don't litter, he’ll cry

it's late, and i just got home, so i don't really have a car ready to post. i'll put up this hoodie, well, because i like them. and i like these old beat up pontiac indians best. lots of character, with all the cracks in the amber plastic. or is it glass? i dunno.

they're just more interesting, especially if you can catch the light behind them just right. wishing that the sky had been cloudy or something. i guess i could go in and add some color or a gradient, but no. this is just fine as it is.

sometimes, there are just too many people

i went to the last show of the year at ruby's yesterday. halloween show. didn't dress up this year, which disappointed reine, who asked where the leopard suit was. thanks dude. lol. she's locked in a box, and probably won't be let back out for a long time.

anyway, as i suspected, it was very busy, very packed with cars. so many that there were cars parked up the aisles. bummer for one lady, who i guess worked in one of the nearby stores, and had parked earlier within the boundaries of the show. she couldn't get her car out because of an old ford parked in the aisle behind her. she had to wait for more than an hour to go home from work; actually, she was still waiting when i left, so i assume she was there until after the raffle and trophies too. she even had them paging for the owner to move it, but i guess they were in ruby's and didn't hear the announcement.

i had stopped at the buena park elks club show right after work, which was disappointing, but that's a story for another post. so by the time i got to this show, the sun was already dropping. that makes for longer exposures. and there were so many people milling about.

i've been avoiding staying late at shows this year, just because i'm tired, but also because of the longer exposures. not saying the pictures can't turn out awesome, cause they do, but because people will walk right into the frame and just stand there. because i don't look like i'm doing anything while the camera does its thing.

well, anyway, this car was pristine. and that kind of car draws the people like a magnet. i'd tried taking some shots earlier, with the sun setting, and they're ok shots of the car, but the people are blurs walking around the car.

i came back to this one before i left, as it was getting closer to the time of the costume parade, and more people were herding toward the front of the show. still not perfect. i took a few points of view. he did close the hood, i have it in another shot, but it's pretty plain from the front view. right now, i kind of like this one. ask me again later, and i'll probably choose one of the other ones.

i do love the fins on these. that's why i have one on the front of my card.

fool injection

another day, another back end. wasn't feeling well this evening, so i skipped going to the broiler. just been flipping through old shots, deciding on stuff i will work on when the rain comes or when i can't decide which one i like. at least it will have been narrowed down a little. and it's just a collection of what i liked today, which doesn't mean i'll like it on a day that i don't know which one to work on.

this one was from a cars and coffee type show over by LAX early last january. had to drop my better half off for a business trip, so hey, find a car show as long as i'm up this early. it was parked next this woodie.

favorite combo: fins and clouds. kinda wish that woodie wasn't there.

sleepy

i gotta get some sleep. my eyes feel like these tail lights...kinda scrunched closed, half awake.

found this one from a while back. sometimes i just wonder why it takes so long for me to get around to putting some of these images up.

i just like the lines going on in this shot.

his baby

ok, nuff showlows for the week? ronnie asked if i had one of his ride, so here it is. he's one of the few that actually comments on my blog. so thanks ronnie. hope you like this one.

oh, and here's a shot of the pinstripes on the back of the car.

apparently i missed a decent show and some of my favorite cars over at bob's this weekend. sorry, but my better half caught a cold, so he got my attention instead.

get it up

low rider types are also not my typical subjects. these two were just on my way out of the show, and there weren't too many people milling around, so  there you go.

i find them difficult to shoot, not this red one in particular, but others are. they like to lower them way down, then pop one or two wheels up so the angle gets all screwed, and/or they pop open the hood and trunk to show off the boom boxes and hydraulics.

i took a shot of the car behind this one. it was up on the far side, so it looks a bit funny. not sure if i'll post it. i haven't decided yet.

a fast one

i wasn't going to take this picture. or rather a picture of this car—i prefer more vintage, classic cars. but the owner, carl, asked me nicely to take a few shots of his car. he told me it was a '74, but looking around on the net, closest i can find is a '77, so i'll take your word for it, carl.

so this is one of many reasons why i typically won't work for hire: letting the owner art direct. i know it would have been a fine shot from the other side, as he wanted, but the sun was beginning to set, and i had to show him how my tripod and me would cast a fine shadow across the car. i was going to do my thing, my style – i'd showed him my book of prints—but he had his own picture in his head. he wanted this, a shot that was more typical, showing more of the length of the car.

i wasn't going to go into discussions on the limitations or expections on what you get from the lens i use. i should have moved in closer for this shot, but i was just going with it for him. geez, i think he was starting to remind me of my dad, and you can't really argue with him when he thinks he's right.

i had to get him to trust me that it would be just as good from this side. i even let him look in the camera to see if it was the shot he wanted. in fact, from this side, you start to get the beginning of the sunset in the sky...maybe i should have told him to wait a bit even, to pick up even more color. he was having a hard enough time getting other owners from parking around him, afraid it would ruin his shot.

i hope he sees this and likes it enough to buy the print, but now i'm wondering if he would have preferred a more typical photographer just doing a typical picture. hey carl, if you don't like it, it won't bother me if you don't want to buy it. i think i'm just reacting to letting someone else tell me what to do and how to do it, instead of trusting myself and my own eyes.

so i'm posting this just for him, and i hope he doesn't take my commentary wrong, but it's meant with love. trust the artist, then either like it or don't.

altarnative view

here's another showlows car from the dia de los muertos. one of two altars set up in the back of their trucks. interesting to look at and very colorful.

some work's been done to this truck since this shot. kinda wondering what's planned for it. it's all sanded down.

not plain vanilla

here's the first one i took from the dia de los muertos show in whittier yesterday. this was a row of showlows cars. ronnie was kind enough to let me know they were going to be there, and since its right up the street from me, easy to walk to. even got uptown early and got some bfast before they arrived.

i don't think i've seen this one from their club. very exceptional and clean. i liked the pinstripes, which they all seem to have, and it's very well done.

wonka

so i got out shooting today, but already had this old picture ready to go, so you guys from today will just have to wait a few more days.

this was back in august, on the day of the uptown whittier car show. the one that allowed vintage and muscle cars, but no low riders. ya, you guys have to wait until may for your token show. thanks whittier.

don't know why, but this ford wasn't part of the show. he parked over by the coffee bean, i suppose to get his fix. did he get there too late? did he not register? did he just want to be noticed? well one out of three is sure.

the lack of people walking through the picture and the brilliant color of the car, made it an "ok, i'll take it" shot.