master deluxe indeed

yet another 1938 chevy from the downey broiler. something about this body type i really like. the big, full fenders and grill, and my fav, a hood ornament, i just gotta take a picture or two or three...

the couple that owned this one and a similar one (this one, i think (correct me if i'm wrong): /whats-up/2010/5/14/pontiac-attack.html), knew i'd taken shots of their cars, and after having seen an 8x10 print of another car, were totally all about buying one of each of their cars. when i get a reaction like that to my work, i know that i'm doing something right.

we'll see. a lot of people say that they want a print, but then don't follow through. i suppose they're happy with the wallpaper they copy from here and that's fine. but nothing will beat the full resolution print without my name plastered on it, and if i don't get an email about it or run into them again, i probably won't order it, unless i wouldn't mind having one myself anyway. if i happen to have a print of your car in my book, you're welcome to buy it from me—i can always order another. :)

need i remind anyone, these images are copyrighted? if you want to use them for anything other than a personal wallpaper, you need to ask permission...send me an email.

i got the bird

i had to go to riverside today. as long as i'm out there, i might as well hit up a car show, right? only one i could fit into my schedule was a small one, the fly and drive car show, held once a month at flabob airport. tiny little airport = tiny little show? there were maybe 30 cars there, half muscle cars, half older cars. good enough for me. had maybe 10 to 15 trophies to hand out too, as well as raffle prizes.

i don't think they get too many photographers with tripods, but at least they didn't ask if i worked for a magazine. seemed like an older crowd, just more curious about me. those that did talk to me were very nice.

most of them had their hoods open, and if you've been reading my blog for long, you know how i feel about that. if the owner was there, they mostly jumped right up and offered to close it for me. thanks so much!

anyway, enough blathering. this was a gorgeous ’62 thunderbird. i believe this was the second time they had attended the show. lovely paint job. had a thunderbird ghosted on the hood, though i didn't quite pick it up in this shot. might as well have painted a target on it, as it seems the birds kept aiming at it and the owner had to wipe it off several times, which he joked about quite a bit.

anyway, i hung out for about an hour or so. long enough to see who got the trophies, and this was one of them.

pontiac attack

got to the broiler late the other day. sun was already starting to set. had to park in a spot that really wasn't a parking space, because the place was so busy and i didn't want to park way out back in the dark. quickly got my gear out and took a first walk around the place to see what was on display this evening.

found this '37 pontiac around the front. it was so clean. how could i not take a picture of it? i took 4 points of view, and not really a bad one in the bunch. this one just seemed most interesting, with the sky showing off the chief's profile best.

a lot of people stopped to chat with me and look at my book, so i did not take as many pictures as i probably would have otherwise. i watched the sun set and answered their questions. i ended up staying later than i had planned.

harley harley harley

bikes really aren't my bag, but the owner of this one asked if i would take a shot of his baby. i should have asked him to move it into the middle of the aisle, away from the other cars, but he threw me out of my groove or whatever it is doing cars. then add the sun going down behind it, and i got some interesting flares going on.

i thought this was the more interesting angle, but i do have one from the other end, with the owner kneeling down with his bike. it's ok, but i think i'd have to shoot again some other time...i couldn't get back far enough in the space to get it all and him in the frame. i'll probably futz with it anyway and see what it looks like.

what the hell am i doing?

i am sometimes asked this question when people see me down on the ground, right up next to a car with my camera. the answer is obviously, taking some pictures. really. lots of them. i think this year so far, i have taken over 10,000 images, and of that, several thousand are just from car shows. i easily take more than 300 a show, and that is not even taking pictures of every car there.

so then, you may wonder why i do not have that many cars posted here or on my flickr site. i want them to look better than your typical snapshot. if that's what you want, there are other websites to visit where people just basically upload their camera cards.

these cars are rolling pieces of art and history, and i dig them. so i try to capture what i saw, which one exposure just can't do. (exception: the close up macro images i usually don't do a thing to — nothing beats a prime lens, baby.) this takes disc space, time and some work. but i think it's worth it. contrary to what some may think, i'm not adding anything to the images, though i do sometimes get rid of a shadow or a light pole, and i will touch up your paint chips. i'm combining multiple exposures into one image, to get all the detail i can, to match what my eye sees at that moment.

let me show you this average shot of a car:

before

it's just kind of...a car. and a shot you see every day, albeit, i took it from down low, which isn't the average point of view. now here is what i get from doing my thing, and more interesting, thanks to the sunset:

after

some may wonder how i choose what i put up here on tweakedpixels.

• i have to like your car; mostly like them older than 1970. it doesn't even have to be perfect; some of my favs are all dinged up and rusty; somehow they have more character sometimes.


• have to have the hood closed—it ruins the lines of the car for me, and i don't need to see what you've done to the engine, though it may be very impressive (i think its a guy thing). i don't know what the parts are, and as long as a car runs, i'm happy for you. if i'm tired or already have a similar car in my collection, i'll probably just walk on by it; if i'm not, i'll ask if you could close it for a few minutes.


• the shot has to be interesting; i take a lot of angles, try to catch the car at different times of day, to find the shot that just makes the car look good

couple of other reasons a car makes it here or on flickr:

• you said hello. and i like your car. i'm shy by nature, and i am really trying to be more open. this hobby is really forcing me to get out of my shell, which i guess is a good thing, but it's difficult.


• you want to buy/bought a print.

so what the hell am i doing? i'm having fun. and now i'm off to the broiler for even more fun... :)

old timer

this 1916 buick 45 was at the whittier founder's day celebration i mentioned a couple of days ago. i think it was the oldest car there, and possibly, one of the oldest i have in my collection here.

i think i'm finding it more facsinating seeing and learning how cars evolved over the years, each generations' designers copying each others ideas, various models so similar, yet so different. can still see it going on in the cars of today...does everyone go to the same design school or what? if only that sense of classic style would come back. i think it kind of did with the pt cruisers and the recent thunderbirds. more curves and presence, something undefinable that is just missing in the standard crap they have been turning out, small tweaks, and they call that a new model. yippee. just too boxy and lacking style.

visine needed

so i attended the monthly trabuco canyon show, by the "friends" grill. guessing because it was mother's day, not as many cars showed up.

this one was pretty cherry. it is a 1939 plymouth truck. the owner was nice enough to close the hood for me; i had to help by pushing it closed while he pulled the release in the cab. he's got it buffed to a fine finish, and it reflected the overcast, cloudy sky wonderfully. love those cloudy skies...adds more drama to a picture, don't you think?

founder's day find

so we were walking around in uptown whittier on saturday, and came across the whittier founder's day celebration going on at a local park. <yawn> but hey my eyes spotted an old car driving by and realized they had one of the streets along the park blocked off and maybe about 20 old cars just sitting there. i think the oldest was a 1916 buick, a few chevys, a pair of terraplanes, and some other interesting cars. also a good selection from the whittier model a club...or was it model t?

anyway this beauty of a 1936 packard was sitting in the shade, the owner and friends sitting in lawn chairs in front of it. i can't recall the exact model, but maybe the owner or his friends will let me know. i let them look at my book of proofs while i took pictures of this one and a couple of other cars down the line. they seemed really impressed, so yay for me. :) i must be doing something right.

he closed the hood for me to get several good shots from various angles. i like this one best, though i have another from a lower angle that hides the apartments behind it and shows off the hood ornament pretty good. maybe i'll post that another day.

coffee time

ok, so now that our tired, burned out router has been replaced, i can post again! yay! busy weekend.

here's one i was trying to post the other day. i think its a 1963 impala. i seem to like these cars from the back end more than the front. maybe they're just more distinctive from this point of view. this model wasn't rockin' the over the top fins of earlier models, but i don't think i had seen this year in my collection yet. owners were nice enough to wait for me to finish before they left. thanks, you guys!

hot tamale

cinco de mayo at the broiler. i got there late. guess i missed some mtv crapola in the back lot or something. didn't mind that much—lots of cars showed up for that, i suppose. so, score for me.

damn fine car, this one, just sitting there, enjoying all the attention. parked just enough over the line no one could park next to it. that was driving the manager nuts, as the owner was no where to be found, and there were so many cars waiting for a spot.

i saw this car sail away into the sunset while i was putting my stuff in my little car. i don't think mine will ever be considered a classic. i'll stop taking these pictures when/if that happens. have a hard enough time considering anything newer than 1970 a classic as it is. maybe i just have a biased opinion for the older ones.

skipping the ruby's show in whitter tonight...first one of the season...i have such an awful headache.