eight-track

went to the wingfest this past weekend, hoping for a lot full of impalas. got there close to nine, not too early, but before official start time, hoping for fewer people in the shots too.

ran into a fellow flickr friend, rudy, who knew me by name, and after getting his name, recognized him again. last saw him a couple of years ago at the majestics new year's show.

met another photographer, who said he had driven in from indio. he admired my rollie bag, and i marveled at all the camera gear he was carrying around, slung about his shoulders and waist.

and also victor, who i'd seen the day before at the la mirada show. he gave me a heads up on the show, and also mentioned one out at santa anita, if i needed more cars to round out my weekend.

there were only a few cars there. fine. i'll shoot them. more cars trickled in. gave them the benefit of the doubt, that people were at church or nursing hangovers. 

hoods and trunks started being popped open. <sigh> ignoring my usual dislike of shooting them that way, i just shrugged and rolled with it. 

before i left, there was a reasonable number of cars, but with lots of space for more. wished the cars that were there had moved to allow for more space between cars, since it seemed available. oh well, shoot ‘em as you find ‘em.

this car was over toward the back corner. i was looking at it, wishing the trunk was closed. few people were around it at the time, and i liked the trees, clouds, and the broiler sign framing it out.

owner was sitting there with his better half. he said i should look inside...check out the eight-track player...asked if i knew what one was. said a lot of people don't know what they are anymore, and hoped i didn't take the fact that i knew what it was in the wrong way. no worries. we're all getting older.

haven't seen one since my dad sold off his old cadillac...in the eighties...and his crap music collection came and went with the car. 

told me about how he had found it online, and also had some recorder, if i understood, that he could make his own cartridges of music.

well, it made him happy. rock on.

duck walk

i took a few shots of this bel air, then moved across the aisle to shoot a chevy delray. i was kneeling down, pulling my other camera out of the bag, when i look over and see this mallard and his girl walking toward me.

weird to see walking thru a car show, and they did not seem at all afraid, so i took a few shots of them too, and they walked right next to me. didn't realize they got to participate in the relay as well.

relay for life

made it out to la mirada today. american cancer society's relay for life and car "exhibit." it was mostly overcast, which makes for really good pictures without harsh shadows.

duke's car club chapters from everywhere were the hosts, so there were lots of chevys to keep me happy, and they have lots of friends. heard about the show from a whittier guy we met at chicano park last month.

saw lots of cars and people i haven't seen in a while. took lots of pictures.

sun peeked out momentarily, then went away and then unexpectedly, it started to sprinkle. it wasn't in the forecast, but you know what i think about weathermen...they're always wrong. my camera is mostly ok with a little rain, but the lens not so much.

when it started getting a little more persistent, i had to go over to a nearby building with an overhang. i waited about half an hour, hoping it would clear up.

owner of this car happened to be walking into the building, i suppose to "wash his hands" and mentioned that i had taken pictures of his car and would be interested in seeing some pictures of it. i liked this shot best. this side view is also ok, i suppose.

chocolate silk

another from chicano park. i'm sort of on the fence when it comes to cars painted in this matte finish. some of them just look meh, and then others really stand out. 

this one stands out. sort of sedate, with subtle pinstriping. this one just sort of looks good enough to eat.

milestone

was my birthday yesterday. low-key, cause that's the way i like it. rained...which i love, so i didn't mind that one bit. had dinner with my son and my parents, so that worked out great. got back home just before my better half was getting into bed, having given up on me coming home for the night.

so my thoughts on birthdays: don't care anymore. even if it is a "milestone" in one's life. just a number, so statisticians can keep a tally on life expectancy. i thanked my mom for, you know, squeezing me out...it should be more of a celebration of the one who did all the work that day, right?

now that i've had my kids, and no sign of grandkids anytime soon, save the hairy, four-legged one that sheds a lot, i just see things as ways to fill time until the game's over. and what's with the time-warp? time seems to go by so much quicker the older i get, yet i move so much slower. except when i'm at work; then the day just seems to go on forever.

i remember when summer used to take forever to get here. now all i do is work, and with no real seasons to speak of in this state, if i didn't have a calendar, i wouldn't know the difference. my office cube looks out over the freeway. all looks the same, every day.

so, i fill my free time with car shows. and this is the place to be for those, right? nuff said. birthday done for another year.

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wandered up on the grass in the main section of chicano park, and found these latin bombas cars under the trees.

this one stood out, mostly because it was red, so it just "popped" from the green background. love the chrome and the headlights on the master deluxes. and the evolution of the hood ornaments with each year.

matchy matchy

so many chevys were at the show, it's hard to pick just one to show you.

i liked the color of this one up against the mural's colors.

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looking back down the street, before we left, noticed someone with a huge octobox lighting umbrella. really curious who it was, and what they could possibly be trying to light up around noon. maybe trying to make the shadows less harsh? heading for something hiding under the overpass? just was really weird to see one out in the crowd. and i thought my tripod was a tripping hazard.

pig's ear

found my better half talking to the owner of this fleetline. we had both been taking turns shooting it -- front, back, side, details -- so much to see. my better half yells over the din, that the owner was "busting his balls."

uhhh, what?

said the guy wondered why, is this ocean of beautiful cars, why the heck were we taking pictures of this one?

all he could think to tell him was, "that it had character."

could have added all that fun texture, the pinstriping, the fact that it isn't ashamed of it's blemishes, and even emphasizes them. and hell, it still has all the curviness that i love about fleetlines.

it may be the pig's ear in that old saying; but way more interesting than a silk purse.

45th annual chicano park day

took the train down to san diego this weekend. then the red trolley thing down to barrio logan. annual chicano park celebration and car show. 

was supposed to have sold out within two days, but since it had rained the night before, and was supposed to rain at some point saturday, there was a big empty space on the front lawn, where there is usually wall-to-wall cars. they tried to disguise it by making a circle of vendors in the empty space, but still...

still there were many, many cars, enough to keep me in my happy place.

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it's getting late, and i gotta get up early, so i'll just stop here for now, and continue on my next post.

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and it didn't rain during the show after all...

needle in the haystack

saw this impala on my way out of the swap meet. i was wading my way through the sale stuff, the junkers, the beaters, the project recyclers, so many odds and ends. frequently find the occasional gem in this lot. i figure they got there too late or otherwise didn't want to pay the show price, but still wanted to be part of the pomona experience.

spotted this one from two rows away. got over to it and set up, and waited to get my shots in between other admirers of the car. it was next to a pop up, so it somewhat limited the angle--to try to not show it.

did not realize the owner was waiting to leave, until i'd already taken a few sets. so thanks for that. totally forgot to shoot the front; no matter, it's the back end of these that i like best anyway. and pinstriping was pretty cool too.

reboot

been in seattle for a week. this time a planned vacation. and it was good and needed. didn't care that it rained half the time. weather was perfect the last few days.

flight home was delayed for several hours. something about the previous flight out of lax having to have their onboard computer rebooted. at least sea-tac airport is a really nice place to kill time. lots of shops and dining to choose from. clean and modern. so why the hell is every other airport i've been to, so much better than that crap airport, lax? fix it already.

also thought how it is sort of a small death, preparing for vacation. tying up loose ends, letting things go. giving jobs away to the others. hoping they don't realize they can get by just fine without me, but that they will still be glad to have me back.

i know tomorrow will be a big pain in the ass, going back to the office. it's always the worst part of vacation, and why i put off taking one at all. time out of the office throughs me off, even if its in a good way. like being deprogrammed and being put offline. reboot.

oh, and i'm not going to bore you with my vacation pics. you can find a few on flickr or instagram, if you really must, but they don't belong here. only old car i saw all week was the tail end of a pontiac in the rain, and i didn't have a camera out, so...

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got up and went to pomona this morning, just for a few hours. easy to do. wandered around the show cars, found a few interesting cars in the sale area.

i'll put this truck up, since the owner talked to me. i liked the paint color. plain and simple.