found nemo

so i'm getting over my cold. they've let me back in the house, but i'm staying away from my mother-in-law — not because of the stereotypical reasons; she's wonderful, but doesn't want to catch anything respiratory at her age. missed the ruby's show; was supposed to take a picture of someone's car, and didn't have any way of letting them know i wasn't going to make it besides not showing up. now there's only one left for this year. tried to get my better half to go take shots for me, but he ended up working late. hoping to hit up a car show tomorrow or the one in foothill ranch on monday, if it doesn't rain as promised.

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another member of lifestyle car club, this 1949 chevy truck was found at the whittier uptown car show back in august.

i think these guys do their own painting and pinstriping; one of the guys (the owner?) was touching up the pinstripes on this when i went by it later in the afternoon. devil in the details? nope, just little roses, down by the wheels.

sweet, swirly and fun, the curves of the car and the color theme just make me think of clown fish, but in a bad ass kind a way.

purple people eaters

i think i probably caught a cold, courtesy of my lovely neighbors seated next to and nearby me on the airplane home. really tired, so 'scuse me while i whip this out.

not one of my best shots, more of an experiment. i liked the positioning with the neon sign and the reflections on the side of the car, but i think i'd need to rethink the actual taking of a shot like this. a little rough and noisy, and not quite right, but i liked it enough to post it.

gonna go pass out now. i might be banished again from my mother-in-law's, which is where my computer is currently parked, so i might be down for a couple of days...suckage.

deliverance

well, i'm back. had an excellent week hauling myself around d.c. missed my cars though. already had missed a local car show outside of town, so of course, while cruising through museums, i was on the prowl for them.

now i have to tell you, i do hate taking pictures of cars indoors, especially at museums. same reasons i haven't bothered going to the big car shows here: too many people; artificial light and/or ugly ceiling from low points of view; limited manueverability to find the perfect shot; not allowed to use a tripod; etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

when i was a kid, we lived back behind mt. vernon, so got to visit the smithsonian museums fairly often. my dad would mostly march us to the buildings on the mall. so i had some memories of where to look. i remembered the american history museum having a hall of transportation: a vast room with 3 or 4 full-size trains of various time periods, with the associated smell of smoke and iron; and a room with lots of cars from lots of time periods.

well, its all been redone. the giant trains are gone, except one, and so was the smell. the cars were limited to about 5 or 6 models in silly dioramas, and despicable conditions for getting the shot i wanted. screw it. i got them using a small, flexible gorillapod tripod thing, but i probably will never bother posting them, i dislike them so much.

if you get farther out from the mall, you can find some interesting things. i found this old ford postal truck in the u.s. postal museum of course. i didn't catch what year. the amazing thing was that i could use a big tripod in there now — couldn't do that last year. not a lot of traffic off the beaten path. and apart from the bars to keep you off the thing, you could almost get a 270 degree choice of angle around it to shoot from, only because they have a modern truck behind it at an angle.

really was great to get away from work, but i missed posting. i'll stop boring you now with tales of my time away, since the rest has nothing to do with cars.

again

can't get enough of this car. won a trophy at this show. seems like the guy in the checkered shirt is telling a dirty joke...nice hand movement.

anyway, not much to say, not much time...been running around like crazy this evening. worked late. stuck in traffic. bailed off the freeway. slow drive to the house. no time to change out of my work clothes. pick up a print, then deliver it to the owner at ruby's. no time to take any shots at the show, only a quick walk around. then to the stupidmarket for my mother-in-law. then pick up a bite to eat. home and carry it all in the house.

why the run around? had to get home to pack my bag...heading off for a week in d.c. in the wee hours of the morning. mom and dad, take care of my house, please. don't do anything i wouldn't do...>:)

to the mattresses

here i sit, all downhearted...ah, ah, don't finish that thought. well, third day of rain in a row. everyone is so skittish when there are clouds in the sky; a whisper by someone that looks like rain can clear out a decent car show. i waited all summer for the awesome clouds out there now, but the cars mostly don't come out, even when its clear for the evening.

after work in orange county, the sun had actually come out, and the clouds were all billowy and towering into the sky. so i headed for the show at spires, off the 605. not far into los angeles county, it started to drizzle, maybe even just sprinkle. shit. bailed off the freeway and headed home.

sitting at my computer, looking out the window toward the hills, there is just a big gray smear of cloud cover. not raining at all, sunset trying real hard to make a decent show through the gaps. walked to a nearby restaurant for dinner, then back here at my puter, tweaking my pictures. trying different things, deciding which car to post.

look what they done to my boy...i'm watching the godfather movies again for the zillionth time, on my phone at lunch. lots of nice cars in the film, if you ever noticed.

i can imagine this one in the parking lot at connie's wedding, or maybe one of the cars following the don home from the emergency room, but without all the extra do-dads on it.

courtship of edsel's faja

i never saw an edsel wagon before...didn't even know they made them. so i had to get this one. apparently edsels are relegated to the outskirts of the show, as that's where i always find them, at the ends of the rows. i guess because the cadillacs where curiously missing last friday, the edsels had taken ownership of the last forlorn row of the show.

this pair were really nice. nice and shiny. just before the awards and raffle prizes were being announced, these two moved to a different spot than this one here, facing the other direction. and then the buffing began. the owner of the wagon just started buffing and dusting off that car...don't know that it could get much shinier than it already was, but maybe he just needed something to do to keep his hands busy. uhhh, nervous energy, i mean. oh, behave.

flamed trifecta

well i might as well make it a complete triumvirate of flamed vehicles with this motorcycle. i don't often bother with them, but i do make exceptions when i'm bored, or the opportunity arises for a decent shot of them.

found this one back in april at the foothill ranch show. parked near the raffle booth, and probably belonging to one of the people running it. i think it was the red glitter paint with the sun hitting it that made me take this shot. if i remember correctly, the owner even moved another bike out of the way.

flaming youth

ahhh, this is more like it. i've posted two flamers in a row, similar paint scheme, but which is better? does it matter really? they're both bitchin' cars. i wanna say this car kicks butt, but the flames on the el camino are probably better done.

my whole day blew big chunks at work, so getting a shot like this salvaged what was left of it. just sorry i missed a spectacular sunset with big toy story clouds in it...shots would have been so much more awesome.

california freeway traffic on a friday is just what i needed to get a really massive headache going – thanks knott's scary farm people! you all drive like dillweeds. and surface streets weren't doing much better; the scattered lightning strikes and sprinkles of rain had put out traffic lights here and there, which just slowed me down even more. now all i need is my computer to lock up, as it tends to do, my day will just be complete.

here's to a better tomorrow. yay for the weekend!

hot damn

i know its not my normal oldie but goodie, but sometimes i just gotta take the shot. the light was hitting the flamey goodness of the paint just right as i passed this car.

i'd already walked by it several times, and finally just had to stop and give in to temptation. if you gotta have a 70's car, might as well make it worth noticing.

hot day, hot rod

i missed the previous show at foothill ranch because i was out of town, and being they only do this one once-a-month thru october (i think), i didn't want to miss it again. turned out to be one of the hottest days of the year so far, and lack of a crowd reflected it. there were maybe about 10–12 cars, instead of the usual 20–30. half had the hoods up, and i walked right by those, which mostly were 56/57 chevys. too bad.

i only bothered shooting about 5 of the cars before sitting down in the shade to wait for it to cool off and see if anyone else was going to bother to show up. one of the organizers told me they were going to pack it up early because of the heat. don't know if they decided to hold the raffle prizes and trophies until the next show or not, because i didn't stay too long after hearing that.

anyway, whilst chillin' in the shade and packing up my gear, the owner of this '31 coupe stopped by to chat. he'd noticed me shooting his car, and was interested in what i was going to do with the pictures. gave him my card. i know he peeked at my blog, because he is one of the brave few who actually bothered to email me — thanks randy! hope you like it.