what's up?

ah, space.

wandering through a car show presents some challenges, at least as far as seeing a good picture. cars packed in closely, people wandering between the cars, overhead wires, open hoods—all things that bother me, and sometimes distract from the focal point of a picture.

so, when i see a car off by itself, i take advantage of the opportunity. open space. room to look around, see the car from all angles.

spotted this truck from the entry alley. shot those first, and hoped it would still be sitting by it's lonesome by the time i got to it. it was.

behind me, a parking lot with a few cars, and the raffle desk. from here, overhead wires, and a pop up. decided this was better.

only took this one shot. felt like i got the one angle worth getting of it.

as i was walking out, a guy stopped me to ask who i shoot for. i asked which car was his...none. he had driven in as a passenger in this truck. lucky you.

big toys for big boys

went to la habra today, to get lunch. well, first to stop by the classic oldies toy drive, then to lunch.

found them hiding back behind the businesses, with the entrance lined with the members' cars...fleetmaster, master deluxes, deluxes...all chevys. knew i made the right decision to drive out.

and it didn't seem to be like some other toy drives i've been to, where cars were just passing through, dropping off a toy; it really was a show, with raffles. it is a bit early in the season, so maybe there wasn't another show they needed to make an appearance at either.

overall, i liked it a lot. mostly cars i love, lots of representation from many car clubs. my only issue was that it turned out to be a hot day, not windy, like they (the weather dudes) promised. good for a show, not great for me.

after a couple of hours in the sun, hauling the bag around, i had to leave. remember, i said i was going to lunch...ya, so i was getting a little wobbly, and my side was bothering me, so i had to leave, even as more cars were showing up. :(

probably should have brought the water my better half told me to, as i walked out the door, but, i just don't have anywhere to put it in this bag. maybe i'll go back to the old roller bag. liked it better anyway.

feeling dizzy

still have more from this show to work on. only stayed three or four hours, but still took over thirty gigs of pictures; pretty typical. stayed until my side started hurting more than i could ignore it. doctors don't know what it is; i'm thinking i've pulled some muscles walking my kid's dog, or is it him walking me? i can think of no other reason. took some follow up xrays, and the cracked rib seems to be healed.

anyway, was out and about today, side still hurting. stopped by the classic oldies toy drive show, so i'll stop with this one for a few days, and post some of those up.

walked up to the post office and took a longer way, several blocks out of the way home, and just started feeling dizzy. no reason. made it home, and still feeling wobbly and overheated. maybe too much sun today?


i do like the rainbow building in the background, so i may be over posting it too much lately. lots of color and texture of the building playing off the silkiness of the cars is just enticing to me.

parking a fleetline in front of it, just makes it better. love me a fleetline...

pop’s car

i'm getting a little lazy recording which car belongs to which club. i jumped around from one side of the street to another, from car to car, so even if they are parked in groups, i don't necessarily remember which. and then some cars don't have a plaque anyway.

i'm not seeing who this car might belong to, but i do remember a guy asking where he could see the pictures, because it is his "pop’s" car.

i shot the back end too, but i'm not too jazzed about it.

still need to decide if i like any of the pictures i shot of armando's bel air...

under the rainbow

another from this past weekend. i've had a request for more, so i'll put them up as i can. took me more than an hour and half to get home today, and i had to get some other stuff taken care of before sitting at my computer.

got a few shots of cars lined up parallel to the sidewalk early, before they started moving them into the final locations, crammed in together. just another reason to be there early. and usually, the guys are out and about chatting with others they haven't seen for a while, so the cars are all mine. they watch, but mostly are out of the shot.

this impala is beautiful. i'd drive it. love the back of these.


the sideview above was selected to show at the twenty sixteen orange county fair.

early bird

most shows we go to have a posted drive in time and start time. but the host club is usually there beforehand to set things up, traffic, trophies, organizing stuff. 

that means, to us, anyway, that there is always a guarantee of something to shoot if you get there early.

start time this morning was seven. my better half looked at the time stamp from last year's photos, which said about six-thirty, and it was already getting busy. 

so this time, we figured the sun rises by six now, we'll get there before that. we did. about five-thirty. still dark. stores closed. laundry mat didn't even open until six. supposed to rain, but not until afternoon.

drove down the street, just to make sure the no parking signs were up, and that the thing hadn't been cancelled. they were, so we went back around and parked in the parking lot. we chatted about nothing, watched the sun come up, the lady open the laundry, and several women arrive with loads of wash with their choice of machines.

probably about six-thirty we heard the first sputtering engines in the area, and then a few cars arrived. finally. so we got out, unpacked and shot the few that were there.

then the clubs started to show up slowly. originals got there first. clouds came and went, and came back again. we had missed the sunrise, but the skies were making up for it.

weather was the way, i wish it would be all summer. not too hot, not too cold.

saw many people and many cars we've seen before. took time to chat with people, since the light was interesting, and not quickly changing to full sun.

i don't remember seeing this car ever. nice to be suprised once in a while. really beautiful. i caught it before they moved it. and then, only moved it to face the opposite direction, to mirror another packard behind me.

i liked this shot, with the sky, and from this direction, with few other cars, and definitely not the lightpost in the way.

og cruzn

i haven't pulled my cameras out of the bag in a few weeks. been resting my side, like the doctor said. still hurts, so waiting on results of xrays. maybe monday.

got the batteries charged, getting up early for a show tomorrow. always somewhat nervous about going out after not shooting in a while. shouldn't be; it is sort of like riding a bike, and it doesn't take long to get back into a groove.

at least it will be cooler than the last few shows i went to, now that winter is moving in. weather people keep flip flopping on whether it will rain or not. now they've settled on a ten percent chance, so very doubtful.

so, old memories, we will be there early early. hoping for a decent parking place again.


saw this impala at the uptown show back in august. i like the back ends, with the wingspan out to there. didn't care much for the color and glitter, but it isn't my car to stare at all day, every day. 

shot early, still in the staging area...can tell because of location and how they are not parked in the spaces; just sitting in the middle of the street.

like, totally arrrr

i guess i need to think about finding a dress for a wedding. it's only next month. plenty of time. ugh. girl clothes. i hate shopping. been so long since i've had to wear a dress and heels. no idea what to do with this stupid hair. and makeup. i fail at being a girl.

at least i'm not high maintenance. lucky for my better half.

anyway, he's going with me. says he's bringing his camera. he actually likes watching me play dress up, but that's another story for another day.


i've seen this car around a few times now. shot it a couple of times, and now i'm bored with it.

i think i like these pictures from the first time i saw it at mooneyes open house, when i was still all, like, totally, wow, dude. still had some enthusiasm for it.

the details are really fun. a pirate theme going on. nuke the pontiac hood ornament, and put in this skull. should probably paint the screw in his nose black, so it doesn't show so much. maybe people with macro lenses shouldn't shoot up the nose shots?

i liked the pinstriping of pirate wenches, and the stick shifter inside. lots of details. nice paint job. and low, so low on the ground.

for all i know

another busy week, though unusually, not so much at work. as in enough to keep me busy for a full day, but not work overload with multiple deadlines. i actually caught up with everything before the end of the day, which happens about three times a year. then i don't know what to do with the time.

nothing has come to pass with taking executive portraits since they asked a couple of months ago, so i guess everything i've read up on it will fade from my noggin. i could practice shooting family members, but aside from my better half, around here, no one likes to be in front of the glass. i think i'll stick with cars, and call it a day.

looking forward to a veterans day car show this weekend, but for all i know, it will rain. it's been sprinkling around work and in random cities on my commute, but it seems to be missing whittier and los angeles for the most part. does seem to follow a pattern of warming up the weekend then getting overcast for back to work monday.

i do love the overcast and clouds for pictures, though. this chevy pic turned out ok. even managed to get an angle that hides most of the other cars around it, and in between all the people admiring the cars.

choppy waters

i've heard that to help keep your heart healthy, you should do ten thousand steps a day.

the internet says that adds up to about five miles. who the heck has time to walk or run five miles a day? says the girl chained to a computer ten plus hours a day...

i don't have a phone or an app to track steps, but i'm pretty sure i'd be lucky to do that many in a typical week. i think the only time i can is when i'm on vacation, when we have all day to casually walk as far as there are things to do and see. but alas, i'm not on vacation everyday.

today was sunday. i had some time. i walked about three miles. went the other way, from a where i'd take a typical walk, out and about in whittier.

sadly, i didn't see one old car. saw a guy on a harley, who waved to me. maybe i've seen his bike around, but he went by too fast to know for sure.

purposely headed back home down a particular street, hoping to see an old fleetline that used to sit in the same place, on the same road, all the time. i wanted to finally get a picture of it, since i was going to walk past it, but it was gone.

saw a porcelin throne, sitting randomly in the middle of an alley, and a sign in a window that said, "prepare to meet thy god." what the hell kind of message is that? would it be some kind of indiana jones dart blowing fun run, if i had chosen to take that alley path? freestyle target practice? strange way to express your religion, or maybe my mind just ran off on a tangent, and lost the message completely.

saw a few cars from crazy life car club, but didn't shoot them. maybe the one that was parked sitting there, on its highest hydraulics setting would have made a decent picture, but nah. didn't.

not sure when i'll take another long walk. still pretty warm out. i'll wait for the cold. or the rain. or even better, a big car show.

and cars like this one. all the way down at the end of uptown--that walk must have done my heart good, right?