a family

i was minding my own business, walking through the park at point fermin, looking for something interesting to shoot. cars were moving in by this point, and being directed left or right when they reached the lighthouse.

queue the random guy to come over and tell me to take pictures of his family's cars. all of them together, then individually. like i'm there taking orders. sure, i'll take them, gave me something to do. kinda doubt he'll buy prints; most guys like that just don't.

i could be totally wrong, but that's just how it came across.

nice set of chevys, then he said the ford at the end was also part of the group. they had that pop up over the truck, until the guy told the other guys to move it back. didn't ask what was so special about that one in particular.

anyway, did as i was told/asked, and got on with my life.

brotherhood

i went to this end of the park hoping to find a car with a good shot of the sunrise coming up over the car. this club was at the far corner, under this tree. i could see good shots as i approached, but they were still moving their cars around. the parking director told them where to park, and when he wasn't looking, they tried several times to pull their cars forward to get them lined up. then the parking guy would yell at them to move them back...he had to fit so many cars in this field, they couldn't spare the space.

i think they tried a couple of times before the parking guy threatened to invite them to leave.

anyway, i saw several beautiful shots, but couldn't get them, for all the cars and club guys walking around. i'm really the one in the way—the show really doesn't open for public viewing until ten or eleven—so i had to let those shots go. i work around the edges, and get what i get.

i know that camper kinda ruins it, but i really liked the color of the light.

back it up

i stood and watch the owner park this car here. couldn't wait for him to park and leave. he rolled out of the car looking kinda grumpy. almost thought he was going to move it somewhere else, but he didn't. i walked away and came back after he left.

i think maybe i love the trees in this park as well. i'll shoot most anything with them in the background. they just frame it up so nicely. they help camoflauge most of the crap and buildings too.

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apparently, somehow, somewhere, i've managed to crack a rib. started hurting a few months ago; finally couldn't ignore it any longer and saw a doctor, and got it xrayed. i probably shouldn't have mentioned it to my better half, knowing he was going to treat me differently. he'll make me follow the doctor's recommended orders to take it easy and not lift anything or overly exert myself. i've been walking around for a couple of months already, as is, so come on.

anyway, i'll probably take a few weeks off from going to car shows, and pulling my camera bag. unless i can talk him into being my bag boy. oh well, more time to work on pictures i already have, right?

we've got a trip booked soon, running away for a week, and i don't think we're going to bring the big cameras with us for a change.

i don't like coffee

can't stand the smell of it, so can only imagine the sludgy flavor of it as it burns down to one's gullet. but i think i can relate to the caffiene addiction, only i like mine with ice with that classic logo on the can or bottle. 

so if it were me, i'd kick that cup of joe to the curb, but i figured someone might still be interested in, so i left it where it sat. awesome.

got an email from the owner, who was jealous of his buddy getting his cadillac posted, i guess. just kidding. he wanted to see if i got a decent picture of his car.

early in the morning, so it's kinda dark, but i really liked the back end here.

turn off the light

got up before the sun and out to point fermin yesterday. clear sky and a full moon, we ran around trying to catch some pictures of the legends' cars that were already in the park.

don't realize how quick it fades from night to day until you're hauling a camera bag and tripod across grassy fields, to get to cars with the promise of a better point of view. still wouldn't trade it for a point and shoot camera. i'll use my phone camera for quick shots to instagram, but they're more of a documentation of stuff i saw quickly or where i've been--they're the throw aways.

i've shot this car before, and he always seems to park here every year. you don't know how much i wish bad things on that scrawny palm tree, whose pathetic trunk snakes up between the car and the lighthouse. ruins the shot, and i'm not going to waste time photoshopping it out...it was there, so there it will stay.

it was dark, so of course the park lights were on. do they get some sort of discount for those horrid yellow-tinged light bulbs i wonder? the blackness of night inherently sucks the color out of stuff and neutralizes it, but with that light dropping its mandarine light down on the car, everything getting hit by it just gets whacked to an orange spectrum. would have been so nice with just the moon and stars shining down.

posted the color version here too, because despite it burning my eyes, it's sort of ok, because that's how i saw it.

a went back a little later to try and get the same shot as last year, about the same time in the morning, but the sunrise just wasn't as spectacular, and every sunrise is a different experience, to be enjoyed in that moment. maybe next year...

feed bag

my better half and i got a rare three-day weekend, where his sister is in town and able to watch their mom. we hastily made last minute plans, since we didn't have much pre-weekend notice. we tossed a few ideas around, found some places we wanted didn't have rooms available, so we went local thursday night, and then friday to where we are now, hanging out in long beach.

mostly we have done absolutely nothing, but enjoy the air conditioning and sleep, with an occasional foray into the world for food. sometimes that's all we need. we work too many hours, so just to be able hide away is a good break.
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better half is whining that he'd looked at this car, from the viejitos show, and had even taken some pictures of it, but that they didn't look anywhere as good as this. maybe it's his point of view--he's a foot taller--he needs to adjust the angle of that dangle, and really look at a car from all points. i whine because i'm not tall enough to get good shots of cars with lots of airbrushing on the roof. maybe i'm just trying to see a good shot and take it.

he says i'm obsessed, but maybe he's enabling the obsession...otherwise we wouldn't be staying in long beach, just to be closer to the car show by the sea, happening tomorrow in san pedro, now would we?

picture this

up and out way before my body wanted to be on a weekend. stuff like this makes getting there early totally worth the effort. i like it when i can catch the sun just kissing the car, warming it up just so. and no one around. almost like a thief, stealing this shot...did anyone else see it? am i bogarting this all for myself? no, trying to share what i saw here.

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so at work they're thinking of doing their portraits in-house. tired of paying the go-to guy five hundred a pop. probably have another in-house guy do the shooting. they're thinking of getting a canon camera. pfft. whatever.

they know i do photography, so they're asking me for advice. why not; i'll end up working the files anyway, so might as well try to minimize how much work needs to be done with them. mostly asking if i can help them with lighting. i reminded them i do cars. at car shows, in natural light. where i can move around to find the best angle and lighting.

i've never done portraits, at least besides family. i suppose i could do it. i guess it would be the opposite of shooting a car, having to move the lighting around the subject or shifting them around to find the right angle. but it does miss one of the reasons i shoot cars...they don't look back, i don't have to talk to them or tell them what to do.

i sort of offered to do a shoot out—their canon against my sony. it would be sort of fun to see if i could get the big cheeses to crack a smile or ask them to do strange contortions to bend the light to my will. i've sat through classes, watched videos, read books. aside from getting the equipment, the only thing required would be to just do it, just like when i started going to shows and shooting cars. worse that could happen is getting some average pictures.

stalking

i mentioned a car i was looking for in a prior post, that i saw after breakfast, but had to go uptown several times to find it. took a while, went the other way down the street; had to take a few breaks from the heat, but i finally found it. 

isn't always the way it is, the thing you want is always in the last place you look, or you find it when you aren't even looking for it at all. here was this olds, parked way up the street, by itself. aside from being a funky purple color, it was the tail lights that caught my eye in the first place.

when we had seen it earlier, all the cameras were packed in the bag, not tripod ready. so we whipped out the newer, smaller cameras and shot some hand-held brackets. i got the shot of the dad and the kid waiting to move out of staging.

the kid seemed really nice and polite. he's just at that age, where he's happy to hang out with his dad all day looking at cars, and still polite to others. i hope he stays that way. i really do.

when i shot it later in the day, a bunch of kids kept getting in the shot, looking inside the car. turns out they were checking out the speedometer. they thought that since it said one-twenty or more, that that is how fast it can go. there was one boy in particular, that was overly enthusiastic about it. then he wanted to push the shutter button on my camera too. uh. no thanks. he was so hyped up, i figured he'd manage to knock the tripod over too.

black and white

another car i promised to post. i have a few normal shots of this car. but i like this early morning shot. black and white cars can be a little boring sometimes. even if it is a fleetline.

mutiny

got up early for the viejitos show over at st gregory the great. compared to last weekend, it was wonderfully overcast.

arrived to find them just setting up. and complaining loudly at each other. raynbow's guys were a grumbly bunch. half had been there at the agreed time, half got there when they got there. partied too much friday night or just slept in. he wasn't too happy about that, and went around letting them know it. doesn't make a good impression, and if you join a club, there are certain expectations. no one made you join.

anyway, they weren't the only club having issues with their members. heard quite a few guys getting reamed by other members. at least one guy got mad because they hadn't saved him a spot with his club. he got there late, and they don't save spots. he threw a hissy fit; they told him to just go home; so he did.

there was a decent turn out. got to pretty much all the cars i wanted before the sun came out, except for cars with the pop-ups or people in chairs in front of them. i had fun. my better half was able to go. he got to fart around with some of his different lenses.

here's raynbow's pontiac. hope his day got better than it started out.

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i've been busy at work as usual. then my dad had to go the hospital—just got out this evening. so, i've hardly had any time to be home and posting. i'm so behind on car shows, and yet i keep going out for more. better to have too many to choose from, and hopefully i'm getting better.

i don't have anything scheduled for tomorrow. i'm sleeping in. then maybe i'll go see how my dad is doing.