lucky bastard

stopped by the three car shows in the area yesterday. keep finding the most variety of cars over at the pep boys show. hearing that there was some disagreement with the guys that run the garden grove show, so there was a split, and now a good majority of the cars can be found here on friday nights.

i was told in passing, by a guy i frequently see at shows, that this car almost ended up in a chop shop. it had been stolen from the owner's driveway and found a few days later, covered, in the yard of a "mechanic's" shop. i remember reading about it, but the article i read had no pictures at the time, so i didn't recognize this as being the one. yep, the guy is one lucky bastard...what are the typical chances of ever seeing your stolen custom car in one piece again?

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i read a small sign hanging in the window of a shop in uptown whittier, that there is a charity car & bike show on the 12th at whittier high school, benefitting their baseball team. not much advertising...wondering if anyone has heard about it and is planning on going? says the show is from 10–4, drive-in starts at 7a.m.

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going to seattle/tacoma this summer...anyone know of any car shows?

i would have it

favorite parking spot. check.

sun setting. check

reflections. check.

hood ornament. ooooohhhh. check.

pinstripes. check.

lots of chrome up front. check.

mary poppins...practically perfect in every way. check.

coffee anyone?

this is one of the regulars at the broiler. typically parks over with the other caddies in the drive-in spots. but here he was in what is becoming one of my more favorite spots to get a nice shot, with enough room between him and the car next to him.

i like that you get different colored lights coming from different sources, neon, passing cars, headlights — they look good on shiny surfaces like the paint on cars.

not quite sure what was going on weather-wise that day, but the sky looks pretty cool, so i'm guessing it had recently rained or was gearing up for rain.

ain't she sweet?

didn't feel like getting up today. knew i had to go to work for a few hours, and was really dragging my ass around the house...perfectly happy to stay home. also knew there were two car shows today that i hadn't been to in a while, and there was a 70% chance of rain throughout the day.

finally decided to skip the first show, expecting half of those cars would end up over here at the original mike's show in santa ana. i arrived about half an hour before the scheduled start time, and pretty much knew it was going to be a short show. i did see a few cars drive in or by, then turn back around after seeing the turnout vs the darkening sky.

i decided if i was going to get anything, i might as well get out there before they all left. i shot several angles of this little '54 nash, and then a few of duke's ’50 olds 88 back there before the rain got started — about 15 minutes at most. i didn't want to risk messing up my remaining working camera, so packed it up pretty quick.

surprisingly, quite a few of the owners stayed, either waiting it out in the car, especially the ones with convertibles (quickly cranking the roof up), or having lunch in the restaurant. heard a few owners muttering they were glad they drove the rain car instead of one of their other cars. must be rough to have to decide which car to drive today, huh?

the lady who owns this car was one of those that stayed, wasn't worried about a little water. she related a story of someone who had taken a picture of her car up at the citadel once, with water on the ground, and a ray of sun hitting it just so. also told me it looks good in black and white. well, thanks for the info, but i'll do it my way, and i'll be just as happy as can be.

shine on

i realize that most photographers would be irritated by lens flares, but i kind of like them sometimes.

here is yet another chevy in the primo spot at chubby's diner. another perfect car. with yet another reflection of me in the bumper. arrrrggghhh. i suppose i could photoshop me out of it, but that's not what i saw, and what better way to prove that i took the shot?

i like the grill on these and the overall curviness of the car. just screams classic. oh, and of course, the hood ornament works for me too.

flying b

one cannot live on chevys alone, so i offer up something else for a change.

here's a bentley i saw at the million dollar breakfast club in marina del rey. while not entirely pretentious, it wouldn't be one that i'd go out and buy for myself, on the imaginery thought that i'd had the money to do so.

it has an interesting burled wood dash and the driver's side is on the left. the interior is a tan leather, so i assume the seating would be somewhat comfortable, at least to the touch.

i think i mostly like the front end with the big headlamps on cars from this period.

anyway, got that out of my system. i'll be back to chevy's, pontiacs, fords, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera next time.

backup singers

yet another chevy (shocker) from chubby's diner last week. i got there very early, and this was the first of three shows i hit that evening.

i've seen this lime bomb here before, and also over at angelo's, and possibly/probably at garden grove last year. i think it belongs to one of the latin gents.

it's just beautiful and was parked up in one of the spots you can see from the street. you can't help but notice it. they always put nice cars out front to get people's atttention, get them to stop, have a look, and maybe go and eat in the diner, i suppose.

that bunch of cars in the background are also probably owned by latin gents club members. you know how i feel about cars with the hoods open...but in this case, they just make me think of the star and his backup singers. open up and say ahhhhh.

where’s the fire?

quick post, cuz it's late. been busy lately, and made it out to the broiler for a couple of hours shooting this evening.

i usually walk past this "fire truck." i see it quite often. usually in a different spot, jammed in with some other cars.

the owner saw me shoot it this time, and walked over to ask, "what makes you take a picture of a car?" i told him first, the hood has to be closed, second, i have to like the car. forgot to mention the location...what's in the background...will it make an interesting picture? or if i don't think i'll get another opportunity to see it again anytime soon. 

i took it this time because he was in a different spot, and it looked more interesting. simple as that.

almost 11pm...gotta get some sleep. :)

pink panther

this past friday, i hit three car shows in one evening. they aren't too far apart from each other, so really wasn't a problem. started at chubby's, to which i arrived a bit too early, but was still going to be a really good show. i was told that the week before, about 90 cars showed up. i left early that night, so didn't see them all. gonna start calling this one the chevy show or the latin gents show...that ends up being a lot of what i see there.

then i went to a newer show over at the pep boys. ended up being a lot of the cars that have been missing from the garden grove show, as well as others i hadn't seen before. only bitch about this one is that it's just a parking lot; no scenery to add to a picture, too many cars crammed in, and the owners parking them nose in. makes it difficult to really "see" a car that way. and i really don't like to get in the middle of a bunch of cars with my tripod...it makes the owners nervous.

after that, went briefly to the garden grove show, which has been very light on cars the last few times, in spite of the elvis impersonator show. there were a few that i've taken before, but again, parking nose in or putting a big sign in front of the tail fins that i'd really like to shoot. thanks for nuthin'.

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i've seen this one many times before. at the garden grove show. never like the shots because they usually put a big stupid sign about it out in front, or on the side where the light is hitting the car best, thus ruining the picture. do these signs really add any value, especially at a show they attend often, as far as judging goes? also they have a little stuffed pink panther sitting on the hood. i think everyone can guess why this one is called the pink panther, don't need to reiterate it so many ways. definitely a 'look at me' car.

sign and stuffed animal were also in attendance here, but fortunately on the side that you can't see them. and from this angle, you can't see the damn toy on the hood.

nice flames popping on the hood though, with the sun setting behind me. pretty happy about that.

sign says it's a '47, but looking at other images on the internet, it looks more like a '51 or '52 to me, but what do i know? nuthin. just like taking pictures of your shiny babies.

heartburn

this isn't the shot of this old ford i meant to take. and it is the shot of this old ford i meant to take. lemme ’splain lucy.

i'd been at fuddrucker's for about half an hour shooting away, by the time i got around to this car. the unseasonably warm (upper 70s) january weather brought out a lot cars for the show. the allotted space was swarming with old cars, muscle cars, a stupid prius, and a couple of other odds and ends.

the sun was just getting ready to set, and the way the light was hitting this car made the flames seem to glow. i set up my tripod, framed the shot, adjusted the white balance, and pressed the shutter release button. instead of click click click, i heard clunk clunk clunk. oh crap. the preview showed black with a smidge of light across the top and bottom of the frame. tried again, only it made a more hideous sound, and now the previews were just black frames.

i turned the camera on and off a couple of times, as this one is a bit flaky anyway — it likes to change f-stops all by itself mid-shot sometimes — hoping to reset it. even tried turning the dial to auto and also program mode, just for jollies. pushed the button again, but this time got a white screen of death, with "camera error" emblazoned across the screen. not good.

quickly whipped out the other camera i use to shoot details and hood ornaments with, and swapped out lenses. then had to adjust all the settings and buttons and whatnot to work with the wide angle lens, watching the light change as i did so. just as i was screwing on the mounting plate for the tripod, i see that the light has gone; the sun has gone down below the buildings behind me. so i lost the shot i wanted, and also got the shot i wanted, sans glowing flames.

don't know why the camera chose that moment to crash. i've only taken more than 30,000 pictures with it since we bought it. it's been to london, d.c., seattle, san fran, san diego, vegas...all the car shows...can't imagine why it would give out (j/k). so i'll have to send it in and hope they can repair it. i hate having to switch out lenses on location, because that only invites dust and crap to fly into the camera and ruin pictures. fortunately, i do have the other one, which while not used as much, has quite a bit of mileage being bounced around in the backpack i roll around with me. i hope it lasts a while, or my little hobby is done for. arrrrgggghhh.

and check out that old 1920 ford thing next to it. wtf?