“streetrod”

this owner was getting ready to leave. i had been taking pics of the car next to his. he had his hood up, so i wasn't going to shoot his car anyway. i asked him if i was seeing flames on his paint job, and he said yup, they're ghosted on there. not the typical airbrush in a barely lighter color ghost, but more of a they're the same color as the paint, only they're a slightly raised surface. really hard to see, especially with all the clouds reflecting on the hood. they're behind the vent(?) on the hood and on the fender above the tire, but you probably can't see them at this size.

anyway, he was nice enough to wait while i took a few pics of his car, so here ya go, and thanks.

verde

just now realized this is the third green car in a row. oh well. they match my eyes, if you need a reason. i dunno. maybe it just gets more difficult to pick what to post...i've found so many spectacular cars the last few shows. i'm on chevy overload again. it's only january...i'm gonna run out of room on my hard drive before the year is over if i don't watch it.

found this one at angelo's on thursday. this belongs to one of the latin gents car club members...maybe one of those guys on the left there. they're very nice guys, love their cars. i've seen them here and there before, and they said the same about me.

all the awesome chevy's i've seen at chubby's the last couple of weeks are theirs too. damn, you guys, they're beautiful cars. anyway, they flipped when i showed them my pictures, and seemed interested in me shooting some pics of them and their cars at chubby's on friday. i don't do a lot of pics with owners in there with their cars, but i was willing to try it again.

i got there too early for most of them on friday, and the majority of them were driving in as i was driving out...maybe next week...i'm feeling kinda ill right now, and think i'll go lay down.

lucy in the sky

this is the other car that was at chubby's diner that was being photographed opposite this one. both were pretty wonderful. guessing they're part of the same car club. i am really curious what the other photographer got with his shots. also guessing they look nothing like mine.

off to bed...i've worked all day...hit a car show...gone to disneyland...stick a fork in me, i'm done.

scuse me while i whip this out

i'll be out and about tomorrow, so here's another merc for tonight. found it at marina del rey last sunday. very extraordinarily nice, but left before i could get a few more shots of it. well, i did get a few more, but meant to get an additional couple from behind. wait, i did get a couple, but not enough. i'll shut up in a couple...

a big one

just feel like posting a big image tonight. nothing particular spectacular about this car, except to the owner. he was there with his small son, probably for the first time at this show. both this father/son combo and the duo at fuddrucker's vaguely remind me of my ex and my son, when he was little. why do they have to grow up so fast? i'm rambling...and bordering on sentimentality, which is wells up once in a while. i'll get over it soon enough.

i've never seen them or this type of car before. he was nice enough to wait for me to finish my shots before he took off, so thank you, kind sir. i let him look at my prints while i did, so he wouldn't notice how long my shots were taking.

i think a shot from the back end would have been much more distinctive, as far as defining this type of car from any other, with the way the roof cuts in, but i didn't like the images as much. wasn't the best angle/location/lighting from back there. probably because of the curb, and having to stand in the dirt ditch, but i like this one anyway.

____

kinda wish i was at the broiler tonight...there's still time to get out there, it's relatively warm out, but i haven't eaten and i'm kinda tired. definitely will be there next week, at least for an hour or two.

thinking of maybe going back to angelo's tomorrow night, though i've been kind of disappointed by the turnout the last couple of times. at least it's close enough to disneyland, i can always go get that dinner i missed out on last friday. :)

sublime

this car was awesome. i watched it drive into the lot, and then head straight to the back corner in the darkness, up against the fence, in front of others of the group. that would have been the shot i wanted, but it was one of the bad boy's cars, and i wasn't about to go into the dim light with a small crowd of guys and my camera gear. i was resigned to not get the shot.

it was like a ghost in the shadows.

later on, i noticed it had been moved under this light on the other side of the lot. positioned in an angle formation with another car, which i'll post another day. turned out there was another photographer there, i guess it was a "photo shoot." not sure what kind of camera...canon or nikon, i'm sure...but he was using a flash up top, and shooting all around, both cars as a set, the details, etc. almost expected him to toss the camera aside and say "i'm spent." i heard one of the owners asking about getting it all on a disc. i hope he was getting a fair price for his work.

anyway, i digress. the two cars are practically perfect. i noticed a minor blem on this one, but maybe it was a trick of the light. there was just a hint of pinstripes here and there, not overdone, very nice and simple. just not the best location and lighting. have to make do – i shoot'em as i find them.

i don't like when people walk into my shots, and i try very hard not to get into other's. at some point the photographer noticed me standing there, at which time i told him i was waiting my turn. he kept doing his thing, he was working it. i can wait, not in a hurry. i suppose he stopped either because he was done, or so i could take some shots, and he walked away.

i took a few of each, before the organizers came over to judge the cars for the raffle or contest or whatever they do. had to wait for them to get out of the way. took a couple more pics before one of the judges mentioned that he'd talked to me earlier in the year. chatted a bit, wanted to know which car i like best at the show. i showed him my prints.

next time i look up, the photographer was back, but this time with the owner of this car. he was decked out in some nice duds. time for pictures of him and his car. that was it for me.

i had to get to my car before i started to laugh at something that occured to me at that moment, and didn't want them to think i was laughing at them. i can't share my thoughts on what was making me laugh here; i'll get in trouble, but damn it was funny.

happy happy joy joy

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i'm going to go ahead and post another tonight, since i'm not sure i'll have time tomorrow.

i had to go to LAX today. and as you can probably guess, any time i'm out of my usual haunts, i try and find a new car show to check out. more bang for my buck, as long as i'm in the area or something.

anyhew, it was early on a sunday, so there was a million dollar breakfast show up in marina del ray. never been there before; i'm usually sleeping in on sundays, so i don't hit a lot of the real early shows as it is. not sure if this was an average turn out, but there were less than a dozen classic and muscle cars at the time i was there. from an old bentley to a more modern mustang. small selection, but at least there was variety. it was kinda overcast, so maybe more people didn't want to come on down.

whooped out my camera gear and started taking some shots. i've been to early shows on saturdays on occasion, and know that the cars come and go, as people finish up their coffee or whatever.

i believe the guy that runs the show (he gave me his card, but it's out in my car still) came over to ask if i was with any magazines, etc. being the social retard that i am, i really didn't say a lot, except that i was doing it as a hobby, blah blah. didn't even mention my blog at the time. errrr.

anyway, i have several decent shots of some of the cars, that i will share sooner or later. starting with this studebaker, since the owner and his buddy were the first to come over and talk a little with me. i even showed them my book of prints, which always makes me seem more competent, even when i'm having a socializing brain fart. scuse my french. lol. it's late.

funny thing about these studebakers, they look so happy from this angle, even like it's smiling. the color of the car adds to it's playfulness. but if you shoot from a bit higher angle, it looks more weasley, with bulging eyes. and the other shot i have of this one reminds me of the irvine auto center otter mascot. don't ask why, it just does.

and i did go back over to the guy that gave me his card, and handed him one of mine...but i still didn't say very much to him...sorry about that.

time for bed now. nighty night, bunny wab-bit.

howdy neighbor

a few weeks ago, while whining about all the rain, i mentioned an old chevy that i see in my neighborhood. usually see it parked out on a curb, or a block ahead, driving away. i'd never gotten up the nerve to get out of the car and just take a shot of it in the street. apart from possibly getting run over, i was not sure if the owner might be a bit persnickety about some stranger taking pics of his car, à la "richard".

well, to my wandering eye appears, at the first show i hit for the year at fuddrucker's, that self same chevy, i've come to know so well. i finished shooting the car i was busy with, and headed straight over. the owner got out, with his small son. i, against my usual nature, said, "i love your car, i see it all the time," which i guess pretty quickly makes a guy all warm and fuzzy with pride. chatted him up for a little while, shook hands with his son. apparently, it was the first time he'd stopped by the show. told him my story about always driving past his car, etc. he says i'm welcome to take a picture of it anytime. so maybe i will shoot it in it's natural habitat sometime.

anyway, i took a picture of it where he parked it. not the best spot, but the car is still very nice. guess i should ask if he plans to finish painting the back end, or if he's going to leave it that way. the show wasn't as full as it usually gets when it's a bit warmer, so i hope he'll stop by again.

before they left, his son ran over and handed me his dad's business card...so anthony, i hope you like this, and say hi to your son.

chubby’s

wow. i haven't posted since monday? well, i've been busy. and i finally got out to a few shows that actually had cars at them, in spite of the cold. so i've been away from my computer and having fun.

i've taken a bunch of photos all week, so i have new stuff to play with. i chatted with several people too, but still think it's difficult to break out of my shell and strike up a conversation. i did meet a couple of dads out with their sons at two different shows. they were very nice, and i guess that's how it gets passed to the next generation. shot pics of their cars...give me a few days.

anyway, getting to the image above... stopped at the show in garden grove on friday. never have seen it that empty, and on an elvis night. i guess an impersonator comes out to entertain the crowd, but i've never hung out late enough to see him. the street was half empty, where usually they have to turn cars away. good for me to take pics, but not many to choose from that i either haven't already shot, or wanted to shoot.

briefly stopped to show the owner a picture i took of his truck, since he claimed he didn't have a computer. he told me a quick story about it being in a magazine, and his posse all said it was a very nice picture.

anyway, since i was nearby, i thought i'd go to disneyland and grab some dinner. then i remembered a show i'd stopped at once during the summer near the entrance to dland. hadn't been too impressed with it at the time, mainly because i got there late, and most cars had probably left. it still shows up on the calendar, so i drove over to check it out.

i was pleasantly surprised to find that it was very busy, no doubt due to the location. and also solved the mystery of where all the bad boys and their chevy's from the back lots at garden grove had gone. i won't say all, but many of the clubs started showing up in groups, and of course parking out back. but man, oh man, they do have beautiful cars.

not sure if this one belonged to one of the bad boys, but it was parked right at the entrance, in this primo spot. this one was very nice, but i think there were several in the back that might have been even better than this.

definitely will have to stop here again. and i never did get to eat at dland; i stayed so long taking pictures it got late, and decided it was too crowded to just go to dland for dinner. friday night traffic there is a bitch, with all the people hitting downtown disney. pfft.

khaki, not tacky

i'm still waiting for the opportunity to hit a show and take my first pics of 2011. i think the rain is gone for a few days, but its hella cold for cali, at least in the evenings. i'll drive by fuddrucker's tomorrow and see if anyone shows this time...haven't even gotten out of the car the last couple of weeks...hardly anything to see. maybe i'll drive out to the broiler on wednesday, but i don't expect any but the diehards there. too bink bink.

anyway, dug this one up from 2009 at ruby's. i think the second time i'd headed out there with a camera. not sure that i've seen this particular car since, but i liked the angle, and the sky was pretty cool. don't remember if it was getting ready to rain, or just a typical september evening.