Recently, Skylar Smith and I set out to test my RED Epic’s 300fps capabilities. How did we test them? By having Skylar throw water balloons, tomatoes, and spray diet coke and mentos at my face – all while letting the EPIC capture the action at 300 frames per second and a shutter of 1/2500th of a second. Enough to capture some of the quickest of reactions, movements, and water droplets. Enjoy and expect more high speed action in our future projects.

The coldest I’ve ever been has to be…Wyoming. Prior to this most recent trip, wind chill and cold temperatures combined to make a few snowboarding trips – extremely brisk. However, Wyoming in December at 3am has to take the prize for the coldest I’ve experienced. -16 degrees will make you want to curl up and quit. When temperatures hit positive later in the day – it felt insanely warm!

This was my first trip to Jackson, WY and I really loved it. Compared to the mining towns of Colorado – Jackson had a very cowboy western feel. This motel, the four winds caught my eye as its the title of a Bright Eyes song I dig.

The town also has a thing for antlers which make up arches, lamps, and furniture randomly around Jackson.

We setup a time lapse inside of our rental car to capture this epic sunrise.

Having stayed two nights at the Rustic Inn, I highly recommend it! Awesome breakfast and friendly folks.

The Tetons are actually very grand.

Team Honey Badger, my sound recordist Justin has been through snow and cold with us in the past. Here we wait in between takes just inside of Yellowstone.

AHHH. REAL Mountains.

We then headed to Idaho.

Stanley, Idaho – not many people live there, but the ones that do are amazingly nice and make excellent food. Niceness and Yuminess per capita is high.

DC reps our Motel. Jerry’s Motel.

Friends of mine think the mountain roads are fun to drive in Southern California. The roads outside of Boise, are nothing short of a motorcyclist or driver’s dream. So many sweeping curves and switchbacks.

We ended up getting our last shots at sunset outside of Boise, Idaho.

Magic hour, get it right, get it tight.

Until next time. Keep em turning.

After leaving Tucumcari, New Mexico we headed further west to Albuquerque – home of the second longest tramway in the world. We rode the tram up to the top, which provided spectacular views of the state and city. We didn’t stay long because the winds at the top were blowing and it was very chilly.

These tubes marked different points on the horizon – the national laboratories, the city of Santa Fe, and the airport. We were there at a perfect time of day and the light was amazing – as the sun was setting to the west.

I had to hold Tailyr’s hair back from blowing around just to take this photo. We look cold!

The ride down was even more fun than the ascent. The tower in the foreground is the higher of the two towers. Underneath the tram car is a massive drop at this point over the last canyon before the top station.

The two tram cars pass at the mid point of the tram way. On the way down, I got a hold of my friend Dan who met us for dinner with his roommate Tyler.

All of us pose with Dan’s daily driver s13 and Westy. White kids.

Next day, we rolled into Arizona. Here is Westy at the Flinestones campground outside of the Grand Canyon.

“I DO DECLARE, this CANYON IS GRAND!”

Back on the highway, we played tag with a long train.

Until we pulled off for gas in one of my favorite Route 66 towns in California – Ludlow. It has a few abandoned buildings – a diner, gas station, and a few houses.

Westy takes a break under the canopy of an old gas station. I really like the decay and old hand painted signage.

The window frames of the nearby burnt out diner provide a good frame for Westy. After 6 days, 2,600+ miles, and lots of fun stops – we had made it back to California and Los Angeles.

Keep the wheels turning.

Chicago, Illinois November 2011. The leaves were golden and hanging on like the last warmth of summer on a fall afternoon. It was time to bring my 1974 Volkswagen Westfalia Van back out to California from the midwest. The van, known as Westy – short for the Westfalia camper conversion it sports, had been at my parents house since the end of Keep Drifting Fun’s road trip. Westy had been through two motors. The replacement motor had lasted for less than 2,000 miles – before total failure. The carburetors were missing adjustment screws and in need of a freshening up. Luckily, the van broke down in Minneapolis, Minnesota – the home of VW shop Further Performance. They set Westy up with new Weber Carbs and installed a new motor.

A criticism of modern cars is that they have no soul. Westy is all soul. The VW van is a toaster on wheels – tall and narrow. It drives like a truck, with the power of an overweight VW Beetle, and has all the quirks of a a hippie that has had one too many trips.

So if speed, safety, and comfort are none of your concerns – its the perfect road trip machine. It’s like turtle. It has a massive shell that can house all of its occupants comfortably. It can easily sleep 2, if not 4 adults who are willing to get close. It has a fold up table, plenty of storage, and originally came equipped with a stove, refrigerator, and sink. Westy has been modified with solar panels providing the van with power, a modern stereo system head unit, and new speakers.

My girfriend was adventurous enough to come with me on the cross country trek. From Chicago, we headed past St.Louis and the Arch. Chugging along at 55mph.

In the past few years, after criss crossing the United States at least 10 times – I’ve come to appreciate the beauty of Route 66. The interstate highway system is the worst way to see the US – its vanilla and all the same. Route 66 is the US at its best: entrepreneurial, unique, and filled with personality. Here is the World’s largest Rocking Chair outside of Cuba, Missouri.

Back onto the highway, we zipped past Tulsa, Oklahoma.

We wanted to stop off in Oklahoma City, to check out the bombing memorial and downtown area. Oklahoma was sleepy and quiet on a midweek afternoon.

The memorial was beautifully done and modern. It remembers all of those who were killed, injured, and survived the Oklahoma City Federal building bombings. The reflecting pool was low and shallow – book ended on both sides by arch walls that commemorate the time of the attack. It really made me think about how violence is pointless. Its awful to think about how many innocent people lost their lives because of a few men’s hate of the government.

Chairs commemorate those who were killed. The smaller chairs represent children.

After grabbing a couple cupcakes and coffees we were back on the road. The van’s speedometer is off at higher speeds – I used the GPS to help keep the speed in check. Cruising around at 55/60 is frightening when trucks fly past at 70/75 in the southwest.

Next spot for photos was Tucumcari, New Mexico. Another Route 66 stop bypassed by the modern highways. Check out the Westy Camper can in the mural!

Legendary mural. This is the second time I’ve stopped in Tucumcari to take photos by the town’s murals.

Until part two. Here is one for the road.

Rhys uses his hands to explain car positioning for a video we shot in New Zealand on his family’s property. We ended up mowing sections of the long grass down to make a golf course like setup for his rally car.

Some of the other residents were curious about our project. Rod Millen has a few sheep and cows on the property. They help to keep the property’s grass in check.

These rolling green hills were our set location for the day. Not a bad view in any direction.

Even downwards. The cliffs were not for those with a fear of heights! Doesn’t bother me, so it provided some awesome views.

Apparently, Disney’s the Chronicles of Narnia did some of their shooting on this outcropping for one of their films. I can imagine a castle or battle staged one one of those bluffs.

More than meets the eye, the bushes by the cliffs conceal several natural blowholes – sea arches that connect to the land side. The previous owners even build stairway to access the bottom of this one on the property.

Inland the property feels more like a farm. A ridge hides the ocean from sight and grassy fields fill your view.

That and awesome race machines – like Rod’s record setting Pikes Peak Toyota Celica and RX7 rally cars.

I’m happy with the picture quality from my Canon 300 HS. Great pocket sized point n shoot. Thanks Dad!

Until next time, keep the wheels turning.

After Formula Drift Irwindale, Rhys Millen asked me to travel to New Zealand to work on promotional content for the 2012 Leadfoot Festival. Having never been to NZ, I immediately re-arranged my schedule to make the trip down south work out. After a 14 hour flight, Rhys and I arrived back in his homeland. It was as beautiful as I’d heard, NZ is lush and green and the people are incredible. Rhys’ father, Rod Millen, has a stunning 160+ acre property along the coast – near Hahei Beach. Rod has built an incredibly challenging driveway (over 1 mile long) and is hosting his own hill climb & historic automobile festival on the property annually. Similar to the UK’s Goodwood Festival, the event takes place over three days and is nothing short of a race enthusiasts dream!

Rhys shipped his Global Rally Cross and X-Games car – the Hyundai Veloster down from the US for the media day event. Also parked out on the lawn is Rod’s Porsche Cayenne Rally SUV and his Pontiac Cheiftan station wagon.

One of the cars I had the pleasure of driving was this RHD Toyota Land Cruiser. The four speed was entertaining to drive around the bay to Hot Water Beach and is the perfect NZ ranch vehicle. I haven’t had the chance to drive a right hand drive car since visiting England last year. Always takes a minute to get the left hand used to shifting gears again – since all my manuals are LHD in the US.

Both Rod and Rhys have fond memories of growing up in New Zealand – there is something magical about the island. Its not the jet lag, that wakes you up in the morning yearning for adventure that you really can’t get anywhere else.

Plus it seems like the country hasn’t been lost on Facebook, the internet, and addicted to crappy television. There is so much to do outside and friendly people everywhere. We found cruising the Land Cruiser at 40MPH acceptable at all times (well below the posted maximum) and a rush to get nowhere. It was like a working vacation.

The final day in NZ, we fished at sunrise then surfed the break at Hot Water beach. There was a fun swell coming in and no one minded sharing the waves with the small 5 person (total) surfer crowd. This type of wave and crowd is unheard of in Southern California. This was on a weekend too! Thanks to Rhys, Rod, Shelly, Eddie, and Mike for their hospitality!

Larry showed us the “counter fit” markets. They were filled with knock off: watches, glasses, bags, and clothes. Skylar does his best german rocket scientist pose. SCIENCE!

After the markets we all jumped into Tuk Tuk like three wheeled motorcycle carts and raced off to Westlake. The cultural area that surrounds the lake. Its known for its pagodas and temples. About time to get some culture in the mix after all that racing.

Through the trees and fog was a wonderful sight.

A fully rebuilt Pagoda. Check out that lightning rod of a roof. Amazing.

Monastery across the way from the pagoda.

Old meets new. The fog makes this shot.

The roof of the pagoda was gold and immaculately detailed.

Small pond and garden outside of the pagoda.

By the end of the 6 days in China, we were all running on empty. Here Skylar and Linhbergh wait to check in for our flight back to Los Angeles. China, what a trip.

Until New Zealand, up next.

- Will

Our hotel was within walking distance to the stadium. It made the morning commute easy for World Drift Series and it also made our world in China very small. Unless you wanted to grab a taxi the few blocks around the hotel was the world’s map of the day. Up the street, was a small park on a hill side – which we ventured to on the 2nd or 3rd day. Filled with a bamboo forest and a cave.

I really like asian architecture. Seeing a pagoda later in the week really made me excited. The architecture has so much character.

This path led to the entrance to the park and the stairs up through the forest.

Trees. There was a security camera right above this sign – which was an excellent theft prevention device.

When you don’t know the meaning of the characters in a foreign language – you tend to study the typography and composition instead. I really dig these previous two photos.

Andy gets down on some McCafe. Which became a the morning habit in Hangzhou, China. Much better than in the US.

Linhbergh takes a break from shooting qualifying to enjoy the spectacle. Danger.

The roof of the Yellow Dragon Stadium.

Andy and Jacob chill underneath the cat walk we were exploring earlier. Way up there.

In Part III. We adventure into the knock off markets and Westlake.

Larry Chen asked me if I wanted to come to China to shoot the World Drift Series this year and at the time I was not sure if it would work with my schedule. When the end of October came around, Larry asked again and having just finished the Nissan social media project I was in need of a break – so I accepted his offer! After a 14 hour flight, I was in Asia for the first time and in the company of friends from Formula Drift.

Currently, I’ve traveled to 5/7 of the world’s continents. Which is astounding to me, because growing up I never imagined being a world traveler. Its something neat that has come with the many jobs I’ve done in the past 5 years!

China has not been as foreign to me as I expected – because I’m in the company of friends. English speaking friends who could make anywhere different feel familiar. Bicycles and scooters are easy means of transportation in the city.

Yellow Dragon stadium is an impressive place. Suspended between two towers. Its an unlikely place for a drift event as there is no pavement inside of the stadium. All of the asphalt had to be laid down over top of plywood.

More updates coming soon.

Working on a project for K&N Filters with Vaughn Gittin JR and HPI racing – here is a little screen grab from the shoot today. Can’t wait to share the final product in a few weeks.

- Will

Linhbergh and I drove my 1995 Nissan 240sx across the US from Ohio to California – read about the trip and check out Linhbergh’s fine photography from the adventure on Speedhunters.

As I was about to leave for Atlanta last week for the second round of the 2011 Formula Drift season – I got an email from a friend asking a favor. Someone had cancelled on him for an important shoot and he needed a POV camera operator. Being a user and supporter of Contour HD cameras – I obliged and changed my travel plans to include an extra few days in Florida. Shooting exotic cars – rough, I know. Here is my look at exotic cars… enjoy.

Ferrari F430 & Ferrari 599 GTB

Lamborghini LP-560 4.

Ferrari 599 GTB – RACE MODE.

Porsche 911 Turbo & Ferrari F430.

Dirty girl.

Porsche 997/911 & Jaguar XK

Take offs.

Lamborghini eyes and BMW 328 making an appearance.

Till next time.

If you wanted to read what I had to say, this blog wouldn’t have so many pictures…less talking, more shutter clicks. My life, May 9, 2011.

Until next time. More dancing, less talking.

I’ve owned my 1995 Nissan 240sx since early 2008. From 2008 – late 2010 it was my daily driver. It was a project car for Rice Boy TV – where we added Enkei RPF1′s (18 x 8.5 (rear) & 18 x 7.5 (front)), an AEM intake, Magnacore wires, plugs, NRG short hub, NRG quick release, NRG steering wheel, and DC Sports test pipe in addition to the Tanabe coil overs, Apexi N1 cat back exhaust, Battle Version tie rods, and a few interior refinements.

Then it was driven and not upgraded as planned.

I thought of motor swaps to get more power than the 100hp KADE. Skylines had left me with a love of the inline six. Particularly the RB25det and RB26det, however the more I researched them – the more I realized having a Japanese market engine in a US car is not the best idea for daily driving. I then debated VQ, 2JZ, 1JZ, and LS swaps – the price of the motors, custom mounts, drive shaft, fuel system upgrades, and rear end upgrades – made it seem a bit unlikely for the budget I wanted to have for the project.

So more time passed, busy with work and living in Vancouver working on Need for Speed Shift 2 – I had never really considered a KA-t setup.

Then I had Christmas break off and my Nissan was back in Ohio at my parents – so I started thinking about what I really wanted from the project. I wanted to do the work myself, to learn the car more, to build something reliable, and to be able to continue to work on the car myself – without it becoming a track machine only. Keep it a street car, build power over time as I get used to owning a turbo car.

After a couple months of work with my best friend & Honda tech – Chris Stein project 240 is running and I’m stoked.

January was a busy month for me, however so was last January – when I did the same thing: Dubai 24 hour race & the Sundance film festival. As someone who goes from project to project this type of routine is uncommon – but welcomed. Team Need for Speed, which I was following in Dubai won the race. Sundance, did a record number of live streams including a partnered stream with YouTube for the Life In a Day premiere. It felt awesome to be a part of two successful teams. I even got to spend a day shredding some Utah pow pow at the Sundance resort – thanks to Joe!

After snapping the tail on my longtime snowboard, a 2008 Burton Custom 158, I picked up a new Rome Agent Rocker 153. It rides like a beast. I was hesitant about switching from traditional camber to rocker camber, however this board has made me a believer. Small turns, big carves, and high speed bombs without jitter – it does it all, better than traditional.

I ordered a copy of Justin Shreeve’s 2010 DVD, which showed up with a funny label. Thanks Justin! Get a copy and support him.

I spent some time recently in Vancouver with some pea coat wearing ARTPANTs shooting photographers: Linhbergh and Larry Chen. 2011 should be an even better year for automotive photography – thanks to these two.

We got some “good stuff?” and explored Stanley Park’s closed miniature railroad. Should be releasing some new videos in the next few weeks, until then… Keep the Wheels Rolling.

2010 has come to an end, here is a look back my life & memories from the year two thousand and ten.

January.

Started the year off in Dubai. Shooting the Dubai 24hour race for Speedhunters and covering Team Need for Speed – in it’s first outing. Dubai is a collision of culture and progress. The architecture is like a post modern and modern designer’s wildest dreams.

Sundance Film Festival 2010, was my third year in a row at the festival. Working with a team of talented producers, shooters, and editors to create the official live @ sudance content. I got the chance to shoot interviews with Bill Gates and Sundance founder – Robert Redford.

Then of course, get knee deep in some fresh pow pow for a few days of snowboarding in Utah – post festival.

February.

After months of planning, purchased a 1974 VW Westfalia van. Westy, as the van became known, would be the transportation and symbol for Keep Drifting Fun – my grassroots drifting documentary. Co-director, Joshua Herron, made the trip to LA a few times to help me complete body work on the van.

Turned 26. Everything after 25 seems down hill and less reason to celebrate. However, I knew that 2010 would be a big year for me and I was excited regardless.

March.

The ID Agency and Formula Drift asked me to put together a 2009 Re-cap video for the 2010 season kick off gallery. I was able to show my work along side friends: Linhbergh and Jose J. Martinez in a Long Beach art gallery prior to the first round of the 2010 FD season. Rad.

More work on Westy.

April.

Formula Drift Long Beach. First event as a Speedhunters/Team Need for Speed filmmaker.

Left Lost Angeles on Keep Drifting Fun. Las Vegas bound to pick up Hobo and head east.

May.

Westy blows up motor #1.

FIA GT @ Silverstone, UK.

Formula Drift Atlanta.

June.

Pike’s Peak 2010 with Porsche & Jeff Zwart.

Westy blows up motor #2, just outside of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Did a quick JOB, Jumping On Beds session in Washington state during Formula Drift Seattle. We had a solid crew of bouncers: Andy, Linhbergh, Hobo Herron, and I. Above, Linhbergh gets caught mid jump in a yoga like pose.

While I practice gravity defying one-handed handstands on the wall.

Andy dusts off his break beat record collection and spins a windmill out on the wall. I never knew he could break.

Hobo gets very swan lake with his jumps.

If Andy tripped while walking across the wall, this would be him catching his fall. Reality is more like jumping from bed to bed and smacking yourself against the wall in mid air. Dedication.

Stuck in a moment, mid air. Its hard not to flinch even when you’re about to land on pillow and mattress.

That’s it for JOB Seattle 2010. Hope you enjoyed.

A good friend from Charlotte and a good friend from Los Angeles joined up with a good friend from Philadelphia that we were crashing with to explore West Philadelphia on a Tuesday afternoon. I’d been following the Love Letters mural project in West Philly for a while now online – so it was awesome to see the murals in person. More to come soon.

Off and on rain all day. Humid and miserable = perfect.

More about the project.

Linhbergh and I rode the express to Paddington station and then hopped on the Underground to explore downtown London. We had a few hours to kill before our flight to Atlanta for Formula Drift. Linhbergh is a solid photographer and being able to travel around the city and take photos with him is a blast.

As part of Keep Drifting Fun, Hobo Herron and I have been growing out our beards since Long Beach. So this is about 2 and half weeks of beard’age for me.

So much bokeh, you would never know that I’m in Paddington station. London was chilly during the entire week I was there.

It also means that I can try out some of Linhbergh’s arsenal of Canon glass. Pristine “L” Glass. Running around the bank holiday deserted streets.

On the banks of the Thames by the London Eye.

Then we swung by NERO coffee for some breakfast outside of Big Ben and Westminster. Looking rather homeless on the steps.

Praying or getting a puddle reflection shot with my Canon 7D.

JOB, Jumping On Beds in London, England. Photos by Linhbergh. Added a pillow into the mix to do some snow & skate tricks. This was my first time doing a proper Jumping On Beds shoot in a few months.