mr. sandwich

after going to the unidos show last week, and having one of my cameras temporarily wig out on me there, i finally broke down and bought a new camera body. i've treated my cameras pretty well, and they are way past the expected shutter activations, so i thought i should go ahead before i show up at a show and have them both crap out on me and then have nothing to shoot with. so yay for credit cards.

figured the whittier uptown car show would be just as good as any to break it in and run it through its paces. just a newer version of my old camera, but the buttons are sort of different, and it can even shoot video, so its going to take some getting used to. my opinion so far is i like some things about it, and i don't like some things about it. guess i'll have to shoot it some more. was too busy today to hit the shows, so maybe tuesday after work. got a flyer (thanks to whoever handed it to my better half) for a show next weekend, so i'll go if there's nothing else i have to do at home.

my bro and his son joined us very early for the show, and we were all uptown by six a.m., trying to catch the morning light. his son has taken up interest in photography, so we thought it would be a fun day to go out. he really has a good eye for his age. i'll have to go check out what he posts on flickr over the next few days.

each year there's something the city bungles: this year's organizers weren't completely organized and had all the boys waiting down the street in staging to come in until almost eight-thirty, and the show was advertised to start at nine. they had some very agitated guys waiting too long, but at least they were mostly in the shade. 

pretty sure the competing car show hosted by the pharaohs ran a lot smoother, but i skipped that one for this one. waiting for some contacts to post their shots from that one, so i can go whine about what i missed.

gave me the opportunity to scoot around in between all the parked cars anyway. saw a lot of cars and clubs that i've shot in the past, and many remembered me and said hello. lots of the usual joking with certain clubs, but it is all in good fun.

took a lot of shots through the day, and in general the camera did ok. the file sizes are bigger, and use a different memory card, so i'm sure i'll have to get another hard drive at some point. gotta get a faster memory card too. the little sixteen gig cards are too slow.

found this chevy on my last loop around before i was done for the day. was getting too warm out in the sun to care anymore, which is always the problem in the summer. hence getting up so early. shoot 'em and run.

a guy who was a friend of the owner came out and asked the usual questions, and was curious to see how my pics turned out. i think he was saying that this one gets rented a lot for weddings, and i can see why, such a nice car. and you just never know where they'll make you park at some of these shows, but this one was more fortunate in location than others. still. at least i had something to call this shot.

nubby

you should really see this one in person. its pretty phenomenal, especially the paint job. the body paint is reminiscent of those marblized bowling balls at the newer alleys.

this is from the viejitos oc annual show, but i did see it previously, down at chicano park, under a bright, hot sun.

viejitos shows get a good turn out, lots of variety in cars, and are meant to be family friendly. even their rap performers use no profanity at all. contrast that to the show in san fernando...save that for another day.

and there's a pretty interesting airbrush job on the trunk. car club members as skeletons.

backside story

found a group of impalas at san fernando in the new lot they opened this year. love the '59s. plain vanilla up front, party in the back.

so the owners are all sitting behind the cars, enjoying the shade and something that smells vaguely of skunk. i think they're feeling pretty relaxed by this time of day. 

so i'm trying to jam myself between them and the back of their cars, trying to get the best angles on the fins and stuff. i don't know if they're enjoying the show, because i'm crawling around down low and looking up into the viewfinder, so you know, my back end is behind their back end, and you know...

whatever. so i see this nice view of the car, and i really really want the shot. and as i'm setting it up and about to click the shutter, this lady walks over to talk to a couple of guys that are just out of the frame. so, okay. i'll wait. patience usually wins out in this situation. happens all the time. after a few minutes, i'll try the meaningful look at the interloper. if they continue to be clueless, i suppose i start glaring, but not going to ask them to move, as they have just as much right to be there as i do.

at some point after ten minutes of looking balefully at her, and chatting with the owners, i'm getting overheated, there are plenty of other cars to shoot, and she isn't budging, and probably never even noticed me sitting there.

usually, i wouldn't wait that long, but i like the car. usually, i'd just pick up my stuff and move along. but no, this was kinda starting to make me smile, so i shot it. if she can ignore me, i can ignore her. i like the car. i didn't like the skunk. the end.

free at last, free at last

i was going to post this picture yesterday, in between packing up my belongings and cleaning, as my son was returning home from his six weeks in europe yesterday evening. but of course, the internet decided not to work, so all i could do was unplug and pack up the computer to bring back home to whittier.

i'm pretty sure the dog did it. i mean, disabled the internet, so i'd have to pay attention to him. he already figured something was going on, with all the activity that was not normal for a weekend. probably just hit the cable with his tail while he was under the desk.

this buick was from last weekend's sultans show up at signal hill park. i thought the turnout was decent, though i did  hear some rumblings about not as many as were expected, blah, blah, blah. i think they always say that.

don't see many of these cars, and it was sitting up on a hill at the edge of the show, so fewer people in the way. took a bunch of shots, but on a quick glance through the pics, liked this one for the moment, so showing here. ask me again tomorrow, and i'd probably pick a different angle. i do like the shot from the tail end, because it has the swoopy fins that many cars of that year seem to have to some degree.

chatted a little with the owner and his buddy while i shot a few from the back. says he mostly goes to local shows and not all that often, so pretty sure he won't be at the uptown whittier show next week (i will be there, as usual, its my hood, so i can). he did say he was going to take it down to the belmont show whenever that is, but i've heard it gets pretty crowded, so i haven't made the time to go in previous years. who knows, maybe i will this year. depends on what i'm doing.

shot a panorama of his dashboard, because i'm always looking for a nice dashboard to update the one at the top of this page, but just can't seem to find a better one yet. i really liked his decoration hanging from the mirror. didn't ask him if there was a story behind it, as in did he recently get married, or did he just think it was cool.

-----

like i said previously, i've been able to get out to a few shows on the weekends and shoot, but have just been unable to do more than download and backup the pictures before the dog got impatient with me.

i'm just back from the unidos show this morning, which wasn't as busy as they'd have liked it to be. someone said it was because of the car parts show over at pomona fairgrounds, and some other show going on at the same time. so my better half has just got my computer going again, and i'm downloading pics from this morning while i post this picture intended for yesterday.

thanks to the guys who have been handing off flyers to my better half to give to me, at the couple of shows he went to without me. he thinks its pretty funny when they hand him a flyer for me, and i'm shooting a car nearby — apparently that happened today. i totally understand though, he's so much easier to talk to with his bubbly personality.

i'm blathering on, and i've got several weekends of car show pics to sort through for another post later today. hoping to get back to a more regular schedule of playing with my pictures now, so do check back again, if i talked to you recently.

underwear or bikinis?

eleven more days | forty-four walks around the neighborhood | forty-four baglettes of shit. that's how i'm counting down until my kid gets home and can have his puppy back. i'm tired. better shape, but tired every day in a good way. i want to get back to playing with my pictures on a more regular basis. just to get time to myself tonight, i've had to bribe the dog with another bone to keep him occupied. i've taken too long and he's finished and is already trying to sleep, but my typing is keeping him from totally going under.

anyway, not soon enough.

----

here's another from san fernando. i suppose i really should be working on a few from the viejitos show, if i wanted to be all chronological about it, but i tend to jump around to any show from any year, depending on my mood, or if i feel like showing a particular car.

truth be told, i should have worked on the car that was sitting next to this one, since the owner practically invited me to have my way with his car, inside, outside, upside down. what was it, a '39 chevy? ya, the kind that the hood opens up like bird wings. he didn't know i don't usually shoot cars with their hoods up. i like the car, but usually, i'll pass them by. but i did take some. maybe i'll even post one when i get more time.

i liked the angle on this one better.

getting tired, so i'll leave you all with this question to ponder: are these chicks wearing underwear or bikinis? so much i could say about this picture, but i'll button my lip, as i've already said too much tonight.

i think its beautiful

made it out to the oldies san fernando car show today. been waiting all year, since attending the last one, when we'd driven out there and were happily satisfied by how many cars were there. unfortunately, my better half, who has been getting over pneumonia, had to bail on accompanying me at the last minute, after a particularly bad coughing bout. thinks he strained a muscle or had a back spasm, and didn't think he'd do very well hauling his camera around in the heat, but not hurt enough that i should stay home and take him to a doctor.

i arrived about an hour before the official opening time. parked around the corner, and walked past the line of cars still pouring in to the show. i wasn't sure if they'd let me in so early, and was resigned to having to sit for an hour watching the cars go through the gate, but the guy letting the cars in noticed me standing there, and said i could go on in, as long as i paid the entrance fee. the show is for the benefit of the school and the football team, so i don't have a problem with it, and had expected to pay anyway. promised the guy i'd stay out of the way, so thank you to the guy at the gate for letting me get an earlier start.

was still overcast for about an hour, so i hurried to shoot what i could. thought it would be best to get to the cars parked on the asphalt earlier, to avoid getting too baked later. glad i brought my hat with me, as i'd forgotten my sunscreen. didn't get too fried, and it was lovely in the shade, with a cool breeze most of the time.

i will say this is an awesome show. well attended, and well organized. people came with good attitudes, and for the most part, quite friendly. they'd even opened an additional lot for cars to park under the solar panels for shade, which had been under construction last year. i made it through the back lots, which i'd had to skip last year because we'd brought the nephew, who can't take the heat even more than i can't. i'll definitely try to make it there again next year.

so many cars to choose from. so i'll start as usual, with one belonging to someone who bothered to chat with me for a few minutes.

the owner of this dodge, told me it was the only one of that year there, and of course, i forgot to type it in my phone, so let's just call it a '36, until he drops me an email to correct me. i want to say he was wearing an oldies car club shirt, but this other dude is photo bombing my shot advertising his car club. actually, i've shot pictures of one of their cars before, come to think of it.

anyway, the owner seemed kind of ashamed of its condition, but said it was all original. he'd bought it from the daughter of the original owner. i think it is just as wonderful as any of the other cars out there, imperfections and all.

***the dog is asleep, in case you were wondering. i'll be paying for it later, when it's my turn to sleep.***

mojito

so, i've been able to sneak away from the dog for a few hours at a time on weekends to attend a few car shows. problem is, he doesn't let me spend a lot of time at the computer actually going through what i shot, before he wants attention. he's more work than a toddler.

so i figure, i'll have plenty of pictures to work on when my son gets back from his trip and i get back to my regular routine. and plenty for rainy days, should cali get any of those this year.

did manage to scare that coyote away long enough to get away from him this early morning. it really wanted to come over and say hello. forgot to bring a stick or something, as i wasn't planning on going on such a long walk. hadn't expected to be in his way this weekend, but the dog got me out of bed so early. probably thought i was going to be late for work.

i spent this morning at the viejitos orange county annual car and bike show. i'm downloading those pictures while i blather on here. had to be over a hundred cars and bikes there. i really wanted to get there earlier to miss the heat, and even though i could only manage to get there close to start at 10, it was overcast and cool until at least 11. 

circled around about three times, probably have at least seventy shots of cars, and about sixty ornaments and detail shots to show for the two or three hours i was there. 

saw and spoke with several people i see around a lot. shook hands with raynbow, the head of the viejitos club and the guy running the show. always very welcoming when i see him. he's got a shiny new pontiac he just finished building. too bad there were too many admirers around it when he showed it to me, and when i got back around to it, the hood was up... i'll have to get it at one of their regular monthly shows sometime. really beautiful work though.

handed out my card to the couple of guys that inquired about my photography. i'll warn you, it will be at least a couple more weeks before i can really get to them. and then, i'll only post them if i think the shot or angle or whatever was good.

excellent show. thanks to whichever one of you guys handed me the flyer, or i'd have never known about it.

-----

oh, the above car has taken me about a week to get up here, worked on it a few minutes at a time that i could get the dog to go play with a toy. he's staring at me now, because he knows i'm about to go get my dinner out of the oven.

must be a sale on this neon green paint, because i'm starting to see it more often in the last year. saw this one at the old memories harbor club show from last month. the color definitely gets your attention when it drives through the lot. it calls, i follow...

el canas, again

ok, throwing you a bone. the owner of this car has joked with me for several years now. ran into him yesterday at ruby's, on a brief break from the dog. i've posted it and his other car a couple of times before, but its been a while.

he confessed to occasionally spending/wasting a couple hours at a time reading my blog. had mentioned that i hadn't been posting much lately, which leads me to wonder how closely he's been reading, as i've mentioned several times that i have become enslaved to a very large puppy for a month and a half.

anyway, i've had this picture of his truck from a hooters show sitting in my to-do collection for a while, so i might as well show it to him now. we'll see if he comments next time i see him...

it's a nice truck, always very clean. here it sits with another car from his club, the wolves. i suppose if he didn't talk to me so much, i would've stopped shooting pictures of it by now, as it really has very simple, plain lines. but i do like how the paint picks up reflections, which is why i sometimes do shoot these types of vehicles.

and in case you were wondering, i've worn the dog out today with three long walks so far, so he's been sleeping at my feet for a while. gonna have to take him on another long walk or two before bed, and my foot is kinda aching already. i really slow him down. three more weeks until the kid comes home...i've been counting down the days since he left.

ok, i guess i better work on a couple of other projects while the hairy child is still sleeping.

always a bridesmaid...

made it to the fair yesterday for a couple of hours. good deal on the weekends if you get there the first hour, its only $3 to get in. no lines. didn't feel like riding anything by myself. found my pictures in the visual arts building. yep, got another honorable mention. there was also this one and this one. you can find this one in the flower section. (happy now, gary?) oh well, nice enough to see them up there with all the other great images.

other than that, it's taken me three hours to try and get fifteen minutes to post this picture because of this beast. he's not getting any more tired, and i've taken him out on long walks twice already. now he just wants to play. even threw him a giant beef knuckle bone, which kept him busy for a couple of hours last time, but he's bounced from toy to toy tonight.

anyway, only four more weeks to go...

here's an old memories car from the show at tweedy mile golf course. happy as can be in the clover.

on my own today

got the weekend off from the dog, to give my lame foot a break from all the walking, er, being pulled around by the dog. my better half is back at home with a fever, so i pretty much just stayed here in my condo alone. enjoying the quiet.

slept in late, then went to a car show at the garden grove elks club, which i hadn't been to in a couple of years. ernie told me he'd been asked to run it, and he mentioned it to me, so since i had the time, thought i'd check it out.

wasn't as busy as i remembered it being, but there was still some stuff to shoot. a bunch of latin gents were there, so their cars are always worth shooting. spent about an hour there, before i overheated. of course, as i packed up and got in the car, another nice car drove in. briefly had an inner arguement about getting the stuff back out to shoot it or just waiting for some other time. ya, i left. it was another latin gents car, so i'll see it again.

spent the rest of the day cleaning, doing laundry and made some cookies. stuff that is more difficult to get done with the dog around. hoping to go to the fair tomorrow to see my pictures hanging on the wall. trying to talk my bro into going, otherwise, i'll just go by myself, early before it gets too hot. then back to pick up the puppy.