The Blog

Mooneyes - Before the ride in

Every year on Yokohama HRCS show day, the guests of the show ride/drive their vehicles into the exhibition hall in front of a large group of eagerly waiting fans. Me and my brother had access to the back preparation area. It was great to get some natural lighting to take shots and to feel the energy behind the scenes. We grabbed some interesting photos. Here are a few, I will be posting more this evening from "before the ride in".

Mooneyes - DicE Party

DicE Magazine threw a party at a club called the Bridge in Motomachi. I took the train over there, just a few stops from the hotel. It was a packed event. I just tried to shot a few random shots without my flash to capture the atmosphere. Here's what it looked like. I took off pretty early since I've been under the weather for the last few days and wanted to make sure I got up to get to the event early to shoot photos.

Mooneyes - Little Get Together Party

Mooneyes throws a party the evening of setup day to welcome all the guests to the show and to allow everyone to mingle. Me and my brother were very impressed by the turnout and overall vibe. Some many people but a real close knit feel all around.

Mooneyes - Setup Day

Here are a few random bikes that caught my eye right away on setup day, but to be honest, I wasn't worried about shooting photos, my mind was on sensory overload. More setup day photos to follow later on.

Mooneyes - Setup day - Pacifico

The Yokohama Pacifico Exhibit Hall was a short 2 minute walk from our hotel. The skies were overcast but you could see clearing on the way. A short walk but it seemed like ages for me because of all the anticipation.

Mooneyes - In one word - "Unbelievable"

Well, I’m back in Hong Kong now for five more days before returning to Toronto, Canada, and it’s taken me a full day to realize what I just took part in this weekend. For those of you who don’t know Mooneyes, check out the US and Japan sites. Mooneyes Japan just put on their 20th Hot Rod Custom Show in Yokohama Japan. I have to say hands down, it was by far the best show I have ever attended, definitely the pound for pound champ in this genre. The quality of machinery on display, and in the parking lots just blew my mind. The amount of vintage bikes and vehicles being ridden as daily rides was unbelievable. Knuckles, pans, flatheads, shovels . . . around every corner! The Mooneyes team were gracious hosts and executed a flawless event in my books. Thanks again to Steve for helping me and my brother get settled in. It made the weekend a memorable experience that will stay with us forever and change the way I look at this hobby and past time we all share. I’m really not sure where to start in terms of posts, so I posted an overhead shot I took of the show, about half the floor early in the day. I’ll start to work through my weekend and agenda at the show with blog posts over the next few days. My schedule went something like this: Dec 3rd – Morning – Getting to the Pan Pacific Hotel from my brothers home – Afternoon – Checking into the event and getting our packet from Steve @ Mooneyes – Mid Afternoon – Meeting people and checking out the setup day activities – Back to the hotel to shoot some Yokohama cityscape – Attend the Mooneyes Little Get Together Party – Attend the DicE party at The Bridge in Motomachi Dec 4th – Get at 7:30am to take photos of the displays – Go “back stage” to shoot photos before the guests “drove” in – Go visit the outdoor parking and underground garage – Soak in the show – Leave a little early to catch a train out to hang with my brother and family in Japan Dec 5th – Narita Temple – Back to Hong Kong Posts will be coming out of sequence and in no particular order but hopefully this break down gives an idea of what it was like at the show. My time was spent 50% behind a camera and 50% meeting fellow enthusiasts that inspire me and always leave me in awe and amazement with their work. I’ll leave this post with two closing pics that have me in it shooting photos "back stage" before the guests rode into the show.

Mooneyes – Still Processing

Wow, I can't believe the show came and went so quickly. I had such a good time and now I really need to take a step back to process what went down. It's all a little overwhelming. I've been to Japan many times but this was the first for the Mooneyes show. To have the opportunity to spend 2 days with fellow enthusiasts from all over the world was amazing. I've been feeling under the weather lately, but nothing could have stopped me from soaking in as much of the event as possible. I met so many people and took many photos. Right now my head feels like the ferris wheel that was our view from the Pan Pacific Hotel at Minatomirai. It was fun shooting the night scape and relaxing on setup day. I'll post photos soon, when my head clears. Thanks to Steve at Mooneyes for the great hospitality.

Road to Mooneyes – Conveyor belt sushi hits the spot

O.k probably going to be the last non-bike related post. Hit the local chain conveyor belt sushi with my brother. Can't find quality like this and at a decent price in Canada. Had a great meal and will be resting up for show setup day tomorrow. Will post again when it's all done. (more…)

Road to Mooneyes – Let the eating begin

On the way back to my brothers place he stopped to get me some udon to make up for the horrible plan food.

Road to Mooneyes – In Japan

I'm here, my brother and his wife picked me up from Narita. Alway fun to sit shotgun (notice steering wheel position).