back home. His own coverage will be up during this week so 'Like' their fanpage to be updated.

On Saturday, after washing my car early in the morning, I left at around 10am and took me about an hour to arrive at Long Beach Convention Center. The shitty part was driving the whole way rubbing mad in the front passenger side causing the fender to be slightly burnt and paint chipping off, but o well! I was expecting that to happen because the fronts weren't dialed in properly.
Just for future reference, major events like MAS require you to leave your car 1 day before the event. When I heard about this rule back in the days, I honestly didn't get why that step had to be done, but going through this experience, I now understand why. You'll have to experience this personally and although it's not too comfortable, there is a purpose.
Upon arrival, I spotted the 1UP crew waiting for other members, so I was chilling there for a bit until roll-in. Long story short, everything was organized, stage was freakin huge, and gawd dam the cars were looking sexy! You'll be seeing all of them throughout my partly coverage so stay tuned.

Now! Sunday Sunday! The day you guys were waiting for! Camera was ready but I wasn't! Slept for about an hour or two and I was tired as f*ck!!!! I had no idea where I was walking and who I was talking to in the beginning, but a cup of Starbucks coffee woke me up. Big thanks to Allen Lee for the ride to Motion Auto Show.

Event Coverage | Nisei Showoff Car Show 2011 (Pt. III)

August 16, 2011

Night-Import: Photography and Words by William Lee

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Finally the last part of my Nisei Showoff Car Show coverage.  Please do understand that this partly coverage is to avoid lags and complaints. I like to keep every opinions/advice in mind, which is how it came down to posting certain amount of photos in one part and then to another. Also, I do want to let you guys know that Night-Import is not a formal-college-smart-elite writing automotive website. I'm bringing this up because of comments and e-mails I've been receiving throughout the past months. Most of the contents are written by me and for those who've been visiting my site since day one, I cuss, joke around, and write some random ass shit to make a coverage enjoyable to read rather than a boring and 'scroll down and only check the photos' status. It might change up a bit later on, but the contents are mostly written in first-person so you guys get an idea of what I personally went through at an event. I do not make shit up to give someone a bad reputation! What I write is what happened and I do have witnesses around me to prove it. Enough said.
Additionally, the photos I take of cars at an event or meet are decided by what I favor. Sometimes I might skip a car, either because I unintentionally skipped it or I didn't like the overall execution. There are a lot more things to say about this, but let's just keep it to that.
One last announcement I want to make before I start Part 3. I usually go to an event early but will not always stay till the end to see who won what category at an event. Why? Because I'm usually the only one from my site doing the coverage and get pretty dam tired walking for 4~5 hours taking photos. I'm not being cocky at all but those who see me know how much work I put into when it comes to photography. I'm still an amateur, but try to take photos as professional as possible.
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There was and still a controversy about my Part 1 coverage of Nisei Showoff Car Show because of stating my own opinion/thoughts, which only a small part of it was not positive toward the organization. However, what was written in that article was not a falsified story but true.
I actually want to take this time to write about who I am, how I started this site, and why I'm doing it, just because I dislike those who act or talk like they know me when they don't .
I've been in this scene for about only a year now but have been to more events and meets than you can even imagine. While some of you guys took some time modifying your rides during the weekends, I was out there shooting. When some of you guys were at an event, I managed my schedule to attend 2 or 3. My site was not created to make a profit. No offense to anyone, but I dislike making decals, sell shirts, or other stuffs to make money out of all of this.. So why am I continuing? It's because I love cars and love the people in this scene. Once I go to an event or meet, I try to take the best shots instead of walking around and taking photos like it ain't meant to be. Yes, there are plenty of people who go to events and shoot, but how many sites actually write up a thorough coverage?
If I don't get accepted for a Media pass, I pay my way through. I respect those who create an event and believe they should get paid for what they do.
Lastly, I never expect myself to be placed higher than anyone because I'm an enthusiast like everyone else.

The whole point about the Part 1 coverage was not to talk about my complaints such as not getting into Nisei early or not being highly respected as a Media applicant, but how the small fairness that could have been given was not. I'm willing to face the consequences that will be hitting me pretty hard from now on, but I want to say to all future bloggers out there, don't feel restricted to say what you want to say.

Now!!!! Let's go ahead with the coverage...

Event Coverage | SpoCom 2011 Models

August 12, 2011

Night-Import: Photography by Nick Schultz | Words by William Lee

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If you read through my coverage on SpoCom, I've mentioned how this event was more than a car show. Along with detailed and modified show cars being displayed inside of Anaheim Convention Center, there were also plenty of entertainments going on and from the many, the most popular area out of all was the Models booth. I'm not talking about only 5~10 models walking around, posing in front of cars, but an actual separate area where more than 20 models were stationed protected by the infamous Kuya Protection. I'll have to show you guys the stunning photos taken by our photographer Nick Schultz instead of describing, so starting it off, we got our supporting model Raichelle Viado in front of DSPORT's booth doing an interview.

Event Coverage | SpoCom 2011 (Pt. III)

August 9, 2011

Night-Import: Photography and Words by William Lee

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Glad that some of you guys are liking my coverage but this is just the beginning! Well this is going to be my last, but we got more awesome stuffs to share from Andy and Jay, and I'm sure you don't want to miss Nick's own coverage on the Models. He's probably working on the photos as we speak, so be patient and wait for the sexiness to be posted up.
Continuing on from where I left off, this will be my last coverage on SpoCom and I got some funny shit to share with you guys near the end. At the top are my boys from 1UP crew. The name was based off of Mario and the term just popped up randomly by one of the members. The team collaborated with the well known automotive/model site It's JDM yO! and their first collabo appearance happened at SpoCom. Photos of their rides will be shared throughout this coverage.

Event Coverage | SpoCom 2011 (Pt. I)

August 7, 2011

Night-Import: Photography and Words by William Lee

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One of the car shows I missed out on last year was SpoCom. This is during the time period when I just got into cars and didn't know jack about any car shows or even cars in general. All I heard about before or after NISEI was the talk about SpoCom. Everywhere I went, it was SpoCom SpoCom SpoCom. Seriously, all the hype made me curious on what this event was all about until I looked through some coverage done by other blogs/websites and I understood why a lot of people were going crazy over this event.
SpoCom is not an ordinary car show where some mildly modified cars participate nor just DJs and a few vendors trying to make it 'look' like an event, but a mix of models, cars, vendors, music, entertainment, and various other things that define a true car show. Cars that were built to only show participate in these kind of events and missing one is like seeing a Ferrari Enzo passing next to you and not having a camera to take a snap (a bit exaggerating).
This year's SpoCom was a bit different from the past ones. From what I've heard, the original hosts of this show, Pro-Motion Distribution, are no longer a part of this event and being hosted by a separate group. Last year's event had a bigger venue overall, but because this year is technically a new event, it started off at a smaller location. Either way, the event was banging!!

With the help of MotorMavens, a few staffs and I covered this event like no other. We had a videographer, photographer for models, and the others to take care of the car show area. I was pretty stoked when a few people recognized us by our staff shirts and complimenting on our site. I would say that's the enjoyment and thrill I like to feel, which keeps myself motivated to bring you guys better content every week.

Instead of blabbering about what went on, showing you guys' photos will do the job. The show began at 4pm, but Media had the privilege to an early access, so I tried my best to cover the cars in a short amount of time before it got overcrowded.