Garage Five 25th Anniversary
Today was Garage Five’s block party as they celebrated 25 years in business. A staple of the Greater Vancouver import scene, one of the most respected local Honda shop in the lower mainland. I felt it was only appropriate to attend in a Honda product to such a special event. So naturally I borrowed my friend Jeremy’s Acura NSX….again. I got to see some old friends and check out some cars from the local scene. Here’s a gallery of some of the cars in attendance.
Fort Langley - Antiques
Yesterday, I walked around the Fort Langley area with my brother and niece. Decided to take the Leica Q out as my camera for the day and grabbed some photos of around town and some of the antique shops in the area.
We started off having lunch at the Planet Java 50s Diner, the burger was alright, fries were good cause they use the Cavendish fries from Costco =D.
The antique shops around Fort Langley are pretty neat and lots of things to look at and photograph.
It was a great way to spend the afternoon as the weather was great. I am enjoying shooting with the Leica Q more and more.
Chef’s Kiss - BMW 1M and M3
A pair of BMW M sports coupe up in the snowy mountains.
I shot a pair of BMWs up at Cypress Mountain one afternoon where apparently there was still snow. I’ve been meaning to photograph Chris’ BMW M3 for a few years now and since Brad recently picked up a BMW 1M, I figured why not try to get both cars together. I shot most of the photos with the Fujifilm X-T5 and Fujifilm 50-140mm f/2.8. Some shots were taken with the Fujifilm 27mm f/2.8 WR pancake lens. Both owners gave me a bit of information about their respective BMWs in their own words.
Chris: “I bought the M3 back in 2013. I was looking for an e46 at first, but with my budget I thought, why buy a mediocre e46 when I could buy an excellent e36. I’m happy I made that choice. The e36 was pretty unloved in North American form until recently as the e30 and e46 both had ITBs and were higher strung motors, but the e36 really solidified the M3s position as a car you could have fun in, every day, in every condition.
I’ve put about 80k on the car in the years I’ve owned it. It’s been on the track, on snowboard trips, taken my family on road trips, did a 5k drive down the pacific coast and made all of it pretty special. Only 127 were made in this colour combo in 1998, all of the parts on the car other than the coilovers and exhaust are OEM BMW Motorsport parts from the M3 GT or LTW.
This car is probably less exciting to most compared to my e30, but I would keep this one if I could only keep one 10 times out of 10. It’s a very good blend between modern and classic that it’s easy to work on, easy to drive, but still exciting enough to just want to go for a drive. The sweet spot IMO.”
I do plan to shoot Chris’ e30 M3 too one day. Yes he has one of those too…
Brad recently picked up his Valencia Orange BMW 1M before this photoshoot. He gave some insight on the 1M:
“I’m a long time german car enthusiast, particularly of the Bavarian variety. I love the combination of performance and refinement. I’ve been drawn to the 1M since it’s tease, and eventual release in 2011. Something about the proportions of the E82 (which remind me so much of the E36) and the skunkworks like nature of this project (which remind me so much of the Z3 Coupe). Eventually a vehicle shakeup presented the opportunity to put this into the garage. Just 220 examples of this car came to Canada for 1 year only. The time was right to snag one.
Initial impressions are great. The car is everything that I hoped it would be. Wonderful hydraulic steering, a linear power curve delivered by the tried and tested N54, and the stopping power of a small freight train. No NAV to distract, no bulky power seats to add mass, no sunroof to put additional weight in exactly the wrong place. BMW built this car for driving enthusiasts.
The debate continues – is the 1M a true M car? A small group of BMW engineers believed in this project, and put it together - at least initially in secret and on their on time. The results speak for themselves, a universally beloved drivers car.”
I had a lot of fun shooting these cars and I am pretty happy shooting with the telephoto lens. Hoping to do more shoots with the 50-140mm f/2.8.
A Walk through Steveston
Photowalk through Steveston
I wanted to get some practice in with shooting the Leica Q. I headed out in the morning to do a walk with a friend to see what I could capture. The sun was pretty bright already in the morning so that was something I had to contend with.
Acura NSXs
A pair of NSXs
I did a photoshoot of my friend Andy’s Acura NSX. Andy does paint protection film and car wraps in Vancouver. His company GPFX Graphics is one of the most respected companies for wraps and PPF. I was also lucky enough to be able to borrow my friend Jeremy’s stock NSX to add to the shoot.
RWB Build Porsche Richmond
RWB Porsche build at Porsche Centre Richmond
Nakai-San of RWB (Rauh-Welt Begriff) was building cars across Canada on a tour. Richmond was the last stop and I decided to go check out the build. The last time I attended a build was in Washington State many years ago at a private event.
This event was taking place at the Porsche dealership in Richmond and there were other local RWB builds on showcase.
