long way to go

1940 mercury

i've seen this car before. probably at chicano park.

i was chatting with a car owner when i spied this car drive by at the end of the lane. he off-handedly mentioned that the merc owner had driven up to city of industry from san diego. that'd be about a three hour drive on a good day. but on a friday, it must have been hellish.

gave me more hope that this frisco's show was worth the effort to get here. having the previous show shut down before it had barely got off the ground, definitely was a good sign.

but what if this guy drove all the way the eff up here, just to have to leave?

i guess it was a gamble he was willing to make. i did not hear that the authorities shut it down after we left, so he lucked out.

i bet he has plenty of friends to hang out with as a back up anyway. nice car, no problem meeting people, i suppose.

---

rained a bit today. predictions put it at eighty percent chance of rain all day saturday and sunday, so i guess my weekend outings are off. shows may be on, rain or shine, but my lenses don't like rain that much. maybe i'll actually pack up my camera that crapped out on me last summer, and send it in for repair. does me no good as a paperweight.

oh, that shine

1959 chevrolet impala

always see people obsessively polishing their cars at shows. almost as soon as they park, they have a towel and bottle of liquid wax in hand. get the dust from the drive there off, i guess.

rub it and rub it, ahhhhwwww...

this car was already parked when i found it. middle of an aisle, gave up waiting for a space. didn't see the polishing. you'd think at a nighttime car show, there would be no reason, right? honestly, he probably didn't, and it is just several layers of clear coat, but damn, could almost imagine seeing other worlds in that paint.

i love these impalas, with their curves, and i was hopeful that the camera would be able to capture what i saw. i think this is pretty close. and i'm completely suprised that there weren't more cars and/or people moving as blurs through the exposure.

he asked

was waiting near my car for my better half. it's just there behind this one.

the owner specifically asked if i could take a picture of his car. sure, i'll try, i told him. knowing that it would be difficult with all the cars driving in the background, and down the aisle behind me. it was starting to get dark, and knew the longer exposures would be hard. 

i changed the settings a bit on the camera. not completely happy with them, but it's an ok picture, if you can ignore the shadow of the tripod hitting the wheel.

i had a pretty good parking spot, so there were at least three cars that wanted it when we left. maybe they played rock, paper, scissors for it...

disco disco. good good.

1952 chevrolet

i have a craving for lasagna today. so i've been busy making the sauce all afternoon, and just now have finished layering it in the dish with all the cheese, and got it in the oven.

better half chopped the onions for me. i think the doubled the garlic that the recipe called for, so, i may be sweating odiforously for a day or two, thanks to him.

have also watched the old cars drive by today. saw a really beautiful mint green bel air drive past the window earlier. walked uptown and saw an old merc drive by.

drove over to whittier boulevard at lunch, and saw an intriguing old gray chevy of some sort waiting for service of some sort or oil change, down by the ymca.

saw this completely glitter covered chevy at frisco's on friday. i think the light hitting all the facets of glitter at different angles fooled the sensor on the camera a little, so it's blurrier in some parts than i like, and others, the glitter disappears.

owner says at night, it looks like nothing. just flat paint. hard to imagine, but i guess so.

i don't think i'd do this to a car of my own, glitter isn't really my thing, but it is different. and it caught my eye.

green reaper

harley davidson road king

found my better half chatting with some guys from the timeless classics club in the lot between the buildings, an overflow parking lot. the real show lot only had one hundred spaces available, so i'm pretty sure this area was meant for actual customers for the nearby businesses. i think the majority of the customer parking areas quickly became overflow parking for the show, and any of the paid, reserved show spaces were quickly forgotten after the tape went down.

i shot the immaculate impala my better half was standing in front of; i'd shot it previously at the majestic's new year's show at the dam. the car looks fine, but my better half and the dudes he is chatting with are too close to the front of it. i'll have to think about if i want to waste time cloning them out, or just leaving them in.

anyway, right behind that car, this bike pulls in and parks next to the wall. i'd seen it cruise by the main lot earlier. wondered if he was going to park, or just pass through. a car had just abandoned the space before he got there, so there was a big gap between the bike and the cars in front and behind. perfect for a picture, and there really weren't a lot of people in that area, only traffic to contend with.

as i set my tripod down, and started to frame up a shot, the owner offered to turn the lights on for me. awesome. thanks, i think it looked better with them on. kinda kicking myself that i didn't shoot the details of the airbrushing on the fenders and tank. flaming skulls are always fun. and love the rearview mirrors held by skeletal arms and hands.

now if the headlights had been on, and it was a wee bit darker, that could have really been cool.

i think i made a car wait while i finished my shots of this one, my ass hanging out in the drive lane, but i think it was worth his aggravation.

frisco's

made it out to frisco's yesterday. worked from home friday afternoon, so didn't get stuck in hellish traffic, so i wasn't too tired. better half got home, and after about forty-five minutes, got him out the door, and we were there about five fifteen or so.

wanted to get there early as possible, since it had been shut down by eight the first time. some guy told me they hadn't pulled a permit, and made friends with the nearby shops. said it got out of control, people double parking, drinking, etc. somebody turned off the lights in the parking lot about eight, and the cops came around and made everyone leave.

figured i'd get my shots and be gone before that, before too many people got in the way, before the light faded. i used to go to bob's big boy, and be shooting in the dark, long exposures. fewer people walking through the shot.

well, that guy also told me that there was nothing else really going on for a friday night, so no worries, there would be plenty of cars to show up.

he was right.

got a lot of pictures in before the real crowds showed up. and even then it was fun. i could see how it could make the officials nervous. better half said cops and firemen were at the dj booth threatening them for all the code violations happening. it was dark by then, about eight. too many people, and lots of cars showing up and moving through the aisles, looking for parking.

lost sight of my better half. had to call him on the phone. music was loud, but fortunately, he's taken to wearing wireless headphones when he goes to shows with me. somehow they play from his phone, so when i call, he hears it in his headphones.

---

i'll just post this shot, not only because i love the cars that parked in front of it, but as a shout out to frisco's and thee unknowns car club. thanks for being host to the show. hoping they'll have more there. haven't heard that they shut it down, so one can only hope.

if only the thirty-nine had kept the wings folded down.

cry baby

1948 chevrolet fleetline

pretty little fleetline. passed it by early on, because these kids were busy posing in front of it. waited a bit, but they took too long, and there were plenty of other cars to shoot.

right after the mom finished with her picture, the kid on the right started to cry. not sure why. didn't see the older kids pick on him or anything. he sucked it in pretty quick, but i saw it. tough times when you're young.

came back around to shoot it on the way out. there was some dude passed out asleep inside, mouth hanging open, head up against the side. some other dude was taking a picture of that, but it seemed a little rude to me, so i settled for just the car.

living daylights

fleetmaster

saw this car with the lights still on, past sunrise, and the light coming up quickly, but the parking lot lights were still on. the sky was overcast, so i guess that fooled the sensors in the lamps.

wished it was a bit darker, a little more foggier, more atmospheric. would have got that warm spray of light intersecting with the wisps of fog.

better half says i have the power to make it so...i know photoshop. only, it wasn't like that when i saw it. i could darken the picture, kick the shit out of the pixels, add some fake smoke, but nah. if was going through the trouble of all that, i might as well be the guy masking out the car and having it fly through space, with george jetson giggling like a school girl behind the wheel. and a trail of stars flying out the tail pipes.

i like it just the way i found it, thank you very much.

bunny ears

1954 chevrolet

so it's easter sunday. closest thing i could find to an easter bunny in my recent files. the trees kinda look like bunny ears, right?

can't control the backgrounds in a picture. shoot them where you find them, and this happened to be here. nice car, an interesting, but unfortunate backdrop. i guess i need to follow the same rules as you should when shooting pics of people...watch for things sprouting from the head...eh, fuck the rules.

took a walk up greenleaf this morning, then stopped at the whittier cinemas on the way back. skipped the long ass lines for superman vs batman, and watched a chick flik, big greek wedding 2. it was neither great nor sucked; it just was. was a continuation in the life of, and not all that suprising a story. even room for another movie if they are in search of more money.

ate too much popcorn, and the coke at the front counter was flat, but the refills from the concession stand in the back hall, were much better and bubblier. now not hungry for lunch.

as usual, i'm seeing classic cars drive by, out the window, while i work. say it in a whisper, a la the sixth sense, "i see old cars..." they aren't dead, but very much alive. my own personal car parade, just past the window.

i think we'll go back out for another walk uptown for lunch now. hope to see a few more cars before dark.

wings and a prayer

1959 chevrolet impala

came across this impala in the midst of things. i just love the back of these cars, and usually don't pass up the opportunity to take a shot.

usually, i pull in close, up and under those fins. i did that with this one too, but just didn't get an angle i liked. this picture, pulled back a bit, still showed the curves that i want, and gives it a sense of it's place in the world, the variety of makes and years represented at the show.

is it my eyes, or does it still look a little dark? maybe it's my monitor.