color coordinated

the other day, while i was working late, my bettter half was fiddling with the two cameras i use. he said that one of them has more than double the rated shutter actuations and the other was maybe twenty thousand over. ya, i've got two photographic volvos. not sure what i'll do when they give up from overuse. he says not to worry, it's what they're for.

he was trying to program in some settings thinking it would make it easier for me to shoot with them. he's a tech geek that way, gets all excited about electronics and camera gear and computers, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

all i want, is to do what i do, with my basic understanding of how the camera works, and it doesn't bother me to turn the dials or widgets or whatever it is to make it work. when he tries to explain something new he's discovered or read about, i can only take so much before i have a mini implosion. i'm sorry, but i have to be open to learning that stuff, and i can only take so much. 

he knows that at some future point, i'll come back and ask again for him to explain how the flashes/off camera lights work again, but it will have to be when i'm ready and i ask.

anyway, my kid wanted me to shoot some pictures of himself with his girlfriend and his new puppy. depending on the time of day, i might need to fiddle with an off camera lighting setup of some sort. my better half said early morning or late evening is best for portraits, and started explaining using a one light setup, then if i needed another light...and i finally broke, and went aaaaaaahhhhhhhhrrrrrrr!!!! just wanted to keep it simple. dealing with a puppy, i was going to have to go with the flow, and his attention span and nap times. and i can never get the lights to work right half the time.

i ended up out there late in the afternoon. harsher shadows. i tried using one light, but didn't get it in close enough. they wanted the background. he was happy with the pictures. next time, i'll have to move in closer. then maybe the flash will be more useful.

here's one of the pictures from that day. i don't do portraits. i do cars. i don't have to pose them, or get them to smile or hold still. they make me happy.

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here's another car from the uptown show. was it random or purposely planned to park in front of a restaurant painted the same color? at least the blue truck breaks up the monotone of it all.

turns out it was the second show, that jae bueno, of low rider magazine fame, has been at while i was also in attendance. he's been a flickr contact for a while now. i still haven't knowingly run into him; more likely i was probably doing my tuned out, looking at the cars only thing. apparently my better half had spoken to him at a show a year or two ago. here's jae's version of the car, so i know he was there.

a big one

so my better half is always complaining about me posting the ittle bitty pictures, how you just can't appreciate them when they're that small. he says he has the benefit of being able to see them up on my big screen while i work on them, and how spectacular they look big.

i have a few points of view on this one. the car is terrific. i liked the other two images of it, from a lower point, showing the theatre marquee above. but this was a better look for the car. i like the pinstripes over the headlights. i like the pointy hubcaps and the swoop of the hood, the split front window. the car is basically a colorless, silvery gray, but the dash of color behind it, the sunrise sky dawning above it, breathes some life and color into its sleeping carcass.

so anyway, my point is, here is a big one for my better half. can't wait for mine.

little mermaid

i was just reviewing some of my older photos, looking for something i might have been keeping for a later point and forgot about. i think this one qualifies.

i posted the front end a couple of years ago, then forgot about it. it happens. i have a lot of pictures, as occasionally someone will comment on whether i have enough yet. well, no. i may be close to filling my hard drive up, but can you really ever have enough? i'm still learning and having fun with your cars and my camera.

this was from 2010, when the whittier uptown was still a decent show, overflowing in excellence of all types of cars, low riders included. while some of the lifestyles cars showed up this year, this one wasn't one of them. the few that were there had their hoods up, and had a crowd around them each time i walked by. in fact, i only shot one of them, and i'm not all that thrilled with it.

this one, i found early in the day, and far enough up the street from the main intersection, that there were few people in the way. though i did go back for more later in the day, and ya, more people.

the car is impressive. the paint finish is luminous on these candy cars, almost like you're staring into a pool of water, and you may fall in. interesting airbrushing and pinstriping on many of them, in interesting locations on the cars. liked the mermaid on the back end of this—wonder if its a portrait or just the typical fantasy girl guys wish they had.

graham cracker

still sitting here. and i really don't think i'll get out to a show until before the weekend, if then. i've spent two days at work, and get home really tired. want to lay down, but i don't want to; can't sleep. whatever. everything is going to be fine now.

i've got a couple of these in my digital garage. just don't usually see one here in downey at bob's. too purty to pass by.

drive-in, get down

sitting here, growing bored. i think my better half would sit on me if he could, to keep me from going out. no, really, he would just strongly suggest that i stay put. just because the doctor told him to. pfft.

so maybe i'll post a couple of pictures. going to work tomorrow. i sit all day anyway, and i think they'd be in trouble if i didn't show up for another day, with the tradeshow cycle going again.

liked this impala's parking space. i like when i can get the car and the building in the same frame. kinda wish i'd been able to get a little more off to the side on this, but this will have to do.

i'm going to go ambulate uptown later, getting out of this house. for dinner. though disneyland sounds like a lot more fun than uptown.

sleeping beauty

so i'm recovering from my little surgery thing yesterday. for a minor thing, why did they knock me all the way the hell out...general anesthesia? wheee heeee. slept all day. my better half kept watch over me, and hasn't really let me do much of anything today. ya, he's a keeper.

i went out with him to the mall this morning, to pick up his glasses, then he took me to my mom's to pick up my car. and i ended up just wanting to lay down on her couch for a while, but unable to sleep.

after a couple of hours, i drove back home, and didn't do much else. so i guess i won't be doing much shooting tomorrow, in spite of a couple of shows that i'd really like to go to. my son wants me to take a picture of he and his girlfriend and his puppy by a lake, but i really don't know yet if i want to drive there. and that puppy is growing so quickly...

here's another tribe car. haven't seen it before. he'd just had it pinstriped the day before, he said, as i was shooting the back wheel cover, in all it's freshly pinstriped glory.

his son was sleeping inside it, though you can't see him from this angle. supposedly, the kid had just gotten home ten minutes before the guy left for the show before 5 in the morning.

i wanna be sedated

so i get to do this medical thing on friday, and my better half is saying he isn't going to let me get near my tripod all weekend. even though there are big shows out in san pedro and el segundo i was thinking of going to for a change. i suppose i'll spend the weekend sleeping it off anyway. not looking forward to it.

anyway, been a long week at work and it's only tuesday. working extra hours, and then staying up late, is wearing me out. probably won't make it to either bob's or ruby's this week. pooh.

this here is the front end of jack's star chief. really a spectacular car. he's usually there at bob's representing the mercifuls of long beach. even made it to the whittier show last weekend. too bad he usually is parked in the vicinity of richard's car, but you know the saying, "you can pick your friends, you can pick your..."

ps: hey geri, yes, i did tell my better half he can start calling me baroness von jones soon.

bitch

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what is it about guys and high maintenance women? you all know the ones i'm talking about—the ones that dress up for a day at disneyland and wear high heels, then spend all day bitching about how their feet hurt. the ones that the guys want to have, then spend the rest of their lives regretting. she's fine as long as she doesn't say anything, but then she does, and has nothing to say. and the claws come out if she thinks you're looking at other chicks.

i wonder if this car is like that. reine has been favoring his lincoln for the last bunch of months. has she been suffering from imaginary aches and pains all year? she's been a kept woman. hidden away in some garage in never-never land, getting nips and tucks, and apparently tipped. on the hubcaps. i noticed.

thanks for bringing her out to play for the day, reine. i did miss her, even if she is a bitch to photograph. j/k.

tail dragger

another of the early arrivals at the whittier show. location would have been perfect, if the neon theatre lights were still on.

i think it's a ford. didn't have the entry form on the window this early, and forgot to check it later. what do they call this finish...brushed metal? twisted steel & sex appeal? nah, not twisted, that'd be me. sex appeal, i guess it's interesting enough.

winning

went to the uptown show today. three times. at 6am-ish, 10am-ish, and 2pm-ish. as i said, it's up the street. got so damn hot as the morning went on, just had to stop and go home to sit in front of the fan for a while. not so bad in the shade, but i still felt icky after a while each time. too hot.

anyway, the so cal tribe guys seem to always be the first ones there, and get their choice of spots. so the group parked it over by that smelly cigar bar. but it did stay pretty shady most of the day for them. reine even brought his bitchin' cadillac, which i have not seen in months—thanks dude. i'll post one soon.

their website says this buick belongs to one of their newest members. my mom had a riviera when i was a kid, and i learned to drive in it. not this model year, but close enough, and definitely not this cool.

end of the day, after the awards had been given out, i walked back past the cars and they were gathering for a group picture under their banner. the owner was there holding a trophy, so i assume he won something for this baby. congrats, guys.