what's up?

miss the light? uhh, no.

1950 chevy 3100

i went to a couple of shows on friday, which i have not been to in at least a year. because frankly, they were sucking donkey balls. i'll give a show a couple of trys before i decide it ain't worth the drive for either the number or variety of cars, or else just the people and/or vibe. and with the price of gas spiking thirty cents in a day, i guess i should get more picky.

on fridays, there are at least three shows i used to hit up when i got started. and all are basically on my way home, so it worked out. the one in garden grove used to be pretty huge for a main street show, until the local businesses, the show organizers and cops squeezed out the bad boys, and then pissed off a lot of the car owners.

that was the first one i stopped at. not much has changed in a year. pretty much the same diehards there. not as many cars as before. the latin gents were there, and i did take time to shoot their cars, because they're pretty sweet. i'll post some of them eventually.

then, for whatever reason, i decided to give the elks club in buena park another shot. i'd been there a couple of times a year ago. where i found quite a few of the deserters from garden grove. i also shared the story, here somewhere, of my parking in one of the grand poobah's spaces, getting told to move it, and how that wasn't very welcoming at the time. that, and the fact that there warnt much there.

forward to yesterday: the lot was packed, lots of hoods down, no one really bothered me, and surprise, surprise, several of the viejitos were parked out in the back along the wall. mind you, i had just spent the previous sunday at their show in fullerton, but i'm always happy to see the cars in new locations, at a different time of day.

ok, it's getting late, almost midnight, so i gotta wrap this up.

i took a bunch of shots of their cars, then went off to take others up by the entrance. as it was getting later, and closer to raffle time, everyone gathers in the middle of the lot. so i went back over to the best cars, as the sun was starting to go down. it was awesome, because, no one was around to get in the shots, and i could pretty much do what i wanted.

there was one old guy (it's an elks lodge after all) who walked slowly by, who remarked on how i was losing the light. i told him, i certainly wasn't, and i was going to be getting my best shots right about now. wonder if he'll see them when i post them.

thinking i should have stayed a bit later, but this will do. and i came thisclose to going to ruby's as well, but i had to eat, and figured they'd be about done when i got there. so now i probably won't make it there until their last show of the season at the end of this month.

this car was/is for sale. i know how to get hold of him, if you're interested.

duke of earl

1950 mercury

i did a lot of shooting this weekend. had lunch with my better half, who had to work all weekend, then decided i'd finally go check out this show in riverside. yep, riverside. no reason to go out there anymore, since my kid graduated, but there are a few shows that i did enjoy, that i will definitely make the drive for again.

as i said, i'd never had time to hit this one, which is in the evening, once a quarter the guy said. out at riverside airport, adjacent to a hanger. they actually advertise it as a sock hop, and folks showed up in 50s costumes, and the dj only played songs from the 40s and 50s. there were several marine and army planes around, and for a hundred bucks and three hundred bucks, you could get a forty minute or more ride in a couple of the planes. damn things would fly by real low and twist in turn right near the crowd. thanks buddy. don't make a mistake.

anyway, there were about three dozen cars, at least before i left. a lot of chevys got passed by because the hoods were up. there was only one car i'd seen before, so that was nice. i may not remember the owner, but i do remember the cars. actually, i did remember this one owner only because he made some joke at a show a year before. maybe i'll post his car sometime.

hey gary from riverside (not the other one i do not like out here) why weren't you there with your chevy? i bet you would have closed your hood like last time.

nuff boring story. i gots to get some sleep. long day today.

i liked this merc that drove in. pretty simple. drove in, parked, and dropped down. and didn't open his hood. also, got the plane there in the shot, just before it took off on a another charity ride. now, if it only had a hood ornament, it would be perfect.

look at that, look at that cadillac

1962 cadillac

so when i was getting my degree in graphic design, i took a few photography classes. both photography and design classes required that you put your work up on the wall so everyone could pick it apart. the theory was that if you knew what wasn't working, you'd know how to do better next time.

you also learned pretty quickly how to defend your work, why you chose to put it up. started to put only what you considered your best, what you were willing to stand by, irrelevant of other's opinions. so there's the reason i never do a photo dump. don't waste space with every little fart in the wind.

i post these few cars up here because they please my eye. they're a record of where i've been, memories of light on that day. i hope they delight you as much as they do for me.

so i've spent the last few times out chasing sunsets. longer exposures make it harder to get shots without some blur of a person walking into the frame. but still having fun, so i'll keep shooting, at least for now.

stumbled upon

1941 buick

after melting over at the shakedown show, we were hungry. i suggested pizza, and remembered that there was a round table a couple of freeway exits up. coincidently, in the same plaza as the fuddrucker's show in lakewood. and hey, the show there was just getting started.

just kidding. i knew it was there. just dragged my better half over there to have a peek. still wasn't that busy yet, but this one did catch our eye as we drove by. originally sitting there with nothing next to it, but by the time we parked and set up, a clown car drove up and parked next to it...not the mg, that one was sweet...on the other side. a whole parking lot, and he has to park there. so i squeezed in and took this shot.

don't think i've got one of these before, and the blue and white paint job made it more striking. happy accident.

man, i'm baked

1939 chevy coupe

not what you thought—pull your head out. i mean, it was really, really hot yesterday at this fundraiser. why, oh why do a show on a sunday on a day over 100 degrees, on a blacktop, er, in this case, pavement?? really limits the crowd and any pictures to be taken.

have to be selective, because i already know my interest is going to decrease relative to the temperature. though there was some shady spots to retreat to, eventually, i'm not gonna keep going.

judging by other people's pictures on the net, jae bueno was there, as was howard gribble. sorry for not recognizing you guys and saying hi there. though now, after the fact, i have some guesses which faces in the crowd you might be. you got some great shots, way more than i took.

there were only a few old cars which i like there, and maybe twice as many of the low rider jumpers. still too many of both types with hoods open or just angled weird, so i skipped a lot of them. and a few that were just too flashy, as to make me giggle. but that's just me...whatever floats your boat.

both me and my better half zeroed in on this one right away. he took a bunch of shots first, while i took a walk around the rest of the cars. got back to this one last, and this is the only shot i took. i was soaked with a coating of slimy sun block and sweat, and just felt gross by then. aparently, the sun block wasn't cutting it so well, and my better half said i was starting to "get some color." just temporary, as today, nothin. never was worth my time to try and get a tan, thanks to my parents; oh but you should see my son...who used to tell me he was "dark white" when he was three years old.

move, please

1953 chevy pickup

been seeing a new car club over at the broiler the last few times. they have a few nice cars that i'd like to shoot. but the thing is, usually, one of their cars parks in front of their other cars, which are parked in the spaces and then the group of big guys (literally) stands around in front of the cars, or near the doors, of the ones i'd like to shoot, and glare at everyone. my better half says that's my thing, glaring at everyone, and they stay away. i suppose i could ask them to move, but usually i just wait people out if they don't clue in on the girl with the camera, or else wait until some other opportunity.

well, last wednesday, they were doing the usual, and i passed by several times. finally, when i was done for the evening, and heading over to the wall to pack my gear, i noticed that the pod had shifted slightly to the left of this car. so i squeezed in between the pod and the car parked in front of them and got this shot. not the best, but i got it.

glowing

1963 buick le sabre

why is it they say that women don't sweat...they glow? bullshit. i was definitely sweating the other night at ruby's. not that it was that hot, but more that it felt humid. probably should have just worn shorts and a tank top, and expose more skin. levis just don't "breathe" even if they are made of cotton.

i purposely waited until later in the evening to hit this show, hoping it would cool off enough to persuade me away from the fans at home. and so i could start taking some sunset shots, with summer officially coming to an end, and the sun going bye bye earlier and earlier.

there were many cars i walked by because of their location, or owners parked in chairs in front of them. running out of room on my hard drive makes me more picky i guess.

i came back to this one before i left, and probably should have just kept shooting while the sun went south. the hood was so reflective, and the colors changing in the sky just glowed off of it. this shot isn't picking up the rose colors that i saw later.