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havana house

1948 chevy fleetline

i used a couple of new camera bodies at this show. still judging how they perform. the pictures seem a little dark to me, but that could just be my eyes or my monitors.

i've posted a couple of the promised pic already today, so i'll throw up one that i just like. shocker it's a fleetline, right?

guys seem to like parking anywhere near the cigar shop here. it's a popular hangout any night of the week. i think it just stanks—i'm not a smoker—but i'd equivalate it to the smell of starbucks too—i'm not a coffee drinker either.

in this case, i just like how the colors in the morning light all play well together.

i really meant to go to a carshow this morning. i was going to get up and go to rialto at five in the morning. or any of the other shows that were closer, whose flyers i had started seeing pop up yesterday on other photographers' instagrams.

i had an alarm set for four-thirty. thing of it is, i think i may have brought home a cold from san diego, and after arriving home thursday, rapidly got ill, and have been a bit wobbly since then. it's evolved through having a sore throat, runny nose, and sneezing. the usual. but no fever. hardly ever get a fever anymore.

about one in the morning, i woke up and just shut off the alarm. i know my better half; while he would not prevent me from going out, would strongly discourage me from going anywhere this weekend. and i have a busy week waiting for me at work, to make up for being out of the office for a week.

just as well i didn't get up early, since when i did wake up, it was lightly raining outside, which continued most of the morning. so most likely, it would have rained on my parade at any show i might have chosen to go to. so i'm kinda disappointed, but i do like the overcast and the rain.

mother-in-law said there had been a storm off the coast, that unexpectedly decided to blow inland. 

if this cold progresses any further, i'll have to leave this house, and go stay at my mother's, lock myself in the back bedroom, or hide out in a hotel. apart from a stuffy nose, i feel fine, but i shouldn't stay here, with my elderly mother-in-law too much longer. just have to decide when to leave, or wait to be told to get out...

on track

1962 chevrolet impala

sucks. whittier uptown car show is today.

and i had to leave.

we got out there about five-fifteenish and started shooting right away.

it was all about right away. i had set my alarm for ten, to head back home and have some time to download pics, take a quick shower, and have lunch before heading to the train station.

as my better half expected, i started negotiating with myself as it got closer to ten. reset the alarm for ten-thirty, then eleven. gave up the downloading of pics, to get a little more time in. finally did pack it up at eleven, though i did also consider catching the next train, three hours later.

walked back to the house, got my not cold shower--it was hot out and it seemed unable to make anything cooler than lukewarm--but was better than nothing. ran around and grabbed the last items i needed to pack, and headed out the door.

didn't even open the camera bag, pictures will have to keep until i get back. it says the card is almost full, and i burned through one battery in about three hours, and some percentage of another. so either, i really did move hella fast between shots, each shot is a really big file, or i forgot to reformat the card last night. i know i reformatted, so i'll just hope that i just took a lot of pictures.

pretty much had used my main camera until it died last summer, and the twin to that one is on it's last legs, so i switched out and used two new camera bodies i earned with the chucky cheese point program we have at work. i call it that; its their reward thing they use instead of just giving cash or bonuses. the atta boy program.

saved up enough points and fortuitously, the cameras were on sale. hoping the shots came out all right. i'm sure they did. i think i got some good ones too.

better half dropped me off at the station, bought us a quick lunch in the little cafe, and he's heading back home, and back uptown to take more pictures. so say hey to him if you see him, and know that i'm so jealous.

found this impala at the vfw a few months ago. it's much too nice to be stuck here in the corner by the storage container and/or trash bins, but they do provide a nice color and texture contrast, i thought.

edamame

1939 chevrolet master deluxe

at my kid's house today, hanging with his dog beast. dog made a mess, tearing up a baseball he found on our walk. i went to pull the vacuum from the closet, and bin thing that collects the dregs it sucks up fell right out and landed right on my big toe.

so, me limping around yelling fuckity fucksticks and whimpering, made the dog run and hide, thinking he had done something to be guilty of.

i didn't quite see stars, so much as wanted to pass out. it bruised pretty quick and my toe is throbbing and makes me jump every once in a while. spent about an hour with a bag of frozen edamame on my foot, because there was no ice. thinking flip flops for work tomorrow, screw the dress code.

got a lot of work to jam into one day. then i'm sure two hours of traffic, only to miss ruby's car show again. gotta pack a bag for a week in san diego for work. saturday morning, up at five, and down the street for the whittier uptown show. we'll spend the morning shooting pics, then i gotta leave for the train station.

gonna be a hot day. not sure they moved it up from the usual august date to avoid the summer heat, but seems its coming along with the show. oh well.

love me a master deluxe. its the grille and headlights that make me happy. latin gents' car...they finally got a few of their cars in at chicano park this year. it was a good day.

photo op

1953 chevrolet bel air

back from vacation, way more tired than when i left. at least tomorrow is a holiday, so i have one more day to recover.

as usual, my better half and i have said, after marching all over the place, miles a day, for a week, we should try to keep it going, and i expect that will last about a week after we get back to the work routine, and the summer heats up. we did about four miles today. thinking of climbing the hills nearby tomorrow, though my better half might not go, as he did trip a couple of times while out being touristas, and his knee is kinda sore.

i'll probably just sleep in. i am really tired and sore. i need to sit in a hot jacuzzi or get a massage or something. i imagine one of those things would help.

this was the first car i shot at the relay for life show.

shot it from this side, because the owner was sitting on the other side, and was trying to focus on the car. the plaque in the back window was for the classic dreams club, and said bakersfield...long drive for a benefit show.

apparently, he was curious what i was doing, or shooting for, and then wanted to be in the picture. oh, ok. i guess.

most guys would then come around front of the car, and do some pose, or throw down some signs or something. this guy just stayed behind the car, and there he is just over the hood, some kind of strange hood ornament.

next time, just be in the picture. get out front, like you really mean it. own it.

trippin'

1948 chevrolet stylemaster panel truck

saw this chevy panel truck at the duke's display at relay for life. this was one i shot fairly early after arriving.

i passed by later, and the owner lowered it down, and leveled it out, but there were more cars, pop ups and people to contend with, so those. shots are just ok, but not my favorites.

so we're finally taking one of those elusive/dreaded things--a vacation. and of course, it's all been a little bit off since it started yesterday.

been busy all month at work, leading up to it. worked late on thursday, trying to get the big stuff mostly done, to spare coworkers a lot of pain. that forced me to stay down at my mom's for the night, instead of packing, etc., as i had planned. then worked at the office in the morning, and raced home at lunch time to work four more hours from there, to finish out the clock, and miss friday traffic. did my time, and got packing.

better half worked at home all day, and had also been working like crazy before the trip. he didn't pack or get the supermarket shopping done in advance of the horde of family coming down to keep his mother company while we're gone. also means we don't get to see the two babies of the family, who are both now walking. it's a trade off.

after much running around, i got us going out the door just before eight p.m., to catch a red eye. he thought it was a bit early, but it turned out to be a good thing. traffic around lax for last mile before our exit was terrible. we had to drop off the car and catch one of the shuttles to our terminal. the shuttle took it's sweet time getting to the garage, but we still ended up with the recommended couple of hours to spare.

enjoyed the airline pilot on the shuttle ride from the garage to his flight, entertaining the captive audience with historical knowledge, as well as hitting on a random travel agent headed to new york.

checked the bags, got through security fairly quickly. didn't even have to remove our shoes, which is a plus, because i don't even want to think about what the sticky stuff on that linoleum is every other time we've had to go through security. just no.

had about an hour until boarding, and started noticing delay times dominoeing through flights ahead of ours. our crew was on a delayed flight coming from san fran. ultimately, we were listed as the last flight out, leaving at one a.m.

then came the announcement that the flight had been cancelled, due to the crew being timed out on their shift or one of them not feeling well...depends on who you wanted to believe. that was followed by the mad rush to the counter for rebooking. briefly thought of just heading home, but then they put us up in a hotel, to get a few hours' sleep--it was two-fifteen a.m. by then--before we had to be back at seven.

we'd settled on a one-stop trip, instead of the direct to the east coast, which would have meant just sleeping in the terminal. so i'm sitting here in san fran typing away, waiting for our connecting flight, while my better half is getting his ya-yas out, geeking out watching planes and shooting a time lapse of the runway and the really awesome clouds.

reflections of love

1948 chevy fleetline

so last night i was playing with my pictures, trying to decide what to post next. nothing was really jumping out at me, and the few more that i've promised to post if i got a good shot, just weren't grabbing my attention. they're ok, but more of a weekend job, not something to stay up late working on.

i narrowed it down to a couple from chicano park. started messing with both. it was late, and decided this one would be a quicker study.

fleetline, one of my all time favorite cars. i'll shoot them happily all day, thank you very much.

i liked the reflection of the car next to this one.

under the bridge

1959 chevrolet impala

one of the joys of arriving way too early to a show, is the line-up or staging area for the cars. when there are no reserved spots involved, or they are there to claim areas for their club members, being first in line has its advantages.

there are always cars in the street that leads to the entrance onto the grass at chicano park. they let vendors in way earlier than anyone else. so cars are parked, and owners are out socializing or sleeping in the car. often kids are bouncing around inside the car, parents keeping an eye on them from nearby.

i think there were some young girls in this one, but i'm low enough you can't see them, unless they were right in or hanging out of the windows.

my better half spoke to the owner, said i'd be more likely to post a picture of it in this decade than he would, though i think he has actually posted a couple of shots in the last couple of months. quite the increase of one a year for the last few. he's been a bit busy taking care of his mom, but she's been a lot healthier, so he has relaxed a bit more. he's been going to more shows with me, experimenting with his various lenses and camera setups. more fun than just being my bag boy, i hope.

©2025 kathy gonzalez