hisss and hisss

couple of cobras in henderson, nv. i haven't seen a lot of these around here, but there were three of them on this day. yeesh, i pounded the pixels the previous one. i like this one better.

i suppose i won't make it to this show again until next september, which is unfortunate. seemed to be a lot of interesting cars, and they said that was not even a quarter of what normally shows up...it was kinda rainy that day. at least it wasn't a typical sweltering day in vegas baby.

and there were a few other shows in the area that week, but i was too busy to check them out. at least i can vicariously enjoy them via my flickr friend, darkhorse68's photostream.

more whine

danny's car again. he really wants a three-quarter view of it. i've only seen it twice, and both times, not an optimal spot. i shot it before, but he wanted to see more of it. this one echos the other danny's car, both in color tweakedness and in lens flare. it's supposed to be a deep red wine color. must be the light and the shade on this side, again messing up the color. i like it anyway. guess i just like flares and starbursts.

i have a decent one from the other side, and it's the right color, but there's a group of dudes on one side and a single dude on the other in it that just bug me, and it's not quite showing this much of the car. throws the picture out of balance or something, and i can't crop them out without losing some of the car either. i think that is the point where i could revert to desaturating, darkening, blurring, stripping out the background, or a hundred other things to remove the annoying items. i don't have the time or desire to do that much work.

i need to get something done tonight for delivery tomorrow, so i'm just putting this one up because it's ready to go.

uptown boy

found this beauty at last august's uptown whittier show. it's one of the nice ones that were parked off the street, in a side lot, the one with the booth advertising the show for all the cars not allowed/invited at this show.

some of the best cars were in this lot. i'm looking forward to seeing them in may, assuming they aren't all so pissed off at the organizers that excluded them in the first place.

merry effn xmas

as promised, i stopped at the broiler this past wednesday. hadn't been there in a month, haven't really been to any shows much. i think my shy side is getting the best of me. gonna forget how to shoot pictures if i don't go out and practice.

anyway, it was already dark when i got there to deliver angel's print. actually, he was right behind me on firestone, but he pulled around the front lot, i went out around back. saw him park his car, then lost track of him when i pulled my camera out of the trunk. figured he went inside for dinner. didn't feel like chasing him down, so i spent my time taking some pictures.

i was experimenting with my camera settings; i don't know how well i like them. too many long exposures, so i was just fooling around. at one point, i swear one of my contacts from flickr was standing by watching, but he never said anything, and since i wasn't sure, neither did i. thought i saw another one through the window of the restaurant, but again, not positive. hard to tell from the little pics people use in their profile.

anyway, i spent a bit of time taking shots of some of the mercifuls' cars. i was back behind this one down low. one of the members stopped to get something from the trunk of a car nearby. i guess it's a little odd when no one is expected behind the cars, so he looked to see what i was doing. don't worry, not touching your cars, just making them mine, in a way.

as always, i like the fins on these. but in this shot, i liked the fat boy sign, as well as the the lights on the drive up parking roof, and how they reflect on the paint and chrome. and for whatever reason, the way i seem to catch the reddish cast in the sky when its dark at the broiler. left it full frame, cuz i didn't want to crop any of it out.

gonna be spending tomorrow in the kitchen, baking stuff for xmas, so i'm pretty sure i won't be posting again beforehand, so have a good one, whatever you do.

oh, and angel liked his print. hope he takes a picture of it after he gets it framed...i wanna see.

jade

hey look what i found in my files. was preparing another image from this night's shooting, and noticed this beauty standing out from the darkness, like a gem.

it was parked next to a '55 truck, which was reflected in the door, when another car's headlights hit this truck during my exposures. that one is a good shot too, just not as colorful only because it's beige.

i like how i caught the sunset rainbow as well. really pops when you can get that too, don't you think?

posh

so, i thought i'd take a temporary break from chevy overload. i've worked some 12+ hour days this week, and by friday was pretty much fried. took a couple days off from looking at my computer at home. my better half treated me to the brian setzer orchestra christmas extravaganza show over at the gibson amphitheatre. they always put out some very nice cars and hot rods in the hall outside...kinda his theme.

this one is obviously not particularly a fast car, but it is different, rare, and not a chevy. i think someone mentioned it was worth some insane amount of money, so i was surprised it was actually at the show here at ruby's in whittier.

this looks a little flat on my monitor...either i need to calibrate it or need to go kick the tires some more to make the car pop. maybe it's just because it's half in the shadow of a tree that's doing it. i'll have to look at it on another screen tomorrow.

hoping this week is a bit quieter at work, with most people out on vacation, but i still have plenty to do. planning to go to the broiler on wednesday, at least...angel bought a print of his wagon...just in time for xmas.

have a seat

i saw this car originally a month ago, at the viejitos fullerton show. this picture was from the xmas show in santa ana, the following week.

the owner had it parked up at the entrance in fullerton, and asked me to take a picture of it. it was parked in the shade next to a tent, next to the restaurant. in that light it looked blackish. those shots really didn't turn out that bad, but when i saw it again here, wayyyyy better. with the sun hitting it, you can see the glitter in the paint.

but the point of the title of this post, was that when he first asked that i shoot the car, he also asked if i wanted to sit in it, and see how nice it is inside. had to turn him down, as i'd already been shooting other cars and sitting on the ground and such, so i was afraid i'd get his upholstery dirty. had to say no, unfortunately for me. nice of him to ask. maybe some other time, before i start shooting.

the other danny

i know i shoot cars as i find them, but sometimes i have my doubts, especially when someone asks me to shoot their car. i know what they are expecting to see vs what makes me happy. i like this shot, again with the lens flares. but i think this danny (the owner) would have preferred a shot from the other side, pretty plain vanilla.

this is the second time i've taken pics of his car, and both times, i knew they wouldn't be what he is probably looking for. parking in the shade to keep the car and himself cool—good for him, but not for a clean shot of the car, with more accurate color.

this car is a dark blue, but shooting into the sun is effing with the color. from the other side on this, and a couple of shots of other cars in this club, the colors are more vibrant, mostly due to the time of the day and angle of the sun.

but they're also clustered around their club tent, or jammed next to each other, so aside from the shadows off the tent, the people in the tent end up in the shot too. from the other side, you'd see a little gangsta doll off the front bumper and the tent legs, as well as the empty chair that one of the guys jumped out of when he realized i was taking the picture. but the color would have been nice and deep blue if the tent hadn't been there.

my better half says i should ask them to move the car to get a better shot. but then they'd lose their spot, wouldn't they? you wouldn't ask a tiger to hold still in the jungle while you take a shot, so why should i bother to have them move it? if i wanted to control it that much, i'd open a studio and be a master of the universe.

i might be making a lot of assumptions, based on a few past experiences with car owners. forgot that i was just taking them for fun, and tried to let them tell me how to do the shot. basic tenet: don't let someone else art direct my hobby.

since i shoot mostly to make myself happy, i post the shots that i like, and if, by chance, danny likes a different point of view of his car, well then, he's found one.

there i go again, i've rambled on, with my thoughts not quite in order and too tired to rewrite it correctly. what would my professor think of that?

fleetmaster

well, my weekend hasn't worked out as i planned. spent saturday with my car in for routine maintenance, ended up getting it home for a little over $900. ugh. definitely not doing xmas this year. then, since i wasn't home to work on my pictures, i didn't work on the cars i wanted to post here.

so there's just this one, and then i have to go sit through a church choir thing my mom is part of, my xmas present for her. my better half enjoys these things, xmas carols and such, and it makes my mom happy that some family will go and see her do her thing.

for several years, i endured the show playing solitare on my phone, then last year i unfortunately picked seats up front, unknowingly sitting next to the pastor or reverend or whatever he was. oh, i had to behave. it entertained my better half, his mother and mine that i had to be ever so good, not playing games, or making any comments. i'm heading for the loft this time.

this chevy (starting to max out on chevys right here now) belongs to the fleetliner club. danny asked me to shoot their cars, and i have a few more to post when i have time.

thrifty

i've had a couple of very long days at work this week. no time to play with my pictures. going to catch some zeebers early tonight, so i'll just put up this one since it's ready.

found this truck at the show in fullerton. don't shoot a lot of these, because they seem pretty plain, but i just liked this pose for some reason.

i have a few cars to work on this weekend, so maybe i'll post more than one for a change.