what's up?

may day, may day

posting this truck for the owner, who came over and talked with me. seeing the plaque on the truck, i asked if he ever goes to the show at san fernando high school. he said his club hosts it, so yeah, i guess he does.

he drove a long way to be in this show. i think it was worth it. so many great cars. perfect day; only reason we left was that so many people arrived to see the cars, they were just getting in the shots, and we were afraid they'd trip on the tripod legs or knock the camera over.

i guess we could have just walked around and shot hand-held with the macro lens, just hunting down hood ornaments. i took sixty-three gigabytes of pictures, so, i have enough to keep me happy for a while. better half had already packed up his bag, and though he said he was happy to follow me around with the bags, i decided we should just go.

chatty kathy

1937 plymouth

made it out to the los angeles bombs' car show at the speed zone on friday. good thing we got there early...parking was hard to come by later on in the evening.

good thing we got a lot of shots in before too many people showed up. the more crowded it got, the more time it took to shoot between the crowds of people, or the people that don't notice and walk between the camera and the car. it happens. have to go zen, or just count to ten, before giving up and moving on to another car.

i was shooting this plymouth soon after we arrived. then the owner and his friend came over, the friend saying my name. he had remembered me from the unidos show the previous year—they had both chatted me up there. i remembered him instantly, when he mentioned the high school—i'd taken a picture of the friend's car.

spent a long time talking with them again. learned about a couple of car shows coming up, that the friend's son had somehow broken a braket on his car with a garage door, so didn't have it at the show. talked photography, of course, and all sorts of other things. a really rambling convo, but fun and interesting.

better half happened to walk up about that time and joined in. the more the merrier.

told the plymouth owner i'd post a shot of his car, if i got one i liked. problem with the earlier shots was that they both kept walking into the frame, the owner getting stuff from the car, the friend directing the owner on how to turn the wheel just so, so it would look good from the angle i was shooting at that particular moment.

i did manage to get a shot or two without them in it, but i like this one from later, when they were no where in sight. it's all good. i just have to chuckle sometimes.

if laughter is the best medicine, then my better half and myself are the healthiest people around.

fetal

1951 chevy truck

found this truck tucked up under one of the supports leading to the bridge to coronado, at least i think it is. had just finished taking a picture of a fifty-nine impala, turned, and decided to take this one too. just liked where it was, and the surrounding mural and lines of the overpass.

posting only because when i was done, the owner thanked me and that was all. maybe he already knew who i was, maybe not. and i've forgotten what club it was with, so i can't even give a shout out to them either.

hopefully someone will mention the picture is up here to him...they always seem to find them online eventually.

so many more pictures from that day, i am having a difficult time deciding which to post. better half shakes his head, saying something to the effect of it being a tough position to be in.

might as well begin with the few for those people that spoke to me, as usual. then fret that another show is coming right up, and there will be a whole bunch more to sift through. oh well.

overcast here, typing at lunch, in the corner of a little café, quietly trying to become invisible. i hope it rains. i'm just in a mood for it... i want to splash barefoot in puddles like i used to, squish mud between my toes; i want to hide under the covers, and listen to it pattering on the roof.

this particular morning

hudson

at my kid's house tonight. made a batch of cookies...i wanted the dough.

the chicano park show this year, made up for the low turn out last year. last year, it threatened to rain, and many cars stayed away.

this day was almost as perfect as you could wish. not too cold, and overcast and/or cloudy most of the morning. then blue skies cutting through here and there, until it dominated, and the sun burned through, and the wind blew the clouds away.

and the cars. so many cars. every type i could wish for in one place.

we got there, as usual, after five, still dark out. shot cars that were lined up, until roll in. then headed across the park, to the street, to the patch of grass next to the freeway on-ramp. that's klique territory. they park over there every year.

first car that caught my eye, was this hudson. the owner--a woman, btw--was busy polishing it, so i went on to shoot another car.

came back around ten minutes later, only to find her still busy rubbing that paint to a crystal finish. i decided to shoot it anyway, as the sun was rising behind me and hitting the car with a warm glow. had to snap my shots as the woman was around on the opposite side of the car. tried to take it everytime she leaned down, out of view.

what was bugging me, and ruining that shot, was that there was a big box of a transformer or other equipment on the lawn behind me a bit, to my left, so, with the sun rising behind that, there's an odd boxy shadow across part of the car.

following the advice of some famous photographer, whose classes i've sat through, i decided to look the other way, and take the shot from the side you see here. the thing of it was, the car is parked next to the beginning of the uphill ramp to the walkway over the freeway. so i'm bent over in that small angle space underneath the ramp, with my tripod, to get this shot, while the owner has now moved to the other side of the car again, still polishing and shining.

i have another picture i like a little better than this shot, from the other morning at chicano park. almost the same shot, but just a few minutes earlier. in that one, there's the sun, blazing sun rays, framed in that little gap on the right. the sky is more colorful, the car gorgeous still, even with one sun flare blemish on the car.

the one little thing that ruins it, or makes it, depending on your point of view, is my better half and his tripod, as graceful as a giraffe at a watering hole, fiddling with his camera on the other side of the car, stage left. he's trying to get his shot too; i wonder if he got my sorry ass in his picture.

i passed it later in the day, after the sun was full up and the light hitting the car had changed, but the hood and trunk were up, and that was that.

better half says he read an article about the owner, who said she had wanted to join the klique club, but they said no, it's for men only. the dukes accepted her and that car...good on them. win-win for both. i hope she won-won.

training

chevy

on the train, heading home from a weekend in san diego. chicano park was awesome this year. i took so many pictures.

even went to a baseball game.

there's a guy from klique riverside on the train too. wearing his shirt, representin'.

someone from klique sd sold my kid a car a few weeks ago. coincidence. that guy showed my kid other cars he was working on, but my kid isn't familiar with the classic cars, so he just mentioned that his mom would be all about it. i had to smile, and agree that their cars are pretty nice.

but i'm not home yet, so those. shots will have to wait. summer coming up, shows to go to, and i fall behind on posting stuff i promised to post. so when i get home, i can be good, and get back to those from the last show, or should i give in to the fun of a new batch of pictures to play with?

and only have this one ready for now. from legg lake, quick pic before the rain started and we bailed. better half got a better shot of the car, if i remember right. it was the first car he shot when we got there.

rocking the 'patina.' shooting the hood from this angle, usually because the surrounding cars have their hoods up, and/or the background is distracting. in this case, it was because the aged crustiness of this car is just so fun to look at.

another hour to go, then let the downloading begin. :)

des uno

1955 desoto firedome

at my mom's again. one more day of work, then catching a train to san diego, and hitting chicano park on saturday. wonder if the padres are in town...?

another car from the unexpected car show in buellton. one three lovelies at the entrance to the lot. all three had their hoods up. i spent time shooting some of the details, and hoping...

there was an old guy with a camera, kicking back in the grass, in the shade of a tree, near a fifty-nine desoto i was shooting. he said he'd taken a picture of every car there, except those last three. he was just waiting too. said he'd taken meticulous notes about each car too.

i guess my better half had been talking to some people and must have mentioned my preference for hoods down. soon, a guy strolled over and shut all three. one was his; i assume he's on friendly terms with the other two owners.

so, yay, i got pics of these three two, before people started driving away.

and the slamming hoods, also woke up the old photographer. he showed up about five minutes later.

happenstance

1935 chrysler elite airflow

my better half and i went up to solvang for the weekend. it's kind of a boring place, when you're not a wine drinker. but they do have good danish pastries, and we relaxed in a jacuzzi for a while. apparently, he heard i was stressed out at work, thought i could use time off.

nothing but overpriced shops in town, so saturday, we took off to go check out the other mission, the one outside of town, la purisma. state runs it, and it has been fixed up, unlike all the other missions in the california chain, that are dilapidated and still owned by the church.

we'd been there before, and figured, it would be something different to do, and to take pictures of. i guess we were there for an hour or so. the day got hot, and my head started to hurt. and there were so many bugs, probably due to the tractor cutting the grass in the field. birds were having a 'field' day then.

i just needed a swig of water, and it was past lunch time, so we packed it up, and started back to the town. idyllic grass-covered hills. sixty-five mile an hour speed limit, so we were cruising.

closer to town, speed limit changed to forty-five. out the corner of my eye, i saw a small sign, that said, simply, "car show," low to the ground.

i didn't exactly skid, but made a quick decision, and took the next right pretty quick. i can safely say, my stupid car handles a bit better, than my better half's astro van.

anyway, we wound through a little neighborhood, and came upon a park, and figured maybe there, would be a car show. turning in the drive, spotted this car first, and we both giggled. my better half says i have an amazing ability to find random car shows, anywhere i might be.

i was not expecting a car show this weekend. knowing i was running short of time...better half was already telling me i needed to eat...we started taking pictures right away.

someone told my better half they were going to be ending the show within a half an hour. told him they'd done everything proper, filed with the chamber of commerce, pulled permits; they were promised advertising. all they got was that little sign. no one showed up to see the cars. ended up being a club meet-up. one car from san diego, others from northern california.

someone else wondered if we'd been to the show out in lompoc? no, didn't know about that or we would have skipped the mission--would have skipped the mission, if we'd noticed the sign on the way out there.

small number of extraordinary cars. it was actually a desoto club, but there were a few chryslers mixed in. i suspect chrysler was part of desoto or was it the other way around, at some point?

posting this one, since it was unlike any of the others, though, all of them there were quite unique, a sample of rare cars, covering the nineteen thirties through sixty.

promised to show a few here, if there were any good shots. so give me a few days.

back to work tomorrow...

not a rainy day

1939 chevy master deluxe

at my mom's tonight, after a long day. was so tired when i got here, took a three hour nap, and only woke up because the obnoxious house phone rang.

this picture has just been sitting here, waiting in post purgatory; might as well put it up. definitely, not another dramatic sky...

from the new year's day show at the dam, just another fine master deluxe, under a blue, california sky.

probably going to miss pomona this weekend. other plans keeping us busy.

sky is the limit

1957 ford fairlane

looking forward to a weekend in san diego, and the chicano park car show. still a week and a half away...can't get here soon enough.

it's been a tough few weeks at work, with one of the other designers off on a three week vacation. i was stressed out yesterday, with all the deadlines piling up, and just trying to prioritize which were real and which could slip a bit. just got a bit paralyzed for a bit while deciding. boss came by just as a rush request came in by email, and let's just say for someone who is typically very quiet, i might have had a small cow, man.

he checked on me again in the afternoon, and asked if i needed to go home and basically chill. thoughts of getting a punching bag in the office crossed my mind, or one of those inflatable clowns that really only last for one swift kick before they pop, with the sandbag flying. that' a good sign it's time to plan my own vacation.

maybe tomorrow my better half and i can just pull a destination out of a hat, since both of us, are overworked, and anywhere together would be good.

someone commented on my flickr site that it was about time i posted something besides a chevy. but how could i not? this ford, with this sky, just had to shoot it. but really, i shoot more than just chevys; what gets posted is whatever appeals to me on any particular day.

if someone tells me story about a car, i'll retell it in a post, usually not as well as i was told. my memory eludes me, if i don't take notes or post it that night. or if they ask to see a picture of their car, i highlight it in my files, and try to get one up fairly soon.

and the rest of them, that i post, are just for me, because they make me happy, and they make my better half go, "dam...why didn't i see that one?"

where the sun shines

1963 cadillac

we did leave chino just as it started to sprinkle. weather app said whittier rain wasn't expected for another couple of hours, so we decided we'd circle back over to legg lake, and see if anything showed up for that rain or shine picnic.

los boulevardos cruises usually bring in a lot of cars we love to shoot. after paying the six dollar entry fee, we hoped to find a few cars before the rain came back. our lenses aren't waterproof, and more than a light sprinkle ends our fun.

drove in the opposite entrance from the one we usually take, and could not see the parking lot that the cars usually park at from there. driving around the curve, my better half spied at least a few, so yay.

only a couple of short rows of cars, but enough to make the stop worth it.

almost as soon as we got out of the car, and started pulling gear from the bags, it started to sprinkle. everything back in the bags. we were standing under a tree, so we decided to wait a few minutes to see if would stop or get worse.

car owners went to the tents or to their cars for umbrellas. none drove away, for just this light rain. used my phone to shoot a couple of cars that drove in while we waited.

fortunately, it stopped, so we got moving again. sky was still pretty gray, so while my better half started at the closest cars, i headed to the other end, to work my way back. figured i could dash into the bathroom facilities to pack it up, if the rain started again.

i got a few shots i really like before it really did start raining harder. i got most of the cars i wanted to shoot, except for one black truck, that a group of guys just wouldn't move their butts from in front of the better side to shoot it from. so, skipped it. just a shiny truck anyway. just liked the reflections in the paint.

this is one of the cars we watched driving in from under the tree. managed to take it with the big camera before the rain made us leave. i liked the pinstriping on the trunk.

the bright, yet dull yellow lit up the overcast day, with just enough pop to stand out.