mojito

so, i've been able to sneak away from the dog for a few hours at a time on weekends to attend a few car shows. problem is, he doesn't let me spend a lot of time at the computer actually going through what i shot, before he wants attention. he's more work than a toddler.

so i figure, i'll have plenty of pictures to work on when my son gets back from his trip and i get back to my regular routine. and plenty for rainy days, should cali get any of those this year.

did manage to scare that coyote away long enough to get away from him this early morning. it really wanted to come over and say hello. forgot to bring a stick or something, as i wasn't planning on going on such a long walk. hadn't expected to be in his way this weekend, but the dog got me out of bed so early. probably thought i was going to be late for work.

i spent this morning at the viejitos orange county annual car and bike show. i'm downloading those pictures while i blather on here. had to be over a hundred cars and bikes there. i really wanted to get there earlier to miss the heat, and even though i could only manage to get there close to start at 10, it was overcast and cool until at least 11. 

circled around about three times, probably have at least seventy shots of cars, and about sixty ornaments and detail shots to show for the two or three hours i was there. 

saw and spoke with several people i see around a lot. shook hands with raynbow, the head of the viejitos club and the guy running the show. always very welcoming when i see him. he's got a shiny new pontiac he just finished building. too bad there were too many admirers around it when he showed it to me, and when i got back around to it, the hood was up... i'll have to get it at one of their regular monthly shows sometime. really beautiful work though.

handed out my card to the couple of guys that inquired about my photography. i'll warn you, it will be at least a couple more weeks before i can really get to them. and then, i'll only post them if i think the shot or angle or whatever was good.

excellent show. thanks to whichever one of you guys handed me the flyer, or i'd have never known about it.

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oh, the above car has taken me about a week to get up here, worked on it a few minutes at a time that i could get the dog to go play with a toy. he's staring at me now, because he knows i'm about to go get my dinner out of the oven.

must be a sale on this neon green paint, because i'm starting to see it more often in the last year. saw this one at the old memories harbor club show from last month. the color definitely gets your attention when it drives through the lot. it calls, i follow...

el canas, again

ok, throwing you a bone. the owner of this car has joked with me for several years now. ran into him yesterday at ruby's, on a brief break from the dog. i've posted it and his other car a couple of times before, but its been a while.

he confessed to occasionally spending/wasting a couple hours at a time reading my blog. had mentioned that i hadn't been posting much lately, which leads me to wonder how closely he's been reading, as i've mentioned several times that i have become enslaved to a very large puppy for a month and a half.

anyway, i've had this picture of his truck from a hooters show sitting in my to-do collection for a while, so i might as well show it to him now. we'll see if he comments next time i see him...

it's a nice truck, always very clean. here it sits with another car from his club, the wolves. i suppose if he didn't talk to me so much, i would've stopped shooting pictures of it by now, as it really has very simple, plain lines. but i do like how the paint picks up reflections, which is why i sometimes do shoot these types of vehicles.

and in case you were wondering, i've worn the dog out today with three long walks so far, so he's been sleeping at my feet for a while. gonna have to take him on another long walk or two before bed, and my foot is kinda aching already. i really slow him down. three more weeks until the kid comes home...i've been counting down the days since he left.

ok, i guess i better work on a couple of other projects while the hairy child is still sleeping.

always a bridesmaid...

made it to the fair yesterday for a couple of hours. good deal on the weekends if you get there the first hour, its only $3 to get in. no lines. didn't feel like riding anything by myself. found my pictures in the visual arts building. yep, got another honorable mention. there was also this one and this one. you can find this one in the flower section. (happy now, gary?) oh well, nice enough to see them up there with all the other great images.

other than that, it's taken me three hours to try and get fifteen minutes to post this picture because of this beast. he's not getting any more tired, and i've taken him out on long walks twice already. now he just wants to play. even threw him a giant beef knuckle bone, which kept him busy for a couple of hours last time, but he's bounced from toy to toy tonight.

anyway, only four more weeks to go...

here's an old memories car from the show at tweedy mile golf course. happy as can be in the clover.

on my own today

got the weekend off from the dog, to give my lame foot a break from all the walking, er, being pulled around by the dog. my better half is back at home with a fever, so i pretty much just stayed here in my condo alone. enjoying the quiet.

slept in late, then went to a car show at the garden grove elks club, which i hadn't been to in a couple of years. ernie told me he'd been asked to run it, and he mentioned it to me, so since i had the time, thought i'd check it out.

wasn't as busy as i remembered it being, but there was still some stuff to shoot. a bunch of latin gents were there, so their cars are always worth shooting. spent about an hour there, before i overheated. of course, as i packed up and got in the car, another nice car drove in. briefly had an inner arguement about getting the stuff back out to shoot it or just waiting for some other time. ya, i left. it was another latin gents car, so i'll see it again.

spent the rest of the day cleaning, doing laundry and made some cookies. stuff that is more difficult to get done with the dog around. hoping to go to the fair tomorrow to see my pictures hanging on the wall. trying to talk my bro into going, otherwise, i'll just go by myself, early before it gets too hot. then back to pick up the puppy.

shhh the dog is asleep

he's running me ragged. big, hairy attention whore. remind me never to get a big puppy again. but he is getting me back into some kind of shape, which is good, since i sit all day in front of a computer. still something like forever to go. i hope i make it until his owner gets back home.

so, i gotta get some sleep, but i have already missed so many days playing with my pictures. so close, yet so far. i sit down, the dog wants to play tug-o-war. i stand up, he wants to be chased or go for a walk. but i think i've worn him out for the night.

so, quickly. here's a truck. i don't know for sure what year, so i won't bother to guess. night all...

time is fleeting

mmmm. i'm feeling like seeing a nice, sleek fleetline. i blame danny and several of his fleetliners club buddies. i had gone up to whittier yesterday, and they drove past me on greenleaf. my better half said a bunch of other old cars had been elsewhere in town earlier, mentioning in particular this mercury. where you all going??? sometimes i wish you'd put down some sort of bread trail i could follow...

and of course, later on, walking on the same street from the theatre, passed the tribe guy in his chevy, looking for prime parking in front of the cigar bar.

intended to stop by the latin gents show yesterday, but was too overheated and lazy to get out of the house once we got back from the movie. saw monsters university, btw. not bad, even for an adult to enjoy. guessing the artists at pixar grew up with tex avery and looney tunes, like i did.

as i was saying, here's a fleetline. shockingly without one of the pharaohs members walking into the shot. they'd just driven in, and were setting up their tent and getting stuff out of their cars, so there are random people in several of the shots i took of their cars. some i was just too exasperated and was already getting too warm, that i didn't bother to take them. i'll see them again, somewhere else. hopefully not on hot asphalt.

deep sadness

i just learned today that jae bueno had passed. i did not know him well, and had only spoken with him a few times at shows. he was always very nice, and i was always too shy to just go up and say hello, save one time in santa ana. i barely recognized him when i last saw him at a viejitos show several months ago.

he occasionally took the time to comment on my pictures, if he had a story to relate to whatever i'd said in my post. i admired his work through his blog, flickr pages and in low rider magazine. it is a great loss to car culture and photography.

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this was the first car i shot at the old memories show this past weekend. first of the the phalanx of old memories cars lining the entry to the show area. i preferred this view of it, rather than the other side, showing the line of cars and buildings and a billboard. just so cluttered. keep it simple, stupid, they always said in school; and i would say it worked best in this case, even if it is kind of a cliché image in front of a loading bay. it is such a nice turquoise, even in the morning shadow of the building.

i hadn't realized it, but the owner had been watching from not too far away. i'm not sure if he was waiting on me so he could get something from his car, but he did thank me for taking a picture of it. how could i not? thank you for bringing it out for me to shoot.

just a memory now

i was given a flyer at one of the numerous shows i go to, for the old memories first annual car show. i hesitate to go to many shows in the heat of the day, as i tend to burn like bacon and i just can't sweat enough to cool off and feel like i'm cooking inside, kinda like a microwave.

so, when i do decide to go to these types of shows, i've decided to try and get there very early; at best, would be before sunrise; at least, by drive in time. and this one was out of the way, from where i am currently babysitting a dog. had to drop him off with someone before i could go.

drove an hour to get there, and still was a little later than i would have liked. there were people to tell you where to park, security at the entrance, and what seemed like the full old memories harbor club in attendance at the front of the show area.

thank you to the old memories guy that didn't seem to mind letting me start taking pictures before the actual start time. i kept out of the way, like i said. i have some pictures of your cars coming in the days ahead.

was a good turn out, during the time i was there, with more driving in as i left. too bad it was going to be the hottest day of the week. i would have stayed later.

i'll start with this one, only because the owner was nice enough to come over and chat with me. i think he wasn't very confident in his car having a chance to win a prize, but i thought it was just fine. mostly, i think he was just curious about me taking a picture of his car. i do hope he didn't lose my card, and stops by my blog to see the finished picture.

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i'd forgotten how much work a dog is at one year old. like a big, hairy, attention-starved toddler. only five more weeks to go...thought i'd have a lot of time to work on pictures, but i'm lucky to post one, without giving up some of my own sleep time. he takes a nap if i work on a picture too long, then stays up late into the morning playing with his toys, and getting into mischief.

he likes throwing the pillows from the couch onto the floor. i've caught him sitting on the couch like the king of the castle a few times. but he is sweet, so i apologize if i don't get your car up here as quick as possible. i'm being forced to play tug of war, with dog slobbery ropes and rubber footballs. gotta get to bed, he's getting sleepy...

a fresh look

this guy is the one that torments me uptown, parking in front of the cigar bar fairly often. always tempted to run home for the camera, and then just don't do it.

wonder where the rest of the tribe was, but glad to have found this one at the show. looked really spectacular among the trees. i don't remember the roof being all airbrushed and glittery. same for the airbrushing on the back of it on the spare wheel cover—is it recent? gotta be why i haven't seen it around for a couple of weeks.

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my son is currently en route to cambridge. i'm already worn out with his dog, but i think i got the best of him today, taking him to the park three times. i don't know. he may have out done me...my foot is starting to hurt. probably overdoing it with all the activity.

dog is over at my ex's house tonight, as i was hoping to stop by the old memories show early early in the morning, before the heat sets in. i think now, it all depends on how my foot feels in the morning. i really hope i can go.

dream on

sometimes, i like to imagine owning a car like this. i could cruise to work in style. and they're out there for sale. i could go to the bank and take out a loan and have something like this. 

but then the bubble pops, and i remember, i don't have a garage to keep it in, or the knowledge of how to take care of it. and the insurance...and the gas. no, i'd have to get a second job just to enjoy the ownership, and never have time to drive it.

no, i'll live vicariously at the shows, taking my silly pictures. and appreciate all the work and beauty in these cars you guys bring to the shows. and post them here, and ask, did you see what i saw?