what's up?

say uncle

1952 pontiac

i'd never seen this pontiac at any of the shows i've gone to. knew other cars would get in the way soon enough, and so i took a few shots while the owner was still polishing it. i do that sometimes, just shoot low, from the opposite side they are working on. if you're low enough, it doesn't matter if they stand up.

owner was telling my better half, later in the morning, that he had gotten the car from his uncle when he passed. i think the uncle had told the owner as he was growing up, that he would leave the car to him when he died. he said his uncle retired from his job not so very long ago, and passed only a few months later, and kept that promise.

it's a beautiful car, i thought.

still visiting the east coast, but apparently keeping west coast time. sleeping in late / staying up late. kinda screws up finding dinner when a lot of places are closed in the city. fortunately, there is a very tasty pizza joint less than a block away, a la pieology but not, open late.

no set plans, since i grew up not too far away, and we seem to vacation here in dc once a year. it has rained off and on the past couple of days, but i love it. today and the next couple will be in the eighties and sunny.

talked my better half to getting out of town, took the metro out to old town alexandria, rode a free trolley down the main street to the waterfront. walked around the artists' colony at an old torpedo factory, then walked up the street a bit to find food. seemed to be food of all kinds to choose from, but just settled on seafood. it was good, we ate too much, and were too full to even use the two for one coupon at ben and jerry's in the tourist guidebook. oh well.

decided to take a water taxi back over to georgetown. this one ran a recorded soundtrack babbling on about various buildings and historical points of interest along the way. mostly my better half stood at the front of the boat taking pictures of airplanes overhead, flying in and out of reagan national airport, which has a landing strip right damn next to the river, so no pressure on pilots to touch down on pavement and not water. must be fun in winter, when the snow and wind freezes the river and ices the runway.

landed the boat in georgetown, and took a ten minute walk back around the watergate hotel and through georgetown university, to the foggy bottom metro station. back to the hotel to dump our cameras and chill for a bit.

then to end the day, took the metro out to nationals stadium, to watch them play the mets. down inside the metro station, the sheer number of people passing through as game time gets closer, is monitored by some seriously grim anti-terrorist security guys, with bomb sniffing dogs, and dudes carrying m-16s. the station is just outside the park...when you come up from the underground station, there's the stadium.

we run the gauntlet of people selling counterfit team logo crap, scalpers looking to buy tickets, homeless people asking for money. we needed tickets, and there was a line of about twenty people at the main windows, but my better half went around the corner, to what appears to be will call, but were actually just additional ticket windows, and had no wait at all.

we like to sit up at the very top rows of seating, up behind home plate, those were sold out, so we were up just off center on the third base side. that side is shaded from the setting sun for an evening game, and up top, you get a breeze coming up off the river, which is also a few blocks away.

it was a good game, several homeruns were hit, and the home team won 7-4.

the stampede back down to the metro feels like cattle into the chute. they need people whose job would be to jam as many people as possible into the train so the doors can close, packed like sardines.

anyway, a few more days to go. no idea what we'll do each day until we go out the door. and that's just the way we like it.

trippin'

1948 chevrolet stylemaster panel truck

saw this chevy panel truck at the duke's display at relay for life. this was one i shot fairly early after arriving.

i passed by later, and the owner lowered it down, and leveled it out, but there were more cars, pop ups and people to contend with, so those. shots are just ok, but not my favorites.

so we're finally taking one of those elusive/dreaded things--a vacation. and of course, it's all been a little bit off since it started yesterday.

been busy all month at work, leading up to it. worked late on thursday, trying to get the big stuff mostly done, to spare coworkers a lot of pain. that forced me to stay down at my mom's for the night, instead of packing, etc., as i had planned. then worked at the office in the morning, and raced home at lunch time to work four more hours from there, to finish out the clock, and miss friday traffic. did my time, and got packing.

better half worked at home all day, and had also been working like crazy before the trip. he didn't pack or get the supermarket shopping done in advance of the horde of family coming down to keep his mother company while we're gone. also means we don't get to see the two babies of the family, who are both now walking. it's a trade off.

after much running around, i got us going out the door just before eight p.m., to catch a red eye. he thought it was a bit early, but it turned out to be a good thing. traffic around lax for last mile before our exit was terrible. we had to drop off the car and catch one of the shuttles to our terminal. the shuttle took it's sweet time getting to the garage, but we still ended up with the recommended couple of hours to spare.

enjoyed the airline pilot on the shuttle ride from the garage to his flight, entertaining the captive audience with historical knowledge, as well as hitting on a random travel agent headed to new york.

checked the bags, got through security fairly quickly. didn't even have to remove our shoes, which is a plus, because i don't even want to think about what the sticky stuff on that linoleum is every other time we've had to go through security. just no.

had about an hour until boarding, and started noticing delay times dominoeing through flights ahead of ours. our crew was on a delayed flight coming from san fran. ultimately, we were listed as the last flight out, leaving at one a.m.

then came the announcement that the flight had been cancelled, due to the crew being timed out on their shift or one of them not feeling well...depends on who you wanted to believe. that was followed by the mad rush to the counter for rebooking. briefly thought of just heading home, but then they put us up in a hotel, to get a few hours' sleep--it was two-fifteen a.m. by then--before we had to be back at seven.

we'd settled on a one-stop trip, instead of the direct to the east coast, which would have meant just sleeping in the terminal. so i'm sitting here in san fran typing away, waiting for our connecting flight, while my better half is getting his ya-yas out, geeking out watching planes and shooting a time lapse of the runway and the really awesome clouds.

father and son

1951 mercury and 1950 ford

1951 mercury

putting up a few shots of these two cars, since the kid asked. well, he asked my better half, and then i got the email.

i like the idea of the nose to nose shot, but i'm not so sure my wide angle lens does them justice. just couldn't get up high enough. maybe next time i should climb on top of another car or truck.

not sure if these are works in progress or if this is it. better half said the headlights are really meant for motorcycles is what i think they told him. whatever they are, the headlights on the black one had small red lights around them and they made the grille glow red.

black one belongs to the dad, the other to the kid. nice to share the same interest, and to pass your knowledge on to the next generation.

for life

1937 dodge1937 dodge1937 dodge hood ornamentgot my better half up and out of bed by six yesteday. he really had wanted to go to ruby's on friday night, but after a second evening with a two and a half hour drive home from work, i was just not in the mood for it anymore. traffic sucks, and surface streets didn't help much either gotta make a deal with the boss, so i can just work from home on friday afternoons, at least.

my point being, he had gotten his shit together, and rigged up his little screen and rollie rig, and had been ready to go the night before, so it wasn't too difficult to get packed up early on saturday to go to the show over at la mirada rec center, by city hall. he had been hoping to shoot some video at rubys, and was going to give it a try at this duke's show, since i told him it was on pavement.

it's fairly nearby, so we were there about six-thirty. i'd gone the year before, so already knew where i wanted to park. couldn't see anything going on, so we left our stuff in the car and walked over to see if anyone was there. it was a relay for life event, so i expected to see more people, but i guess all of those volunteers were inside, near the pool.

we did see a line of dukes cars sitting there, so went back and got our gear.

last year, it rained off and on, and was in the other parking lot. this year was overcast, cool, and in the bigger lot. they roped off an area that i heard held about two-hundred and ninety spaces. i think by the time we left for lunch, there was maybe half that of the show cars, but the majority were the kind we like.

i haven't been out shooting much, so it was nice to have a perfect day for shooting, without the sun and heat. i always remark how tired i am all week, sitting on my ass at a computer, but give me a car show, and i can spend a good six hours walking around, crouching up and down, and be happy as can be. don't even feel too sore after, though my ankles to get a bit stiff if i sit too long, but that probably has more to do with my shoes than anything else. and it really tells me i need to get off my ass and move more often, and burn off some of this gut that seems to be sticking to me, the older i get.

anyway, it was a well organized show, and quite a few guys came over to chat with me. all very nice people. it was really good to see lots of clubs interacting, though there were a one or two, whose members just sat in a huddle watching, and frowning, and i guess, hanging tough. i'm sure i gave back my best resting bitch face, which is apparently my default look anyway. i think i didn't bother with their cars, hood was up and the other, nah, i just didn't need their pop up in the shot.

talked to a guy who told me a long story about how this dodge used to be his car, but events in his life forced him to sell it. at least he sold it to someone he knew very well, a guy he helped to raise, i think he said, so he knew it was in good hands. still, it must hurt a little to be so near, yet so far from something you loved.

it's a nice car. seen it before, and it's probably up here somewhere else, if i bother to look.

wasn't a whole lot available food wise this year, so since we hadn't eaten breakfast, called it a day around twelve-thirty, before our headaches got too unbearable...

reflections of love

1948 chevy fleetline

so last night i was playing with my pictures, trying to decide what to post next. nothing was really jumping out at me, and the few more that i've promised to post if i got a good shot, just weren't grabbing my attention. they're ok, but more of a weekend job, not something to stay up late working on.

i narrowed it down to a couple from chicano park. started messing with both. it was late, and decided this one would be a quicker study.

fleetline, one of my all time favorite cars. i'll shoot them happily all day, thank you very much.

i liked the reflection of the car next to this one.

double whammy

1949 desoto

it happens every once in a while. that one day of the year. it's mother's day—and it's my birthday. sort of the same dilemma as the kid born christmas day. and the double hassle of trying to take/be taken out to dinner...ya, good luck with that.

i'm not big on birthdays. i don't care about the number. i just don't like the attention. and i don't need anything that i don't already have. besides, i have no place to put anything. whatever. game of thrones is on tonight, and it may rain, so there are my gifts.

i've spent the morning sifting through pictures, trying to decide what to enter in the fair this year. i've narrowed it down to about twenty so far. letting my better half have his vote, as usual, then i'll go ahead and enter what i think is good, but you can never tell what the judges will like.

i don't think i will enter as many as i usually do. aside from the entry fees, if they pick a bunch to hang at the fair, then i have to get them framed, and then after, i end up with a lot of pictures, and not enough wall space. i'm thinking i'll set up a page to sell some of the framed pictures from past fairs—they do no one any good sitting in storage.

anyway, my alarm just went off, to go pack up and head down to meet my kid for dinner, and a game of thrones viewing party. i'll just put up this shot from a desoto wagon we came across in buellton last month.

l-e-d, you and me

harley davidson heritage softail

haven't decided if these lights on bikes add or subtract from the overall look of the bike. this one is already blinged out with etched chrome and airbrushing.

i shot it earlier, just after we arrived. the owners moved out of the shot then. i like those shots, with the clouds in the sky, from a low angle.

i found it again, just before i packed up my gear, in the evening, sun setting, sky colors changing. mostly it was the sky i wanted. i guess the red glow is ok. 

i guess the owner was too tired by then to move his chair this time, as well as there being other bikes in the same space. also, there were more people crowded around to look at the bikes this late, making it more difficult to find a good angle to shoot my longer exposures, and not get them smearing through the shots.

goldie lox

1940 plymouth

at my parents' house. they're outta town at a mini family reunion. all my dad's sibs in one place, probably for the last time...it's a good thing. my brothers are there too, maybe to keep the peace, i don't know.

they're all getting old, and don't travel well. at least i know how my old people grumbled as i dropped them off at the airport. my mom would have preferred not going, or maybe a roadtrip, but then my dad would have fallen asleep at the wheel, and taken them both out. i'd really prefer to take his keys away now, even for local trips, but we'd have to pry the keys from his fingers.

mostly, he's fine. it's keeping him away from costco that'd be preferrable just now. no two people need that much food on hand that often, especially stuff that is sold in twenty-four packs and ripe right now. mostly i think he forgets that he already went shopping.

back to my point, i'm here, watching the house, feeding a turtle that is apparently not hungry and sleeping somewhere in the backyard, and an ancient bird who hates everyone that isn't my mom. it's also sort of creepy being alone in this house i grew up in. i just don't live here anymore, so i am not used to the sounds it makes. and there has been someone calling and not leaving messages all day, who also hung up on me when i did answer. probably just a telemarketer, because they're a-holes that way.

i also half expect my kid to sneak in and scare the shit out of me, since he also has a key. he used to do that to my mom, until i pointed out that he was going to literally give her a heart attack. he felt bad and stopped doing that at least. i'm tired, but don't want to turn the light off...little kid in an old bod.

there are several beds to choose from, one that's too hard, one that's too soft, and a couple that fred flintstone would have been happy to sleep on, until i bought them thick foam mattress pads to ease guests' suffering, most often that being me.

anyway, one more day and they'll be home. i'll probably miss ruby's season opener car show tomorrow, but my better half may go just to send me pics of what i'm missing. it's raining here right now, and probably tomorrow, so maybe the show will start next week, if the clouds head to whittier...

such a busy month ahead for me, i will just have to endure it, and fit in a couple of weekend shows as i can.

i've seen this plymouth before, in previous years at chicano park. people mostly shoot it from the other side, and from the front. i got that shot too. but i am hoping to see things a little different, so here's a shot from the back. i need to post some cars from other areas of the show, than just by a mural wall. the cars are interesting on their own, without the added prop of the art. that is, unless it's more about the location and the car is incidental to the scene...

now i'm just rambling, and i should get some sleep. i'm sufficiently tired enough to not give a rat's ass if the bogey man showed up.

under the bridge

1959 chevrolet impala

one of the joys of arriving way too early to a show, is the line-up or staging area for the cars. when there are no reserved spots involved, or they are there to claim areas for their club members, being first in line has its advantages.

there are always cars in the street that leads to the entrance onto the grass at chicano park. they let vendors in way earlier than anyone else. so cars are parked, and owners are out socializing or sleeping in the car. often kids are bouncing around inside the car, parents keeping an eye on them from nearby.

i think there were some young girls in this one, but i'm low enough you can't see them, unless they were right in or hanging out of the windows.

my better half spoke to the owner, said i'd be more likely to post a picture of it in this decade than he would, though i think he has actually posted a couple of shots in the last couple of months. quite the increase of one a year for the last few. he's been a bit busy taking care of his mom, but she's been a lot healthier, so he has relaxed a bit more. he's been going to more shows with me, experimenting with his various lenses and camera setups. more fun than just being my bag boy, i hope.

©2025 kathy gonzalez