hell week

i am glad the week is over. hope the next one isn't so busy. i'm so tired.

started off last friday driving a big ass diesel moving truck. moving the last bits of my life's debris outta my house. you know it's a weird thing to be in a house still full of furniture from your past life, but your personal debris is out. almost like the house is somehow deflated and sad. still my house, but now my son lives there. while he goes to law school.

figured i'd save on paying a mortgage and his rent by moving him in there for a few years. and hey, a unique idea: i'll move in full-time with my better half. married almost five years now, might as well see how much of me he can take. lol.

was fun driving the big ass truck on the freeway. pretty much had to just go for it, once i decided not to stay on surface streets. really hated that this truck had the steering wheel that was more horizontal than vertical, like a car. didn't like feeling like i was driving on the disneyland teacups at 70 mph.

the rest of the week was spent doing several 11 and 12 hour days at work for some annual tradeshow coming up in another week. interesting to see how many people wait until the last minute to decide they need brochures and datasheets.

oh, and then following one of said long days, went to the oc fair for several more hours to listen to the judges walk around and expound on their reasoning behind how they picked images they liked. almost like being back in college, listening to the professors babble on about technique and vision and bullshit.

the group i was in never did get around to where my images were, but i gathered enough to know that someone of them thought enough of one of my pictures that they gave it a ribbon. kind of an atta boy. close but no cigar. my better half likes to break down the odds of entering and even getting stuff selected for display, and so on, so it's ok.

someone even filled out an interest in purchase card. ya, he's interested in the picture, but doesn't really want to pay that much. he also wants me to shoot his car. told him we'll be at the show in uptown whittier next month, so maybe we'll see him there.

anyway, i've been bleeding out money this month, so it's looking like vacation won't be anywhere exotic this year. and that's still several months away. i so need one too. maybe we can sneak away for a long weekend, but we're both so busy, i doubt that will happen either.

looking at the list of car shows, thinking about going to some show in san fernando tomorrow. might as well go to magic mountain as long as i'm up there. i do have other stuff i gotta do, so maybe i'll just end up squeezing in lakewood in the evening instead.

ugh.

sky's the limit

tony, tony, tony...look what i had to shoot because you weren't there. well, some other time.

anyway, i went to the show at spires, then over to the broiler. it does feel good to be up and about after sitting all day. of course, both shows had more cars driving in at the same time i've packed up to leave. but i had to get home, so i'll take the sweet bits that were there.

didn't realize it's gotten so late, so i best be off. probably won't post again for a few days...gotta do some packing to get the last boxes out of the house.

zoot suiter

quick post. this one belongs to angel's friend. said he's new in town, or else it was that'd he'd just moved back after many years...can't quite recall. always love the cars with hood ornaments, even when they're quite simple like this one. the car is quite nice too.

killing time

i had gone to ruby's this evening, expecting to take some pictures of a certain betatted aquaintance's car. well, he had said he hoped to see me there. i arrived a bit earlier than i'd told him, but had waited until a bit later than i said i'd be there at the latest.

well, to kill time, i did what i'd do anyway, and went up and down the three or so aisles of cars, shooting as i went. i suppose many people are still away on the theoretical holiday weekend, so a lot of the regulars were not there. i consoled myself with some cars like this buick. well, you know, when you gotta, you gotta. (da vida baby)

after making the full circuit, i hid in the shade for a bit, while my better half went off with my (our) macro lens to shoot hood ornaments. he always vows to keep the lens for himself when he reluctantly hands it back. i guess it takes really awesome pictures when slapped up front of his big ass camera.

when he returned, i went through the aisles one more time, looking for said betatted man and his car, but no luck. if was going to be there, it was going to be after i left. maybe he'll be at the broiler on wednesday...

uplifting

took this one back at the beginning of the year in el toro. not too many cars almost every time i'd stop. but i do try to at least take one, so my time has not been wasted.

the owner found me down here shooting the back end of the car. well, it is the more interesting view on these. the hood had been open anyway. but he did go round and close it for me. i took a few different angles. better angles had extraneous cars and hoods in them, which i did not like so well. i liked the sky in this one, so it will do. i did particularly like one from the front, the reflection on the hood, but it is otherwise unremarkable, so i'll keep it tucked away for now.

considering going to disneyland to see the fireworks, but not feeling up to the crowds just now. i think i'll pack it in early and skip the celebrations. but you all have a good time, and be safe.

cool riv

yeah, i don't usually shoot many models older than the early '60s, but every once in a while, i yearn for something different. this one was quite lovely, in spite of it's simplicity.

so angel tells me the other day (that's his name, not one of the filmy wing-ed ones), that the lot at the broiler was actually very full, even all the way out in the back lot. oh, stick the knife in and twist...i couldn't go to the show that evening due to other commitments. i've been lamenting how empty it's been the last few months. and tomorrow is the 4th of july, so suckage, no one will be there.

skull obsession

quick stop at lakewood fuddruckers today. was quite hot, and i arrived later then i have in the past. lots of cars, but a lot of open hoods. so i focused on the few cars i really liked.

this was probably the most spectacular chevy i've seen in a while. there were little skulls on almost every little appendage hanging up off the car and everywhere on the dashboard.

anyway, i believe the owner of the car was standing off to the side, out of the shot, watching closely. but then, he also followed me over to watch me shoot an old '46 olds, where he did get in the shot. i suppose he was just someone curious as to what the hell i was doing, but too shy to ask the usual question about magazines. no, sir, i don't.

shady lady

haven't seen this truck since last year, when they used to have a show at chubby's in anaheim. i'd shot it on several visits there, and the last time i'd seen the owner he was interested in buying a print. but the day i showed up with an 8x10, he'd just put new wheels on it, and now it didn't match the picture, so he didn't want it. oh well, another for my book.

so here i saw it at angelos, another show i hadn't been to since last year. never well attended, at least the handful of times i'd stopped, i had hopes there would be more since the show further up the street has been cancelled. saw the truck, and a couple of other guys by it, but not the owner i remembered. wondered if he was inside having dinner, or if he'd sold the truck. the guys by the truck didn't say anything, and just sat talking to each other in spanish.

as i was finishing up with a few shots, the owner did emerge from the restaurant, and come over to say hello. yes, i remembered him and his truck. i always remember the car. mostly i remember the owners if they've taken the moment to say hello or make a comment.

i liked that the truck was parked here on the end of the row, actually not a real parking spot. i did not like that he parked here under a tree, when the shade sucks the intensity and richness of the color out of a car. but i shoot it as i find it, so fiddle dee dee.

and as far as yesterday's drama with my pictures, the problem was resolved. my favorite framer took care of it, whereby i dropped off the pictures at 6am. he had them redone by 10am. i dropped them off at the fairgrounds before 11am. i did mention the ambiguity in the wording of the rules to one of the judge types accepting entries at the tables. he said he thought they'd clarified it better, but apparently not enough. i gotta do something nice for my framer, who busted his ass to help me, though he reassured me that they would have been fine as they were.

i think i'll cry now

so i had good news. i had entered a few pictures into the orange county fair, and they selected four of them for the competition. had them printed up nice, arranged for the framing, picked them up on wednesday...they're due tomorrow.

was just putting the labels on the back and decided to measure them; there is a size limit. they're one inch too wide with the frame!!! they'll get disqualified at the door if they happen to measure them. EFFFFF!!!

anyway, i've got a frantic email sent off to the framer, hoping i can bring them in first thing and he can chop them down in time. otherwise, i'll be very unhappy, at the very least, and may come down with a case of tourettes.

<sigh> oh hell, i don't know what to say. i'll just post this picture, take a hot shower, and go to bed. nothing i can do right now...

damnit damnit damnit...see, it's already started...

which way to in-and-out?

another weird summer here in so cal. when i was a kid, it would be hotter than h-e-double hockey sticks by may. the last few summers have been relatively mild, compared to the rest of the country. it's almost july, and really, i've had to drive all the way to riverside to find some real heat.

this one was a couple of weeks ago, overcast, but not raining. can't remember if the gloom burned off in the afternoon or not. great weather for shooting cars without harsh shadows. only spent an hour here before going into work on a sunday afternoon.

didn't notice at the time, but i like how i caught the reflection of nearby palm trees on the car. makes me think of the drink cups at in-n-out, with the little palm trees, and i almost want to look under the car for the john 3:16 they hide on the bottom rim of the cups.