A while back, Joey Lee of The Chronicles had a Q&A for one of his podcasts where anyone could ask him anything. Being a photographer myself, I asked him something that I can’t help but always ponder: if I could go back in time and redo a shoot, would I? Personally I’m a little torn on this; there’s definitely times when I really wish I could shoot what I did back then with what I know now, but I also strongly believe that that’s how we learn, grow, and improve on what we do. Didn’t like the way I shot something? Tough luck, that day/event/moment has passed and there’s nothing you can do about it except learn and move on. That’s life, and you don’t always get second chances.

Shortly after the podcast, Joey went on to post some of his older works from past trips but re-edited. Doing this gives us a chance to not only take a trip down memory lane, but to also remind ourselves of where we’ve come from and how our style has evolved over the years.

I’ve been shooting for a very long time but shied away from ever posting on social media. In fact, I didn’t even get Instagram until just a few years ago, but I pretty much only posted a few photos here and there on forums back then or just on my own personal FaceBook. As a result, quite a lot of my older works have never been seen by the public eye.

That being said, I thought it’d be fun to go through some of my own photos to share with you all from years ago, starting off with Driven To Perform 2008. Things were very different back then as you are about to see. I think everyone was still riding the “Fast And Furious” wave where big body kits, crazy audio, underglow, and lambo doors were still the norm. The scene felt very different before social media took over the world.

I’ll comment on what I can from what I still remember, starting off with Gerald’s ex-RS-R IS200 demo car. I remember reading the feature about this car on JTuned only to see it in person not long after. Fun fact: this car has 1/1 carbon fiber C-WEST body kits in the world. Wild.

David’s 650i before it got wrapped in matte black.

Rad’s FD3S RX-7 was pretty much perfect.

I don’t know who owned this R32 GT-R but I do recall it having won quite a few awards from various shows.

One more of the R32.

F430 on custom Sevas wheels in the GarageWorks booth.

I know a lot of you OG 780Tuners members will recognize this Amuse kitted 350Z.

Internet sensation Jackie Law’s S2000. I remember seeing this car all the time at every DTP/Driven show, always looking low and amazing. Jackie still owns this car today and I actually finally met him earlier this year, just over a whole decade since I’ve first seen his car!

Ryan’s EP3.

The rear of Arif’s EK and the front of Darren’s DC2R.

For those of you who don’t know, this car was originally featured in Modified Magazine, then would later be owned by Reggie Mah, completely redone, and eventually featured on the cover of Super Street.

Rear quarters of an AE86 and S13 from Speedtech.

Rob of Project Omega’s old MR2, now owned by my friend Brendon!

The insane audio setup of the Certified Radio 3000GT/Stealth.

Gerald’s 3000GT which he apparently still has…

Conroy’s RE Amemiya FD3S. Despite how pleasing this car is on the eyes, it actually use to see regular track use in the form of both grip and drift.

The ex-Turbonetics demo car owned by Ashwin at the time.

RE Amemiya Super GReddy RX-7 imported by DJ Auto.

Definitely not everyone’s cup of tea but I really do appreciate the amount of work that go into custom interiors like this.

DTP 08 was also the very last show that my Eclipse would ever attend. Despite how crazy this car looked, it actually had a lot of cool and rare parts on it too like the authentic Bomex kit, APR GT-1 double deck wing and strut bar, GReddy SP exhaust, JDM 4G63 6-bolt swap, lambo doors, and the custom teeth on the front bumper that would turn me into the king of rice. I remember that I was the favourite to win Best Mitsubishi but would end up losing to an automatic Lancer in the FX Designs booth. Oh well…

Another shot of Arif’s EK, who also still owns this car today!

The E-Z Motorsports pocket bike, which I’ll admit, I think is super cool for a pocket bike.

More audio craziness in the back of the E-Z Motorsports EF Civic…

Civic coupe that I think was with the Dropsciles booth. Full audio yet again, dual exhaust, a crazy metallic pink paint job…

…and a fully wrapped interior with an LV pattern dashboard. Oh, and a Playstation in the glove box to top it off.

Tons of stickers adding AT LEAST an extra 1,000HP on the back of Arif’s EK.

Gram Light 57 Maximum PRO with the titanium finish lip on display in the Invision Auto booth.

Finishing off this post with this 350Z from Transform Spoilers on Konig Afterburners. I’ll be posting some more photos from a couple other older DTP/Driven shows in the coming weeks so be sure to check back for more!

-brandon.