toasted in bakersfield

was asked by my daughter to attend a car show fundraiser up in bakersfield this past weekend. she is involved with helping to rescue dogs and find new homes for them, so it was important to her. i ditched a couple of other shows to do her the favor.

here are a few of the cars i shot, and i’ll post more as i am able.

it was going to go up to ninety-four, so i tried to get started early. i arrived about eight a.m., and it was already warm. i was pretty much done by eleven. hadn’t had any breakfast really, and did get some water from the guys in the booth next to the forty-six ford. mostly stopped, because i was starting to feel dizzy out in the sun. don’t have that big guy following me around anymore to tell me i need to stop, so there you go.

i happened to have some cheetos early in the morning, and while i was eating those, one of my crowns on my teeth popped off. so, one more thing to worry about on monday. probably because a black cat crossed my path the night before.

i adopted one of her rescues about a month ago now, and i find myself walking about ten thousand steps a day against my will.

i try to work my eight hours a day, in between walks, but it’s tough. if she isn’t sleeping, she’s staring at me wanting to go go go. basically, at the end of the day, all i want to do is sleep.

fyre

1955 buick

speaking of vail headquarters, here’s an interesting car from the limited amount of time i spent there in the middle of the summer. before i decided to have a heat stroke.

damn, it’s hot out there in the summer.

maybe it’s the flames on this car.

at least my kid showed up with his family and got some pizza from the shop at the back of the complex. highly recommend that place. kinda hungry right now, come to think of it…

why the hell not?

pomona swap meet, last year.

wondering if indians used to live on these grounds. swear to big guy there’s a ghostly face of an indian in that driver’s seat on the full size image. i suppose i should add that here too, but i’ve already shut down my computer. otherwise, there were no other people hanging around this time of a cold morning.

don’t care much for hot rods, but i took a shot of this one for some reason. might as well post one once in a while.

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have not done a whole lot today. i’m losing track of time working from home. apparently i thought thursday was wednesday all day. no idea where i lost a day. and have the work computer sitting here makes it too easy to just try and get projects done that are always pushed aside for the immediate rush jobs.

today, i power washed bits of the carpeting that the dog beast barfed on a week ago, when he ate some bad food.

one more week of work, then i have a week off. no where to go. previously scheduled vacation i never bothered to cancel the work time off. i’m tired. why not?

topsy turvy

this past week or so has just been a roller coaster, and all i can do is just hold on. i know you will either be relieved or terribly disappointed that i won’t spill details here—it’s still a pretty sensitive situation, and i suppose i overshare enough when it has to do with me.

apart from that time bomb, my better half has loaded windows ten on my computer, but i lost all my favorite settings in my programs, so maybe my pictures will all be shit for a while. last few i fiddled with today just seem really dark, though my better half disagrees. he says he can hook up my old drive and for settings i saved, there should be files i can just copy over; just haven’t been here enough to get it done. so excuse my pics while i just wing it for a while.

i did get out to the black widows car club barbecue or picnic or whatever last week. waited long enough other cars did eventually show up. stayed longer than expected, only because there was a breeze and shade under trees. otherwise, just the ugly light of midday, and the sun relentlessly shining on my roasting arms. forgot the sunblock again. hate that greasy stuff.

owner of this lovely said there was still another layer of paint and/or a good buff to do on this new paint job. really nice, and different, no? little bit of pinstripes, little airbrush, some flames, and a lot of glitter—stood out anyways.

twiddling my thumbs

i’ve been waiting fifteen minutes for this windows update to finish, here at work. i actually have stuff to do, so this is slightly inconvenient....

ah, there it goes. only had to start a post on my phone to make it complete...blog blocker.

well, here’s a nice merc from last weekend at the park. interesting ghost flames in the paint. 

chopper

motorcycle

when i was a kid, there was a cartoon on after school, with a bunch of talking motorcycles. i was kinda stupid, but i watched it anyway. sort of was like the fat albert show, but with cycles. the sterotyical personalities of the group were predictable, so i'd have to say this one would be the cool guy.

saw the owner drive up and park, at the front of the show, near the datsun squad that we were busy passing by, so i took a few shots, just because it was different than the usual harleys. also because a crowd hadn't gathered around it.

dude didn't stay too long, i watched him drive away.

baggage

i've been busy all day. walked uptown for an hour or so at lunch...shopping for a graduation gift. really difficult when you don't know what someone likes or needs, or what is appropriate for the occasion. me, i like toys—monsters, aliens, weird stuff. don't think that would work for this girl.

still need to pack my bag for the trip. haven't decided when to leave. so i've been sitting here playing with my pictures. was trying to find a specific car, a black bel air. looked through the last few years of pictures. i think i have it, but no doubt i've labeled it wrong. probably on a hard drive i don't have here, a backup drive at a different location. oh well. this merc will have to do.

chopped and differently stylized flames than i usually see on cars. it was sitting at the edge of the park, stopping traffic. even got a crazy guy from a passing bus to get out before his real stop, to come over and make loud exclamations. i think the general thinking was that he might have been on something, but maybe he's just overly enthusiastic.

kudos to the pinstriper/airbrusher. somebody named vandemon, at least that's how they signed the back end.

and check out al the louvres. that looks difficult to do, without effing it up. also had hubcaps with cadillac emblems on it, and a desoto grille. guy sitting next to it, who seemed to know the owner, said just because they were cool.

mooneyes

busy weekend. mooneyes saturday; imperials show sunday. all i can say is, wow. more than enough cars to get my yayas out. i'm sooo tired...too much sun, i guess. after a week of cooler temps, the weekend had to heat up, which seems to be the one thing that forces me to leave early--from the house, and later from the show. sucks.

people have told me i need to go to mooneyes. i think they mean the xmas show, but open house gave a good idea of what shows up at xmas. might have to make the trip this year, wherever it might end up...didn't they close irwindale speedway?

anyway, made my way down one side of the street, through several small parking lots of cars and people, crossed the street and back up toward mooneyes, itself. always a challenge shooting in crowds, and next to a busy street, with traffic in the background. depends on my attitude that day whether i give a shit if there are people milling around a car, or a blur of traffic in the background--either can be fine, especially if no fucks are given about what's going on...focus on the car. ahem, i ramble...

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i am a fan of pinstripes. sometimes shoot a car just for the pinstriping, even when the hood is up ;) saw this car near the street, but more away from the main crowd. not so many people in the way. interesting colors and liked the flames. owner came over and introduced himself. i think he said he was a student at cerritos college, and that he'd done the paint and pinstriping himself. nice job!

suave46

spent a few hours in rialto today. figured a lot of people would be at ink n iron, so i'd go inland.

saw a lot of cars i've seen before. lots i didn't give a second thought about. had one guy offer to pay me to take a picture of his car, because he says no one ever takes a picture of it. when he pointed it out, i told him he'd have to close the hood, before i'd do it. he said he liked the hood up. i think he was kidding anyway.

this car, i've seen a few times. and i shoot it every year. the owner, sitting there, still as a statue through my set of shots, remembered me, and my better half from a previous year. my better half had taken his video tripod on a wheels out to this show the first time he tried it out, and must have chatted with this owner. 

that, and also that i didn't see any other tripods being used.

peep show

happy easter or passover or whatever.

now pretend like that didn't happen and look at this:

i had already packed up my camera, and was just watching my better half shoot this car. testing out a new camera and lens, he was just having fun. i was standing in the shade, so whatevs.

then a '39 master deluxe drove by, and asked my better half if it was too late. he said of course not, and went off to follow that car to a parking space.

so damn. i stood around for about five minutes, saying i won't, i won't, i won't [on the inside]. it was hot, i was hungry, and just done.

then i lost the inner argument, and got my camera back out. might as well, i'm just standing there waiting.

super shiny and perfect. almost wanted to kick it, like stomping on the feet of a kid with the brand new white shoes.

then, of course, i had to go shoot that '39 too. i'm not stupid.