what's up?

og cruzn

i haven't pulled my cameras out of the bag in a few weeks. been resting my side, like the doctor said. still hurts, so waiting on results of xrays. maybe monday.

got the batteries charged, getting up early for a show tomorrow. always somewhat nervous about going out after not shooting in a while. shouldn't be; it is sort of like riding a bike, and it doesn't take long to get back into a groove.

at least it will be cooler than the last few shows i went to, now that winter is moving in. weather people keep flip flopping on whether it will rain or not. now they've settled on a ten percent chance, so very doubtful.

so, old memories, we will be there early early. hoping for a decent parking place again.


saw this impala at the uptown show back in august. i like the back ends, with the wingspan out to there. didn't care much for the color and glitter, but it isn't my car to stare at all day, every day. 

shot early, still in the staging area...can tell because of location and how they are not parked in the spaces; just sitting in the middle of the street.

bloody mary

see this car often, and it's owner, howard gribble, too. he's locally famous in southern california and the lowrider community. i follow him on flickr. and though all this is true, i've never been officially introduced. i have often walked past him, and never say a thing. perhaps we're both just shy, at least i am. only on rare occasions do i break out of that shell and go over and say hello.

jae bueno was one i said a tentative hello to, and he was the nicest guy in the world. apparently, he spoke to my better half, frequently, usually while they watched me fiddling around with my camera. he was delightful and gracious, and i was socially akward, as usual.

on this morning, in san pedro, in the dim morning light, before many people had come into the park, i saw howard coming around the bend in back of the lighthouse. he never looks happy, looks sort of pissed. i'm guessing that must be what i look like, at least according to my better half.

anyway, i did not divert my path, and walked toward him, as i was going round to the front of the lighthouse, and quietly said hello. and unless i imagined it, i heard a gruff "hi" from him. and that was it.

celebrate those little personal triumphs. sure it wasn't much, but it's hard for me to get out of my shell, or my head. it does get easier each time, whether you can hear me or not.

btw, the rearview of the car was from the sultan's signal hill show. just saying, i see it a lot, different places. nuff said.

chopped liver

saw this and thought, "wtf?" it is interesting. the seat must be down on the floor to drive it, no?

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got my test results back. they found nothing, but there is something going on. i can opt for a second opinion, someone else who will ask for more tests, or just wait and see. i think i'll wait a bit. i'm really tired of the vampires taking my blood every few months anyway.

a bike is a bike

quick post. does anyone really grow up?

this tricycle features a popeye theme, wood paneling, metal etching, airbrushing and pinstriping.

this bike features metal etching, airbrushing and pinstriping.

both cool. both bikes. big kids.

walk this way...

lifestyle candy

the continuing saga at work of too much overtime, and not enough sleep. today, i'd intended to go to the broiler. left work a half hour later than normal—told them i just was done for the day, i am fried—and headed out.

what a difference thirty minutes makes in the traffic. i was screwed, mainly because someone had decided to occupy the same lane as another car on the freeway in santa ana, so went surface streets. normally it takes about forty-five minutes to get home; took two hours, and after sitting all day, followed by a long ride home, i just couldn't bear to drag my butt to the show. telling myself i'll go to ruby's on friday. most of the work will be done by then, so shouldn't be a problem leaving on time toward the end of the week. and the tradeshow will be over by mid next week, so i can get back to posting more regularly too.

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here's a beauty from the SFV show. there was a plethora (a plethora?) of cars, and many clubs were represented. i've loved these candy colored lifestyle club low riders since i first saw a bunch at the uptown whittier show a couple of years ago. hoping they'll show up again next month.

they had a bunch of their cars parked under the shade of the solar panels. kinda mutes the colors, but not by much. saa-weeeet. and i'm an id...forgot to note what kind of car this is...lincoln? chevy? buick? whatever.

only got a few other cars—which i'll get to eventually—because of the heat, but i hella wish i'd stayed and got so many more. next time...

 

impala

1961 chevrolet impala

didn't make it to either of the two morning shows that i'd thought about going to, but then it's really difficult to convince myself to wake up early on a sunday, much less get out of bed. i knew about this one out in lakewood, and had been to it once before on easter sunday. it starts later, like 2pm, so figured it wouldn't hurt to see what else might show up when it's not a holiday.

wasn't disappointed. and my better half, now having a super computer that can probably reprogram the laser and magnetic tractor beams on the death star, all from his big desk in the back room, has rediscovered his enthusiasm for photography. his computer can now work with his gigantor files from his a850 without taking a couple of hours to contemplate it.

there were several cars that really stood out, and a couple of times we had to wait for the other to finish taking their shots. i don't what he might post over on his blog, so i'm just going to post this baby and hope we don't post the same one. i couldn't choose which view i liked better, so i asked my better half, and he thought this one was more interesting.

it's really in remarkable shape for it's age, and the glitter and airbrushed paint job on the roof is something to behold. neither of us could get the camera high enough to get the shot we really wanted, to show it to its best advantage, even from the small incline behind it. so you'll just have to squint and see the little bit you can see.

the owner did stop us as we were packing up to leave. young guy, very nice. asked about what we did with the pictures, which only one other person asked me about, and so i gave him my card. he said the paint job was 10 years old, though you couldn't tell by the look of it. he did admit that it stays hidden away in the garage mostly, so that does help explain the lack of scratches and dings.

those that ask are usually the ones that get first consideration when i think about what to post. so here's a shot of your car, hope you like it.

the chevy on the left was pretty awesome too, but the owner unfortunately decided to prop open the hood with a wooded machine gun, so my loss...

 

 

sweet dreams

1955 chevy bel air nomad

so i went to the broiler the other night. end of january. temps in the upper 70s. weirdest weather i can remember.

anyway, lots of cars were already in the lot by the time i arrived. these pretty little things were all spit shined for an official photo shoot for a magazine i can't remember the name of, but i'm sure you'd all recognize it. quite the production, with a large team of people setting up fancy lighting and lots of cameras.

got this one fairly early on, though i was intercepted when i first arrived by someone interested in pictures of their own car. he's a regular. already had posted his car, and tried to show it to him on my phone, but the signal wasn't that great. had to go fetch my ipad out of the car, and finally found it to show to him. dude, if you're reading this, i sent you an email. waiting for a reply...but i digress...

story i heard from the owner of this lovely nomad was that it was the third time his car had been featured as a work in progress, only this time, the car had just been completed. hot spanking new paint job. perhaps it was really featuring the paint shop, as three of these cars were completely awesome and similarly pinstriped and metal flaked up in lollypop colors.

anyway, i got my shots in between their set ups and all the people milling around. only i didn't use a flash or their lights. i'll look for the magazine, but i'm perfectly happy with my pictures, even if they aren't perfect.