To be honest, I was thinking of skipping Hot Import Nights this year. But, after some convincing by friends, I decided to go. And man am I glad I did.
I got to hang out with some photographer friends for the first time here, and it became a place to see a lot of other people that I haven't seen in a long time. It was great getting to catch up and hang out with these people since we were all committed to staying for a long time and we were all here to hang out and have a great time.
It's always welcome seeing the One Auto crew. I actually hadn't seen Eddie's GT-R in its Mermaid V3 guise until this show, and man is it spectacular. Furthermore, it was the unveiling of Taylor's new wrap on the GT-R. It's an awesome, striking design that perfectly embodies her handle of @f7lthy_samurai. I also finally got to see Austin's Rocketbunny V3 FRS in the flesh. This Rocketbunny kit is definitely great. Sure, I'm not entirely sold on the aerodynamics of it, but the aggressive strakes and body panels look fantastic. I'm not sure how, but I don't have any pictures of Aaron's Camaro, but I love what he's done with it since I last saw it almost a year ago.
It was also great seeing a lot of familiar cars, but unfortunately not the faces behind them. For example, I see @huratron's awesome wrapped Huracan everywhere, yet I've yet to meet him in person. Nor have I seen Paul since first seeing him at the EA Wraps grand opening a year ago. The same with Matt Haugen's cars, of which he brought the Malboro Genesis Coupe, drift Genesis coupe, Rocket Bunny 350Z, and Liberty Walk Murcielago. I've also yet to meet @j30_6speed, yet I see his Accord everywhere. Being an 8th gen Accord owner myself, and coming from a family that has owned 5th, 7th, and 8th gen Accords, I love seeing his car around. Despite being Facebook friends with Mike, I've still never met him in person; I only see his immaculate blue NA1 NSX around at various car shows. I also got to see the Skyline Z again, a RB26 swapped Z32 300ZX. I remember always seeing it back when the Drivermod meet was at Tempe Marketplace. It's a work of art how clean the engine bay is. And that turbo. Mmmm.
Of course, there were other cars there with missing persons behind them. I haven't seen Elizabeth in a long time, but I see the amazing Vorsteiner R8 everywhere. I remember seeing that car at the very beginning, and it's amazing to see the final product. I also saw the Static Motorsport FRS, in a new color from last year, but I didn't interact with any of the folks from Static Motorsports.
It was great catching up with fellow photographers and showgoers as well. Furthermore, it was great being in a different car show environment. At Cars and Coffee, while of course it's open to all types of cars and modifications, the focus mainly ends up on supercars/exotics and rare, vintage cars. Here at shows like HIN, the focus is all on "What have you done to your car?" And while there are American and German cars present, it also focuses a lot on Japanese steel, and as a JDM fan that's most certainly something I can appreciate. Widebodies, lowering, engine mods, custom fabrications, fresh ideas, all of it runs wild at shows like these. It has more of a festival/party atmosphere, no thanks to the lit up, musical stage. Vendors are everywhere and showcase their best works, and crazy custom cars, like @carbon_brz's custom, full-carbon fiber Subaru BRZ convertible (yes, convertible, also custom built) are the stars.
Of course, the import scene is also home to import models. It's was great talking to Sunny Fae and Mhaye Monti again, two import models that I talked to a lot at last year's show. I think it's become a yearly tradition now to go to HIN Phoenix and talk with the two of them.
In addition, models were walking around in front of the cars and posing. Since it was something new, I decided to sneak in with the people they were modelling for to try my hand out on it. Unfortunately, I was usually at a bad angle, or someone's light would ruin my picture, so all I have to speak for is a photo of Nikki Darling. But, it's definitely something new that I would experiment with more. Something I've been dealing with recently is feeling that my photography has stagnated. There's nothing wrong with finding a style and sticking with it, but I don't want to be restricted to that. I want to grow and explore, so I've been seeking out new subjects and compositions to try to mix things up a bit.
Overall, it was a great night with great people. Being able to chill and talk with so many friends and aqauintances is refreshing when life is hectic, busy, and full of drama. You get to remember that there are always people around that makes things great.
