Schen
04-19-2014, 09:30 PM
PHEW! What a excellent week. I've waited to be accepted as press for the last 10 years, since I started doing photography, and 2014 was finally my year. It's been the ultimate unachievable goal, but the door has opened and hopefully this is now the start of a great career and a new beginning.
Who knows where the road will take me. :)
First let me start with Wednesday. What a day that was, up at 4:00 AM and on the road by 5 to take the 6 AM ferry to midtown. I got to see the sunrise over the city for the first time, what a cool sight. The Javitz Center is roughly a block from the ferry drop off. As I walk inside the building, things are still being put in place for the public portion. I head downstairs to get my pass validated and get my wristband for the week. I accidentally walked in on COO of Ford, Mark Fields, practicing his opening press breakfast speech in hopes of finding bacon so I quickly scurried out and dropped off my coat. After doing that I head upstairs, put my camera bag on a table and check my equipment.
'Excuse me, do you know where we can get our passes validated?'
I look up and it's Evan Smith! Evan was the first person to give me a ride in a Viper back in 2001 so we were both pretty excited to see each other. He introduced me to one of his coworkers and we headed down to the media center. We got free programs and laptop bags to keep any materials in. I was able to drink some orange juice and eat a bagel while I checked my email, Facebook, Twitter and here for any updates for a little while before I headed over to the press breakfast. I got my bacon and sat down with some folks and talked cars. RAM - 'Farmer' won best ad of the year and as a Mopar guy, hit me right in the feels...and probably everyone else too.
But seriously, that's the closest I'm ever going to feel winning an emmy or something.
Mark Fields gave his speech, which was mostly about past, present and future...and Ford. They held a Q&A but I noticed people where flying out of that room to head to the first press conference, Toyota. I had no idea what they were debuting, but I assumed it was something beige. Toyota filled up the space in the Crystal Palace with a few hundred chairs and black curtains with a big stage. Some folks come on stage and start talking about the Camry and then boom, it pops out. It wasn't beige at all, it was red and was quite fancy. You could tell there was a hint of Lexus DNA in it.
Toyota's over, EVERYONE PILE DOWN THE STAIRS FORD IS NEXT and man was it packed. I hooked up with my friend Trey (he owns the 6.1L HEMI Prowler) and it was literally standing room only. Ford had the kind of stands you find in a high school gym for the press. Mark Fields comes back up and talks Mustang. Finally a white 5.0 comes out behind the wall and Bill Ford pops out to talk about the car, which is a 50th anniversary edition Mustang. Only 1,964 will be built in either Wimbledon White or Kona Blue. Nice car, it was nicer than the grey one we saw at the Philly Auto Show that's for sure. At this time, we took a break. Wasn't anything ultimately worth looking at so we decided to walk around for a little bit and check out the displays until the Jeep press conference. That's when I posted on the VOA for someone to email me and literally just after I posted that my email took a crap and stopped working. Ugh.
Around 10:30 we headed down to see the Jeep Renegade unveil. At this point I'm tweeting designer Ryan Nagode to see where he was.
Ryan was sitting one row in front of me. LOL Jeep rolled out the red Renegade first and then from behind the stage a blue Trailhawk version climbs over some rocks. When I first saw the thing on the computer I wasn't quite sure to make of it but after seeing it in person what a cool little Jeep! Very cool neat little ride full of easter eggs! Jeep grills in the headlights, door speakers, tail lights and trunk hatch. The seats are like the ballistic cloth and the interior is very Jeep inspired. So other than the motor and the edge of cuteness, that's about the only thing that makes you feel 'Fiat'. The response was good. Mike Driehorst (Chrysler Media) found me and we talked for a little. The press kits for the Renegade are pretty cool. Nice book with a orange wrist band stuffed inside a dry bag with a USB keychain on top.
We headed upstairs and I took pics at SRT, Nissan, and Mazda. There were a few press conferences, I picked up some more goodies, and took shots of the Chrysler/Dodge/Mopar booth. A 2015 Challenger race simulator was setup in the middle of it all. The car was covered with balloons and a black veil. I fell in love with the Scat Pack Challenger. I'd almost be tempted to trade the Magnum in for that thing, but NO. Viper, just kept that in the back of my mind. That and the fact Magnum doesn't exist anymore. It's so nice though.
I took pics of the Porsche 918, Bentley race car (which I'm currently featured on Jalopnik for), and the never ending Bugatti Veyron. I got to meet Christan Von Koeingsegg! Super nice guy and took a picture with me.
That was mostly it for day one. I'll post of day two later and then today too. Let me get back to work and finish editing these 700+ photos left. :p
If you want to see what I've completed so far check out this link here (https://www.flickr.com/photos/schenphotography/sets/72157644026197682/).
--RS
Who knows where the road will take me. :)
First let me start with Wednesday. What a day that was, up at 4:00 AM and on the road by 5 to take the 6 AM ferry to midtown. I got to see the sunrise over the city for the first time, what a cool sight. The Javitz Center is roughly a block from the ferry drop off. As I walk inside the building, things are still being put in place for the public portion. I head downstairs to get my pass validated and get my wristband for the week. I accidentally walked in on COO of Ford, Mark Fields, practicing his opening press breakfast speech in hopes of finding bacon so I quickly scurried out and dropped off my coat. After doing that I head upstairs, put my camera bag on a table and check my equipment.
'Excuse me, do you know where we can get our passes validated?'
I look up and it's Evan Smith! Evan was the first person to give me a ride in a Viper back in 2001 so we were both pretty excited to see each other. He introduced me to one of his coworkers and we headed down to the media center. We got free programs and laptop bags to keep any materials in. I was able to drink some orange juice and eat a bagel while I checked my email, Facebook, Twitter and here for any updates for a little while before I headed over to the press breakfast. I got my bacon and sat down with some folks and talked cars. RAM - 'Farmer' won best ad of the year and as a Mopar guy, hit me right in the feels...and probably everyone else too.
But seriously, that's the closest I'm ever going to feel winning an emmy or something.
Mark Fields gave his speech, which was mostly about past, present and future...and Ford. They held a Q&A but I noticed people where flying out of that room to head to the first press conference, Toyota. I had no idea what they were debuting, but I assumed it was something beige. Toyota filled up the space in the Crystal Palace with a few hundred chairs and black curtains with a big stage. Some folks come on stage and start talking about the Camry and then boom, it pops out. It wasn't beige at all, it was red and was quite fancy. You could tell there was a hint of Lexus DNA in it.
Toyota's over, EVERYONE PILE DOWN THE STAIRS FORD IS NEXT and man was it packed. I hooked up with my friend Trey (he owns the 6.1L HEMI Prowler) and it was literally standing room only. Ford had the kind of stands you find in a high school gym for the press. Mark Fields comes back up and talks Mustang. Finally a white 5.0 comes out behind the wall and Bill Ford pops out to talk about the car, which is a 50th anniversary edition Mustang. Only 1,964 will be built in either Wimbledon White or Kona Blue. Nice car, it was nicer than the grey one we saw at the Philly Auto Show that's for sure. At this time, we took a break. Wasn't anything ultimately worth looking at so we decided to walk around for a little bit and check out the displays until the Jeep press conference. That's when I posted on the VOA for someone to email me and literally just after I posted that my email took a crap and stopped working. Ugh.
Around 10:30 we headed down to see the Jeep Renegade unveil. At this point I'm tweeting designer Ryan Nagode to see where he was.
Ryan was sitting one row in front of me. LOL Jeep rolled out the red Renegade first and then from behind the stage a blue Trailhawk version climbs over some rocks. When I first saw the thing on the computer I wasn't quite sure to make of it but after seeing it in person what a cool little Jeep! Very cool neat little ride full of easter eggs! Jeep grills in the headlights, door speakers, tail lights and trunk hatch. The seats are like the ballistic cloth and the interior is very Jeep inspired. So other than the motor and the edge of cuteness, that's about the only thing that makes you feel 'Fiat'. The response was good. Mike Driehorst (Chrysler Media) found me and we talked for a little. The press kits for the Renegade are pretty cool. Nice book with a orange wrist band stuffed inside a dry bag with a USB keychain on top.
We headed upstairs and I took pics at SRT, Nissan, and Mazda. There were a few press conferences, I picked up some more goodies, and took shots of the Chrysler/Dodge/Mopar booth. A 2015 Challenger race simulator was setup in the middle of it all. The car was covered with balloons and a black veil. I fell in love with the Scat Pack Challenger. I'd almost be tempted to trade the Magnum in for that thing, but NO. Viper, just kept that in the back of my mind. That and the fact Magnum doesn't exist anymore. It's so nice though.
I took pics of the Porsche 918, Bentley race car (which I'm currently featured on Jalopnik for), and the never ending Bugatti Veyron. I got to meet Christan Von Koeingsegg! Super nice guy and took a picture with me.
That was mostly it for day one. I'll post of day two later and then today too. Let me get back to work and finish editing these 700+ photos left. :p
If you want to see what I've completed so far check out this link here (https://www.flickr.com/photos/schenphotography/sets/72157644026197682/).
--RS