OWNERS MANUAL
Issue 3
March 2020
Technique
2020 Vulcan S
Light Painting
Obituary
Person of the Month
RIP Smiley Jar
WildAZart
h t e f C o a g s n i The owner of this NSX would not be satisfied with ordinary. Read the full story of this amazing build, which was 20 years in the making.
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Motorcycle Feature
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Off the Rails
The last time I did a photoshoot with Jaren, it was to capture his two roadsters, a Mazda MX-5 and a BMW Z3. Knowing he had good taste in vehicles, I was excited and honored when he called me to shoot his brand new motorcycle. A date was promptly set! I asked about his purchase.
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“I have always been a fan of motorcycles, but just started riding about a year ago. I moved up in performance on the sport bike side going from a Grom to a ZX6R in 6 months and more recently decided the best pairing to the sport bike was a sport cruiser of the same breed. The engine is derived from the Ninja platform and I love the modern-retro cafe styling. It has enough power (for the weight) for those who have more experience with some high performance machines, but it is not an overwhelming amount of power for a new rider.�
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Any recommendations for a ride?
“For a more scenic cruise Tortilla Flat is a must. With a heavier dual sport or adventure bike you can easily make a day trip of it and continue on Apache Trail to 188 and head North towards Payson. Whether you make it all the way to Payson or start heading South when you hit the 87, you’ll want to stop at Saguaro Lake for an unforgettable Arizona sunset.”
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I have to give a very special thanks to the Arizona Railway Museum in Chandler for being such gracious hosts. We called them up to ask if they would allow us to photograph a motorcycle among their awesome collection of trains and they agreed! I could not have asked for better photos, and I owe it to their kind hospitality.
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Fighter Mode
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I came across this NSX pretty early on in my photography journey, and fell in love with it at first sight. The owner, Jhae, granted me a few hours of his time to shoot the car for my page, and this turned out to be one of my favorite experiences. Since then, Jhae and I have had several interactions, and I’ve come to appreciate his humble personality and creative vision.
Tellus usabout about your interest Tell interestinincars! cars! I have been into cars as long as I can remember. The first car I saw that I really liked was the Daytona Spyder from Miami Vice. Of course like most people my age, the General Lee and the Fall Guy truck were always up there too. I used to subscribe to car magazines, as many as seven, just to read about and look at cars.
What madeyou youdecide decideon on an an NSX? NSX? Have them? What made Haveyou youalways liked always liked them? While still in high school, the first NSX my friends and I saw was a black one. This was probably around 1992. Several of us became obsessed with the car, but my obsession was something next level. Over the next 20 years, I would literally have dreams of owning an NSX. It was funny because in every dream, there was always something wrong with the car. I remember one dream where the car just wouldn’t accelerate very fast at all. In another dream, the NSX had only spare tires on it. During the 20 years it took, there were times when the thought no longer crossed my mind. But once I started working in a career and had an opportunity to start making a lot more money, the dream became a reality. I had missed the market crash of 2008, while NSXs were inexpensive, because I still was not in a position to purchase one. I almost bought an Aston Martin V8 Vantage. It would have cost more than some of the NSX’s I was looking at, but I decided on the NSX because it was a life long dream and it would have been cheating my own dreams and aspirations to have passed on buying one. 8
What role did the inspiration for the wrap play in your life? The car is a “Robotech: Macross Saga” inspired wrap. At my age, that is really all we had growing up. There was no streaming video, no internet, only network television and even cable TV was barely off the ground itself. As with most children, I would day dream about being the hero and flying a Veritech fighter jet from Robotech to save the day. As I grew up and moved on from Robotech, it was nothing more than an out of sight past thing I used to be into. Fast forward to 2016. I was tired of being passed up at local car shows because the average judge doesn’t know anything about an NSX and because of the way I had built my car, they would often see it as a bone stock clean NSX on wheels and stance. I decided that I wanted to change things up because while I loved my car, and many people love to remind me that in their opinion, my car was best during that time, I wanted to make a bigger impact and have fun. I decided I would think about wrapping my car to change things up a bit and do a fighter jet wrap. Then I thought about it deeper and decided to mock up a VF inspired wrap. The VF is used in the real world for fighter jets, but Macross refers to it as “Valkyrie Fighter” and Robotech uses “Variable Fighter”. Since my car color scheme is black w/red interior, my original render was actually a white/red/black Macross VF-1S. However, this does not exist anywhere in the Robotech universe. 15 9
Since my first love was Robotech, I felt I needed to use the white/yellow/black more universally recognizable VF-1S as I wanted all fans of the anime to recognize it. I also needed to try to make sure people who have zero clue, at least recognize the wrap as a fighter jet. I wanted my wrap to have realistic elements from an F-14 Tomcat, the fighter jet in which the Robotech Veritech/Macross Valkyrie was heavily influenced by. I did a lot of research and visited air museums to capture reference photos and details, and also downloaded hundreds of cross reference photos of Macross scale models and F-14 images. I wanted the car to still be somewhat cartoonish in appearance but be detailed, like a premium Collector Edition model that you would have to pre-order online, instead of something you would buy at a Wal-Mart.
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What was your most memorable experience related to this car? I was invited as a booth car by a complete stranger for Anime Expo 2018. By doing so, I caught the eyes of Harmony Gold, the company behind Robotech. They ended up posting my car on their website as a fan vehicle able to be seen at Anime Expo. This was a major victory for a guy like me. After they did their panel discussion, the CEO and Creative Director of Robotech came to see my car on the exhibit floor. They loved it, all of it. I was invited out their studio on Sunset Boulevard in LA. I ended up taking them up on it. That is something I could have never dreamed of happening and expecting it to be a reality. I did a very limited run with Leen Customs pins and have one of the most sought after pins as a result of that. I also have a 1:43 scale miniature that can be purchased from multiple sites and stores around the world as a result of a superfan overseas. I had nothing to do with the financial input so I did the honorable thing and did not ask for any money.
Which features of the car do you like best? From an engineering and design aspect, the NSX was one of the first, if not the first unibody aluminum vehicle made for the everyday market. It is, I believe 85% aluminum between the body and most suspension components. The titanium rods were always kind of a cool thing to talk about and the cockpit design is still incredibly impressive. 13
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If you look at other vehicles from 1990-1995, the interiors look incredibly dated. The NSX interior looks anything but dated, especially for those of us who have switched out the cassette deck and factory radio with an aftermarket one. The sleek design is unmistakable and in 2020, depending on aftermarket styling, could still pass for a more relatively modern design. Simply put, aside from the pop up head lights of the 91-01 models, the Acura NSX does not look like it came out in the early 90’s.
What is the Hard Parking Podcast?
The Hard Parking Podcast is my half of a future venture collaboration with others to be called Hard Parking Media. This has become my side hobby but like with anything, I give it 150% effort. I describe this as the “non-automotive automotive podcast”. As many people don’t know, my day job is healthcare IT, so I am away from home typically every Sunday night and return home Thursday night. This podcast is about my weekly adventures, my rental cars, my episodic subject matter, and of course, guests like yourself. I try to highlight someone from social media via interview during each episode and tackle some topics that are affecting the world and/or the car culture. I stay as far away from politics, religion, and impacting social controversies when possible. I want my listeners to be able to tune in and play the podcast in the background, be entertained a little, educated a little, and not have to take anything too seriously. As of this article, the podcast can be found on Apple, Google, Spotify, Anchor.fm, RadioPublic, and many more.
What’s next for the VF-1S?
There really is not much more I would do to my NSX besides possibly redoing the wrap. Other than taking it to shows around the country on my dime, or it being used in a movie, there really is nothing else to accomplish. What the next vehicle may be, well, I know already, but for your readers, they will just have to wait and see. 15
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wildazart
This issue’s Person of the Month is someone who I have worked with on several occasions and who I have a great degree of respect for. Her work is fantastic, and she has the attitude and mindset to match. 17
How long have you been a photographer? I have been practicing photography since 2000. I was a freshman in highschool and had selected Photography as one of my electives. Little did I know it would be the biggest turning point in my creative roadmap. What is your favorite subject to photograph?
Wild horses. Hands down. I appreciate their company and capturing their moments.
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Do you have any advice for new photographers who are just getting started? Take your time setting up your shot. Enjoy the time you are shooting. I think most of us get to caught up in the “hustle” that we don’t take the time to appreciate our own growth and talent. What is something you wish you knew about photography before starting out? I wish I would have started editing in Photoshop first instead of Lightroom.
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What are your future plans for your photography? Where do you see it going in the next few years? I would like to be well known in the industry, making a name for myself and mentoring other creatives.
Give us your favorite quote! “If
wishes were horses, beggars would ride”
Check out all of Jess’s work at @wildAZart on Instagram
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Let There Light painting is a technique I’ve only recently begun experimenting with, but it is quickly becoming one of the most interesting techniques in my photography toolkit. The way the camera picks up light from a single source in a pitch black area is very unique.
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e be Light
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I have always loved night time photographs with intricate patterns and shapes of light around the subject. Not until I tried this technique for myself did I realize the versatility of it. In a pitch black environment, a single light source can be used to illuminate an entire subject, creating a very uniform and smooth result. Shadows can easily be eliminated, and details can be vividly highlighted so that they stand in stark contrast with the rest of the image. On the one hand, you can create crisp photos with the subject cleanly presented with minimal noise or distractions, while on the other hand you can use the light itself as a tool for creating shapes and patterns around your subject.
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The photos on the pages of this feature give some clear examples of these varying capabilties of light painting. The pictures of this beautiful grey Corvette were shot in a pitch black parking lot under an overpass. The background lights were there of course, but the vehicle itself was completely covered in darkess. I chose to make this set clean and simple, focusing on the red details, which stood out extremely vividly against the other grayscale tones of the car. The result is smooth, evenly distributed light across the car, with minimal shadow. The Accord and the Mustang, meanwhile, include pattens “painted� using the source of the light itself, giving an added layer of movement and drama to the final images.
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For how impressive the results that you can achieve with this technique are, it’s actually a relatively simple process to learn. Like with all things, practice is required to create the exact effect you’re going for (and I, myself am a complete novice), but it’s not complicated to understand. All you need is a subject, your camera, and a spotlight. Find a dark location, and place your subject where you are not going to get any light pollution on it from surrounding street lights, business advertisements, etc. and set your camera to long exposure. A time frame of 10 to 15 seconds tends to be sufficient for lighting up an entire car by itself, while times of up to 30 seconds or more can be used if you are trying to create the light painted patterns and shapes around the subject. Remember to keep your spot light pointed AWAY from yourself. Whatever the light doesn’t touch, the camera doesn’t pick up. This is why it’s possible to make yourself virtually invisible in the final images, while your subject is clearly illuminated. Wearing all black helps too!
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It is with a heavy heart that I bring you all the news that the one and only Idea Jar has suffered a horrible accident. Rescue personnel were dispatched to the scene immediately, but all the king’s horses and all the king’s men could not put him back together again.
But never fear! The fan-suggested themed photoshoots will resume ASAP! We will find a new worthy torchbearer to supercede the jar. Please continue to send me your ideas for themes that you’d like brought to life to @adamkiss.phography on Instagram or via e-mail at adam@adamkissphotography.com!
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