chicano graffiti

ok, one more for now from chicano park. i've been to a few other shows since, so i have a few to post in the next few days for people i talked to at those shows.

i just think this is a nice shot. sure, i like the car, but i think the archway bridge behind it just makes it more interesting. again, wish the show tag in the window were not there, or even just smaller, but i suppose it was easier to make letter-size copies than to make smaller ones and cut them up.

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hoping to get the doctor to let me out of this cyborg boot. it's been a real hassle at the car shows. i suppose if i have to wear it any longer i'll have to get creative and think up some interesting story for whatever is wrong with it.

more candy

a lifestyle car is most always a delight to the eyes. pinstripes, airbrush, candy colors seem to be their modus operandi. i walked past this one earlier. thought i'd seen it before and/or the light just wasn't hitting it right and/or it was surrounded by people.

on the last walk around this field, walking past from this direction, i had a change of heart and took this shot. i can appreciate a good paint job. and hey, look, no one paying it any attention. perfecto.

just realizing that it was the same car i saw last summer at the san fernando show. but not that surprising. nice to see it out in the open, and not crammed in with a bunch of other cars.

jesse’s girl

while wandering around the show, we passed through this group of cars. i was shooting the pinstripes on the back of this one, when the owner came over and asked what we do with the photos. so, since he seemed really interested, i took a few shots of his car, while he pointed out the finer points of the monte carlo next to it.

i liked his car. a pale yellow, with tan pinstriping, just a touch on the hood, and a little on the back end. not too much, not too little. he says their club mostly goes to the bigger shows, in several states. mentioned one coming up in laughlin, nevada next month. says it's a good show, lots of cars. i'm trying to remember how hot it gets in nevada in may. already thinking about going to vegas in september and it is usually smoldering then.

normally, i wouldn't shoot the monte carlo, but it was the details that really blew us away. etched metal on all the chromed surfaces, custom leather interior, airbrushing and pinstriping. really impressive. here are a few of the details:

yet another truck

found this one in the next field over from the last post. i think it was the oldies car club, but correct me if i'm wrong. belongs to one of the few guys that talked to me and asked me to take a picture of his truck. most people usually talk to my better half; he says i usually look too focused or serious, or even pissed for people to approach. lol. that would be the protective shell around my shyness. or i'm actually busy looking at the cars and not noticing people.

anyway, first i'll post the cars that belong to people that talked to me, then i'll post stuff i like when i like. i'll work on the other truck tomorrow, if i don't work too late.

to the guy that owns this car, if you're interested, you can go buy a print here.

a day at the park

the doctor may get mad, but i spent saturday morning hobbling around the show down in san diego at chicano park. yes, my better half helped me a lot, mostly pulling my camera bag around, but it also had a bunch of the lenses for his camera in it, so he helped both of us.

the park is literally under the bridge overpass to coronado island, and the supports are all painted with graffiti art like this one here.

didn't know what to expect, except for pictures from previous years' shows on flickr. we got there early, like 7am-ish, before it got crowded and hot. next time, we'll probably get there even earlier, maybe even stopping the evening before. guys were saying to get the best spots, they had to be there the night before and camp out.

anyway, as i was saying, at 7 am, they're already bringing in the cars and vendors. first one that caught our eye was a wonderful truck, which promptly stalled in the grass. it started up after about five minutes, but my better half was about to go over and offer to help push it.

later heard the owner say it was the carbuerator. bummer. i'll wait a few days to post it, since i've put a few trucks up here recently, but it really was an amazing truck. just don't think my pics do it justice. i think i should have waited a bit, for the light, for the owner to move his wax bottles out of the way, but he did close the hood for a little bit. better half did get some good shots of the engine compartment though, that show the pinstriping and awesomeness inside.

i'll post this one, from the same club. later in the day, light had shifted, but parked under the shade of a tree, it's still nice. and earlier, i hadn't noticed the car was actually purple. wish the entry signs weren't so huge on the windows, but i'll shoot them the way they are and pretend i don't see that huge sign on there.

mr pig

found this over at hooters a couple of months ago. probably wouldn't have taken the shot, except i noticed the little decoration on the engine, or rather the air filter cover. other than that, this is a pretty generic bucket.

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got busted by the doctor, who knew i'd been walking too much by the look of the cyborg boot. almost was free to go, when he happened to push on the wrong place on my foot. yep, another shot of courage into the foot. this time, a needle that looked a mile long, and deeper into my foot. hurt like a bitch.

promised to keep off the foot as much as possible. kinda putting a damper on going to car shows. but this weekend is the show at chicano park and also the annual show in orange plaza, neither of which i've been to before. i think i can do one or the other, but not both. better half is going to insist on going and pulling my bag around. maybe i can talk him into helping me up, if i want to take a low shot.

home again

i survived my week in washington state. didn't want to disappoint the kid, so dutifully marched all over the place, or rather gimped. by the end of the week, though i had to nix the three hour car ride to hike in a rain forest. did the space needle instead. just got back to the car when it started to rain, then hail...so that was pretty cool. thunder is very loud over puget sound.

she thought i'd enjoy the lemay auto museum, and it was really interesting, but as they all go, no tripods allowed, and stuff is roped off, so i mostly focused on hood ornaments. i don't know when i'll find time to go through all the pictures i took.

i'm running on four hours of sleep, and getting home after getting picked up from the airport is a story in itself. and a panic run to the tax preparer and race to the post office to pay uncle sam. and i still don't feel much better than when i left on the trip.

anyway, here's another truck. found it on the fringe of a car show; i hope only because there were no spaces available in the main lot. nice ride. like the pinstripes.

chairman of the bored

my better half may have found jesus; i found frank. like forrest said, you never know what you're going to get, especially when you go around to the back of a car. i'd never seen one of these cars, and was happily shooting it from the front. then this happy surprise when i went to the other end.

while frank never impressed me much, the airbrushing here wasn't bad, but it wasn't especially great either. for one, why is the color almost pretty good all over, then his mouth is full of gray teeth and gums? did he wear dentures, or did they forget to add a little pink to liven it up a little? no, wait, he was a smoker; that explains it. i know he was old, but ick. kinda creepy.

no, i don't want to dance with you. maybe my dad helped him out with the punctuation—he too, also likes to use exclamation points on everything he types. i know he'll read this eventually! sorry, but it's true! i love you dad!

anyway, this is it for a week. i'm all packed up, and the weather channel says it's going to be raining all week, as one would expect in seattle. bringing my cameras anyway, in case a patch of sun opens up for a few minutes here and there.

i'm sure my better half will keep himself busy and not notice the time passing until i get back, right d? he can hang out with his other old lady...who also is known to read this blog...thanks for putting up with me.

---side note---hey ernie from the latin gents, did you get my email last month? probably in your junk mail...that's where they always go.

taking a trip

should be an interesting week ahead. still getting over whatever it is—bronchitis, a cold, i have no idea—and still wearing the cyborg leg. heading north and i'm really wishing i could just cancel the trip and sleep. my better half is staying here—when you gotta work, you gotta work and is mostly out of vacation time.

thought i should get vertical for a couple of hours, so though i'm not really feeling it, started flipping through a couple years of pictures. i couldn't decide what to post. this isn't the best picture, but i still like it. night shots at the broiler are always interesting, and never know what kind of colors will pop up with the lighting.

also starting to think about entering a few pictures at the fair again. i can't decide what i like best, which wouldn't necessarily be anything the judges would pick. if you have any favorites, drop me an email.

think i'll go lay down again. still have one more day before i go, so maybe i'll post again.

back porch

talk about hauling ass...could almost build a house for your mother-in-law out back...almost. or at least hold a tailgate party...the whole party.

found this out at garden grove. rarely go there, cause i'm usually disappointed by the turnout. but there are usually at least one or two worth shooting at any show. the whole car was pretty interesting, but baby got back, so i'm posting it here.

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as for my foot, not broken. but it does have some sort of strained tendon; enough that the doc had to pop me in the foot with cortisone. yippee ki yay. and i have to wear this lovely boot thing for i don't know how long yet, to help it heal. not exactly the lace up kind of boots my better half might have envisioned for me...

so, he probably will do his best to keep me from going to too many shows in the near future. and definitely will be a while before i do a lot of low angles. at least without him around to help me get back up. so over-protective, but i guess that's a good thing, right?

and to top that off, i got a cold, but not a cold, that i've been fighting all weekend. finally went to the doctor to check that it wasn't turning into bronchitis or pneumonia. they thought it best to give me some sort of antibiotic, just in case. probably to keep me from coughing up a lung or two, and to spare my co-workers' eardrums.