A bit more film for you guys. I just finished up my second roll from the EOS 1 and am going to get it developed soon. Here are some shots from our last night in Japan looking across the bay from our room at Tokyo Disney.

 

My good friend Lauren's Birthday at Lil Sister in Broadbeach

 

Hiroshima - 6月 20日 2011

Hiroshima was an amazing and eye opening place to see. Admittedly it was a place that Emily was far more eager to see than I was however I would have kicked myself had I missed out on it. The Hiroshima Dome is the only structure left standing after the bomb was dropped in 1945. At 600 metres below and 150 metres across from the blast the dome was almost the closest point to the centre of the blast.

Osaka - 6月 19日 2011

One day during my trip to Japan we took a train from Namba station to Shinsaibashi and spent the majority of our day up there. Shinsaibashi is such an awesome place and being so close to Namba we decided to walk back through all the shops.

Here's a shot I took on the way through all the amazing side alleys. 

This week I have picked myself up a valuable piece of equipment that will help my photographic practice an incredible amount - Studio lighting.

A massive thanks to my friend Matthew Breen who got the gear for me!

Having just had a quick play with the gear I'm very impressed and cannot wait to give it a go on something serious.

For now, here's a shot of my new Canon EF 24-105mm mug, again from Matt - Thanks bud! 

Today I spent a casual afternoon hanging out with my dad at the Tedder Ave Fast Cars, Food & Fashion show to check out some of the cars that were on display up there.

There were your typical cars up there; Exotics, random hummers and a line up of Commodores. The cars that interested me the most however were the classics, which surprisingly had a strong presence.

Straight away I spotted this Jag E-type.

This Thunderbird didn't seem to be on display, but it certainly was clean enough to be.

Everyone was out to get that feeling of grandeur from the cars and fashion.

I have always had a huge passion for the Porsche 365 and this Carrera was absolutely mint.  

After checking out the cars it was time to settle down for a drink at the Clock Hotel.

I have just a bit of an update on what I have been working on this week. As mentioned, last weekend I took the trip down to Sydney to shoot at the World Time Attack Challenge. Despite having a full uni week first thing Monday morning after my Sunday night flight back, I have been slowly culling down the 2 something thousand photos I took over the weekend.

For now, Here's a snap of the Cyber Evo piloted by Tarzan Yamada resting in the pits.

I have a 5D Mark II in my hands for the next two days which I needed to hire it out for a HD video assignment at my uni. Considering I have recently convinced myself a 1D Mark IIN would be a better camera for me to purchase (hopefully) at the end of this year I also wanted to make sure I got a decent try of this before I completely make up my mind.

Having only used the 5D for an afternoon, I still know the 1D will be the better choice for me however I can't help but still want to buy one of these. The 6400 ISO on these is just insane, and every picture comes out crystal clear with perfect tones. Considering the 5D is 2-2.5 the cost of a 1D Mark IIN and not to mention isn't as suited to my style of photography I'm still very much leaning towards the 1D, with the hope that I can later upgrade to a IV or even a V if it is out by that time.

I've got a quick preview to show you guys what I have been up to on the weekend. I have been in Sydney since 7 am Friday to cover the World Time Attack Challenge at Eastern Creek Raceway. Having just got off the plane less than 2 hours ago I have been loading up and sorting through my shots from the weekend.

Here is one of my favorite shots of the Pan Speed FD RX-7 that I took just as the sun was going down on Saturday afternoon. Shortly after this it was announced that 2010's winner, Tarzan Yamada, in the Cyber EVO had stuck again. More on this soon!

Just in time for Superlap at Eastern Creek I have managed to get my mits on a 1D MKII N along with a 300 L f/2.8. I can't wait to start seriously shooting with it but this afternoon I went out to grab some quick test shots along the highway.

The camera body is incredibly cool albeit taking some time to get used to. Up until now I have had my heart set on a 5D MKII as an upgrade at the end of this year but I'm actually seriously considering changing to one of these. I have it for the next 12 days so that should be a good amount of time to aid my decision.

I will be heading up to King of Drift at Queensland Raceway on sunday so I expect to get some great shots from that!

I had a quick attempt at in-car light painting today. A very simple setup using a work light and a plastic A4 folder taped to the back of it. Like I said, simple, but effective. I'm very interested to keep trying this with better lighting supplies so hopefully you will be seeing some more of this. For now though, here is my shot of the inside of my S13.

Den Den Town, Osaka - 6月 17日 2011

This is a great example of the streets of Den Den Town in Osaka. Late in the afternoon every store would be incredibly busy and it would continue on into the night.

I just got the first roll of film developed from my new EOS 1! I have plenty of great images from the roll of 36 but I honestly couldn't wait to post this image of a BMW 5 series I found in Shinsaibashi. It also turns out in my film noob'ness I had bought slide film... Not the greatest idea, but it came out surprisingly well!

More film shots very soon!

Den Den Town, Osaka - 6月 17日 2011

Den Den Town in Osaka is the electronics district. If you have any sort of interest in anything electronic then this place is for you. As is the case for a lot of Japan, you see some really interesting people walking around. I stood here and people watched for a few minutes before I took this shot in the perfect afternoon sun.

Hey guys,

Not many posts lately as I have been very busy building my new online magazine.

I won't shed too many details yet but I am putting a lot of hours into it in a hope it will become one of the more quality automotive publications out there.

I can assure you that when the time comes for me to release the new magazine you will hear of it!

You can expect content from drift events, car meets, car features and of course quality coverage of all stuff related to Midnight Mechanics.

I am also heading down to Superlap in the next two weeks for content for the magazine.

For now, here is just a tease of what I have been up to in the last few days.

I thought I would show you guys some of the stuff I have been up to the last few days. This last weekend I have been running up and down the coast helping mates with cars, camera in hand of course.

I have been very busy lately working on a project for my blog www.midnightmechanics.blogspot.com. So I am snapping as much content as I can.

On Saturday I was up in Labrador helping my friend Jared put his SR20 back into his S14. His previous motor blew the rings and he has since put a bit of money into the new motor for a bit of an improvement.

I got a few shots of the work being done throughout the day but here are some photos I took of his new TD05 turbo and GK Tech stainless manifold.

I also spent all day Sunday hanging out with my good friend Jason who is part of the Midnight Mechanics team. Jason has also been investing a lot of time and money in rebuilding his 4agte motor for his AE86. 

I also snapped some glamour shots of his recently purchased drift hack. This R31 Skyline came with coilovers and not much else for $1500. The body is covered in Rust holes and sounds like a Holden Commodore but I can't begin to explain how much of an amazing car it is.

Yesterday afternoon I went for a quick hill sprint with some friends up Beechmont on the Gold Coast.

Of course, taking my camera along for some night shots was obligatory.

 My Corolla next to Ross's WRX

Nathan's rad 1200 ute

I went for a spot of fishing today. Even though I have done it plenty of times before it's not something I regularly do, but it was a good chance to catch up with my friend Matt who I haven't seen in quite some time.

Matt is an amazing wedding photographer, so if you are looking to get photos done and are willing to pay a bit more for someone who really knows what they are doing feel free to check out his web site at http://matthewbreen.com.au/.

I'm pretty proud of myself, I caught two fish today, but only one was big enough to take home. I would have to say fishing is something that is a lot more enjoyable when you have good company and you are at the right spot.

 I can hear a lot of you saying "duuhh" right now.

Anyway, being such a perfect day I made sure to bring my camera along. I also got some great film shots as I got a new battery for the EOS 1 today.

I also got a good shot of the S13 this afternoon. I've recently put 5mm spacers on all round and lowered the coilovers about 7mm and am very happy with the look of it.

Both this shot and the photo of Nathan's ute is HDR'd a little. Just enough to see the gorgeous colors we were seeing this afternoon as well as see what's in the shadows.

This afternoon I went out for a drive with my mate Nathan McKenna to get some photos of his 1200 ute as well as use my EOS 1 for some of the more tasteful shots. To my disappointment I found out this afternoon that my EOS 1 runs on a replaceable lithium battery which has decided to run out. But it's problems like this that make me happy to now have two camera body's, even if the 40D isn't full frame like the EOS 1.