I secured a media pass for Hot Import Nights in Portland in 2022 🧐, and here are some photos from the event 📸. It showcased a diverse, eclectic mix of cars, with a particular emphasis on JDM 🗾and heavily modified imports 🚗.

Hot Import Nights isn't just a car show—but a “lifestyle” event, with fashion and music contributing to the festivities 🎵👕. In my photography, I aimed to capture the essence of this event, despite navigating through crowds and less-than-ideal lighting conditions.

Just as the cars on display are highly stylized and modified, so too are these photographs. 😂 It was also my first experience photographing professional models at such an event. Enjoy these captured moments from Hot Import Nights 2022! 🌃🏎️


Hot Import Nights is a vibrant event celebrating import culture and car lifestyle, with a special emphasis on imported and JDM cars. This event also showcases fashion, style, and modified vehicles, highlighting the intersection of automotive passion and contemporary trends. Additionally, the event features a lively music stage, creating an exhilarating atmosphere. Welcoming all car makes and models, Hot Import Nights truly is a diverse and inclusive celebration of car culture.

Hot Import Nights Portland 2022

6th edition of Basswitch





https://www.thedenpdx.com/events/basswitch-60

A celebration of femme frequencies in the bass realms.

Basswitch 6

[https://www.thedenpdx.com/events/basswitch-10](link)

Weaving together threads of LOVE • DANCE • BASS

Basswitch 10 at The Den in Portland, Oregon.

Basswitch 10

A few weeks ago, I attended my friend @harvee.bird’s first hip-hop show in a long while. The show was part of Hungry Hungry Hip Hop, a tribute to Elan Eichler (a.k.a. @mighty_misc ), an event Elan co-created that still runs today. Sadly, just two weeks prior, Elan took his own life.

I never met Elan, but I listened as his friends took the stage and spoke about his life and the impact he had on them and the independent rap community in Portland.
The more I learned about Elan, the more I admired him.

He was a self-proclaimed nerd. The lyrics of his songs often referenced superheroes and video games. He even had a song dedicated to Mortal Kombat (accompanying this post). Elan used hip-hop to express his frustrations with his battle against bipolar disorder and depression. He graduated from PSU with a degree in psychology and then earned his master’s in social work from Simmons University in Boston. He worked with foster kids, served as an academic advisor at Harvard, and last year, he moved to Cleveland with his fiancée and dog, Hachi, where he continued his social work and worked as a journalist.

Elan left a significant impact and fostered a vibrant community around him. Though his story was tragically cut short, the impact he had during his time is immense. My condolences to his friends and family.

#hiphop #tribute #musicismedicine #mentalhealthawareness

https://www.wweek.com/music/2024/04/29/portland-hip-hop-community-remembers-mighty-misc/

Hungry Hungry Hip Hop - A Tribute to Elan Eichler

Basswitch 8.0!!! 🔊🍑🙏 What an amazing time! It’s always such a pleasure and privilege to take part. As a photographer, I barely have to try to capture moments—they happen all around me at this event. People express themselves through dance, painting, performance, music, food, drinks, crafts, costumes, twerk contests, and more. It’s a beautiful thing. 😍

Shot on Canon R5 C

Basswitch 8 

Basswitch 7 was the summoning of the water witch. A visceral and fluid experience 🌊

Shot on Canon R5 C

Basswitch 7 was the summoning of the water witch. A visceral and fluid experience 🌊.

Basswitch 7

This is my second year attending the Tap Takeover at Valley Public House, which is just a few blocks away from my home. After making new friends at last year's event, I was excited to return in 2023. I've been learning how to take panning shots with my camera, so I used this event as an opportunity to practice as people were coming and going. 

The highlight for me was seeing the 2019 Ford GT. This car was developed by Ford to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the GT40's victory at Le Mans in 1966. Notably, the Ford GT Mk II marked this occasion by securing 1st and 3rd places in the Grand Touring Endurance Pro class at Le Mans in 2016. Last year, at the main Taste of Motorsports event, I had the opportunity to meet Billy Johnson. He was one of the development drivers and even raced the Ford GT at Le Mans that year, finishing an impressive 4th in their class!

https://tasteofmotorsports.com/

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This is my second year attending the Tap Takeover at Valley Public House, which is just a few blocks away from my home. The highlight for me was seeing the 2019 Ford GT. This car was developed by Ford to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the GT40's victory at Le Mans in 1966.

Taste of Motorsports Tap Takeover 2023

PDX LAN 2021

Oregon Country Fair 2024 🍑

Shot on my Nikon FM2 35mm film camera and my hand-me-down Nikon D60 DSLR.

Oregon Country Fair 2024

🎭 Bea Yeh Ogden @breakingclouds and Wendi YuLing's @wanderingwonton revival of the ancient Chinese tradition of Zhongyuan Jie, the Festival of Hungry Ghosts 👻, was an interactive art ritual. Traditionally held on the 15th night of the seventh lunar month 🌕, this communal act of holding space was timely for me personally as it coincided with my own period of mourning. 🖤

In Taoist and Buddhist traditions, living descendants pay homage to their deceased ancestors. 🧘 During the Ghost Festival, the deceased are believed to visit the living. Rituals are performed to transmute and absolve the sufferings of the deceased.

Activities during the festival include preparing ritualistic food offerings 🍲, burning incense 🔥, and burning joss paper, a form of papier-mâché material.

#中元节
#festivalofhungryghosts
#hungryghostfestival
#Buddhism
#Taoism
#Chinese
#Folklore

In Taoist and Buddhist traditions, living descendants pay homage to their deceased ancestors.

Hungry Ghost Festival 2023

The PDX hot sauce expo 🌶🔥 is one of my favorite events of the year. Such a colorful array of characters and spicy bites. The chihuahua beauty pageant never disappoints. It’s always great to see Smokin’ Ed Currie and check out what kind of peppers he is cooking up. Watching people attempt a world record in eating spicy 🥵 peppers to a metal 🤘soundtrack is basically the best.  The drama and action of the live wrestling show pairs well with the spice.


The PDX hot sauce expo 🌶🔥 is one of my favorite events of the year. Such a colorful array of characters and spicy bites.

Portland Hot Sauce Expo 2022

✨Oregon Country Fair 🍑 is a family reunion and each year new members are added and friendships are strengthened. 🥰

Over the 20-year period since I first attended OCF, this place🌲has led me down a path of self-discovery that has allowed me to open my mind 🤯, shed insecurities,❤️ love unconditionally, dance without judgment 🕺, be silly, play and embrace my inner child, and express myself often in ways the external world struggles to accept.🧙‍♀️

I am overflowing with gratitude for the time spent with my fair fam and another trip around the sun 💫☀️🌍 with these beautiful people. 

Oregon Country Fair is a family reunion and each year new members are added and friendships are strengthened.

Oregon Country Fair 2023

The Forest Grove Concours d'Elegance is held on the campus of Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon. Over 300 antique, collector, and special interest automobiles were on display.
 
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My highlight of the event was the Jaguar D-type. Designed specifically to win the Le Mans 24-hour race, it did so in 1955, 1956, and 1957 using its cutting-edge aerodynamic design. 
 
The event features 52 classes of restored antique, classic and special interest cars. They are entered for judging, or just for display. Judging is based on the quality and authenticity of restoration. Cars from every era of automotive history are represented, from the earliest horseless carriages to the latest sports cars.
 
https://forestgroveconcours.org/

The Forest Grove Concours d'Elegance is held on the campus of Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon. Over 300 antique, collector, and special interest automobiles were on display.

Forest Grove Concours d’Elegance


When Taste of Motorsports has an event mere blocks from my house how could I say no? Some serious machinery on display and really cool people. 

https://tasteofmotorsports.com/

When Taste of Motorsports has an event mere blocks from my house how could I say no? Some serious machinery on display and really cool people. 

Taste of Motorsports Tap Takeover 2022

Since its unveiling in 2007 “Godzilla” has built a reputation for physics-defying performance. 

Nissan GT-R R35

Silky Truth is a photography blog assembled by Nikita Kozlov.