Tag: photography

Posted on

The Rebirth of Tokyo Tuner

I’ve been looking at blank screens for what appears to be an eternity as I struggle to piece together the thoughts in my head. The latest news circulating Speedhunters is the universe’s way of telling me it’s time to execute.

So I’ll stop overthinking everything and simply write. Tokyo Tuner had always been on my mind, whether I was writing for Speedhunters or working on various other projects for clients.

How can I tie this to Tokyo Tuner? Could this be the perfect company to partner with to allow me to do this full-time? (Spoiler alert – it wasn’t).

Although Tokyo Tuner has an amazing community built around our experiences as automotive enthusiasts, I couldn’t think of a way to ask the community for help. I had to find ways to get everything going without bothering or asking for help. Pride is a fool’s fortress.

It has taken me years of learning, years of struggling, years of misplacing my faith and loyalty, and years of doubt to get to this evolution. 

Tokyo Tuner has always been there, and now I need to be there for it, for the community it represents. 

I honestly don’t know where this will go, and I can’t commit as much time as I would like to due to my current life circumstances, but I won’t give up. I will work with the community to ensure Tokyo Tuner keeps going, as it has always been about the community. 

Thank you to all those who have supported Tokyo Tuner, believed in its purpose, and continually asked about it all these years.

Thank you to the shops and individuals that support Project Rough and allow me to create wild stores and experiments with it to share.

Thank you, Cube Speed, GK Tech, R31House/Shibatire, and Tuner Concept.

Thank you, Speedhunters. As I continue to move forward with Tokyo Tuner, please continue to support me, as I can’t grow this on my own – it has always been that way.  Once I have everything set up, I will post about it here and on the social media channels.

https://www.instagram.com/celestinephotography

https://www.instagram.com/tokyotuner

Ron Celestine's avatar

Ron Celestine

Posted on

Light Painting

Believe it or not, this was actually the first time I have ever attempted to do a proper light painting picture.

Since most of my work is in editorial photography, the need to really use light painting has never come up. Hell, even now there wasn’t really a need to do light painting but just because there isn’t a need doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try right?

Since my ER34 Nissan Skyline was being worked on at R31 House, I decided to use the loaner car as my test subject.

I made A LOT of mistakes, however I learned a great deal about light painting at the same time. As an added bonus, it’s actually pretty fun too! Perhaps I’ll give it another try in the near future with my ER34.

Posted on

A Trip Down Memory Lane

When I first moved to Japan to try my hand at automotive photography, I barely spoke any Japanese.

That made it incredibly difficult for.. well everything, but when I would try and communicate with the car owners where to position cars for the magazine shoots, I found it a bit of a mess. Back then, Google translate was a bit of a mess too so I really was out on my own.

I figured if I could just show the owners where and how I wanted their cars positioned with a toy car, it would make everything run smoother. So I bought this toy Lamborghini Aventador.

And it worked! For the first year or so in Japan, I brought this with me everywhere I went. As my Japanese got better, I left the Lamborghini at home and it basically sat and collected dust. Now my two year old son plays with it.

Glad it’s getting some use after all these years!

Posted on

Trying Something New.

With regards to photography, I tend to find myself using those skills in ways I had never imagined.

I’ve done photo shoots for different magazines, video game references, events, private usage, and even a wedding! Well the wedding was technically videography work but still!

However this time I found myself traveling across Japan to a shop to inspect a car for a client. The car in question you ask?

A Top Secret MKIV Toyota Supra. No – it’s not the military or government kind of top secret, but from the legendary Top Secret work shop. Smoky Nagata.

It wasn’t the Supra, but it still was a heavily modified one inside out from the shop and donned most of the Top Secret catalog- and thus had an eye watering price tag.

So understandably the client wanted a professional inspection before making quite a large purchase.

If you have ever looked at buying a car online in Japan or from the auctions, you would quickly notice that the information is very limited and the picture quality (or lack of) makes it challenging to gauge what kind of condition the car is actually in.

After spending roughly seven hours riding the extensive shinkansen (bullet train) network that Japan is famous for, I found myself face to face with the subject. I broke out my notes, camera equipment, and spent the following two hours combing through the Supra, and documenting everything for the client.

Although this was the first time doing an in depth inspection like this, the client was thrilled by the results and purchased the Top Secret Supra.

Perhaps I’ll get to do a proper shoot with the Supra later this year. Stay tuned for that!

Posted on

Magazine Cover Shot

While contributing to Fast Car Magazine back in 2018, I landed my first big cover shot. I flew to Thailand to cover this wild Toyota MR2, and ended up covering the Bangkok Auto Salon ( Tokyo Auto Salon but in Thailand), a local meet, and a few other features.