♪ "This Way" by Brock Berrigan ♪
- Lowriding, to me, it's about the people.
They're truly into it for the love of the family
and the love of the car.
The first lowrider car show that I went to
was in the '90s.
There were cars there that we had never seen before.
All the vibrant colors, all the intricate work and detail
that goes into building a lowrider.
We could appreciate that work.
And to see all the detail that goes
into building these cars
it intrigued us.
And we kept coming back for more.
♪ "Matt's Wedding" by Brock Berrigan ♪
I have a 1962 Chevy Impala wagon.
It's a light blue candy paint
with patterns and flake on the hood,
the roof,
the dashboard
and the tailgate
and it has pin striping, gold leafing,
silver leafing with candy paint
throughout the car.
The engine is 350 small block engine.
The wagon also has 13 inch hundred spoke wire wheels
rolling on 520s.
The interior is a light blue as well.
It's a stock style interior vinyl,
has engraving on the door handles,
the plaque and the knockoffs.
It also has custom emblems and custom grill.
The color of the car was chosen by my late husband
before he passed away.
And his favorite color was blue.
That's why the color of the car is blue.
My favorite part of the car...
well the whole car is beautiful.
I love everything about it.
But, I have to say the paint is amazing.
Depending on if the car is in the shade or in the sun,
the color of the car does change in photographs.
Sometimes it could look light blue,
a little teal, a little turquoise.
So vibrant, so detailed.
When she sits in the sun, the flake,
the candy paint,
it's beautiful.
I could just sit back and stare at her all day.
♪ "Where I've Always Been" by Shane Baker ♪
I was born in California Hospital in Los Angeles
and I was raised in Al Hambra.
My dad was a controller accountant.
He's now retired.
And my mom worked up until my brother and I were born
and she quit working so that she could stay home
and take care of us and raise us.
And I have one brother.
He's also an engineer.
I've always had a love for photography
ever since I was in junior high and high school.
I always borrowed my mom's film camera.
Took it everywhere I went to document my life,
my family, my friends, parties, events.
Kind of like a photo journal of my life.
I love everything about photography.
You can capture so much just with one click of a camera.
Jay and I met
when I was 16 years old.
We were high school sweethearts.
When we got together, I was the one
that always had the camera.
Everywhere we we would go I'd shoot
and capture the events.
We'd go drag racing.
We'd go to lowrider car shows.
We'd go to import car shows.
Everywhere that we went, I was always snapping pictures.
Jay started getting into photography
and about 2005 we started shooting together.
(melancholy piano music)
My late husband's name is Joseph Bueno, Jr.
But they all called him Jay.
He was an engineer with HP
and photographer.
He was a very humble man.
Took amazing photos.
He had the eye for photography like no other.
In the beginning it was just taking photos
and just saving them and having them
for our own personal use.
Before we turned it into a business,
my late husband started a website, jaybueno.com,
which eventually turned into our brand.
Him and I both shot for jaybueno.com.
It was very well-known
that
Jay was the face of the company
because everybody assumed that all the pictures
that were on his website were all his.
But, in fact, they were both of our pictures.
Jay felt bad that I wasn't getting the recognition
that I deserved.
He even offered for us to shut down jaybueno.com
and collaborate and open up a brand together.
But I felt like we had worked so hard
to get it where it was
that I just was gonna be a team player
and to continue to shoot for the brand
and support him and support our business
so that we can flourish.
We were very open to shooting anything.
We would shoot landscaping, we would shoot animals,
we'd shoot cars, we'd shoot graffiti.
It wasn't until we went kind of outside
that comfort zone of just documenting
and it went into an artistic part of photography.
Once we started going to lowrider car shows
and we saw how vibrant the colors were on the cars,
all the work that went into building a lowrider.
As my late husband used to say, it was rolling art.
When you have that art piece in front of you,
it inspires you to want to shoot that car
and just capture its beauty.
And for our business, the lowriding industry
is what helped our brand be what it was.
(somber instrumental music)
In December of 2012,
Jay started having some stomach pains.
Jay was diagnosed with stomach cancer
in January of 2013.
It was already found at stage 4.
So, unfortunately, there was nothing
that the doctors could have done for him.
They only gave him a short time to live.
Once we found out that Jay had cancer,
he said, "I'm gonna fight.
"I'm gonna fight 'til the very end
so that I could be there for you and the kids."
He tried.
He tried hard.
He went through chemotherapy.
But stomach cancer,
it's deteriorating.
It takes you quickly.
Even though the chemotherapy was only
temporarily prolonging his life,
we all decided that it was in his best interest
to stop the chemo.
He had always wanted to build a low rider
being that it was not something
that we were able to do right now,
a collective group of friends decided to
donate the car,
the parts,
the paint,
labor.
They wanted to build him the wagon before he passed away.
They started the build of the car in 2013
and the restoration was completed
in August of that year in 2013.
Any chance that I could get I would take him down there
to see the builders, to see the car being painted,
so that he could see the steps of the wagon being built.
He was so happy when they showed him the car.
(exhales loudly)
Jay passed away
in June of 2013.
He was 44 years old.
"Where I've Always Been" by Shane Baker
I can't even express
how happy I was,
and yet sadness at the same time
that he wasn't here to be able to enjoy
this beautiful car that they built for him.
It's kind of bittersweet.
I love driving her around,
but at the same time,
she is a constant reminder of his passing,
which sometimes makes it difficult.
But I try and see the good out of this build.
And that was the comradery
and the people that worked together
to make sure
that this wagon was completed.
When you've been with someone for most of your life,
and then you have to live your life without them,
it takes a lot, it's very draining.
The last five years has taught me to be a stronger person,
to be more independent.
I think that that experience has made me stronger.
I decided to go back to school in 2004
to become a registered nurse.
I had always wanted to become a nurse.
I went to school to be a medical assistant,
but I felt like that wasn't enough.
Nursing, for me, is not just a career, it's a passion.
I love it.
And I take care of my patients
as if they were my own family.
I work at White Memorial Medical Center in Boyle Heights.
I did critical care nursing for about five to six years
and now I work at Surgery Center,
which is within White Memorial
and I pre-op and post-op patients.
The thing I love the most about being a nurse
is how rewarding it is.
I love my job and it shows.
Patients tell me all the time,
"You really love being a nurse don't you?"
I go, "Yeah, I love it."
I always come to work with a happy smile,
a positive attitude, ready to start the day.
I always make sure I go that extra step
to give them excellent care.
Sometimes it's difficult to think of the happy memories.
Sometimes you think of him being sick.
I try my best to put that behind me
and try and remember the good times that we've had,
all the laughs that we shared.
We've had an amazing 25 years
and I try and
instill in my children
that even though he's gone,
that we just have to live the best life
that we can live.
I would tell anyone who's had a loss that
over time it gets a little bit easier.
You can never forget.
They'll always be inside of your heart.
But you have to move forward,
'cause if you keep living in the past
and keep living in the sadness,
it's just gonna tear you apart.
I found that if I surround myself with good people,
that if you just think positive,
that good things will happen, too.
My name is Stephanie Bueno.
I'm a registered nurse and photographer,
and I'm a Lowrider Roll Model.
♪ "Where I've Always Been" by Shane Baker. ♪