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1953 chevy bel air

this started off as a completely different write up, but then i read it, and it just sounded lame. well, the usual amount of lameness. so i dumped it.

so i thought, instead of a usual rundown of a car show, i'll pretend i'm marlin perkins, and this is the mutual of omaha's wild kingdom. starring as the poor sidekick that always did the actual animal wrangling, my better half.

sunday. just after sun up, we headed out into the wild lands of industry hills. shhh, be verwy verwy quiet. we're hunting wabbits. no, we're looking for some larger beasts.

told my sidekick, it will be hot, so we will probably leave pretty early. brought my safari hat, so i might be better prepared to hide from the golden orb in the sky. its etched with magical ancient runes, to ward off evil beasts with gaping mouths. i raise my fists in defiance, yelling, or more, thinking, in my head, "bite me, go get your two scoops and leave me alone!"

one of the game wardens at the gate, sent us up a hill, to a distant hunting ground. we unpacked our gear, and heard the roars of the giants in the distance. we walked past some kind of shelters for ye olde fashioned horsepower, and a building that may or may not be used to race some two wheeled variety of animal around in circles.

as we rounded the building, and got our first glimpse of the valley below, i may or may not have heard my better half whisper to himself, "i'm fucked." he really did have other things he needed to do that day, but seeing the bounty spread out below, he knew we might be there a wee bit longer than i said.

side note: at the gate, my better half inquired how much the entry fee was. the woman directing traffic behind us overheard, but slightly wrong. she said, "one-hundred and twenty-five! each!" i forget what incredulous remark he may have said, but he was ready to leave. i shook my head no, and the girl in front of us, holding the cash box kinda shrugged awkwardly. another woman came out from behind a curtain, saying "no, no, no! twelve dollars, each."

better half figured out later, that the big number was what they charged vendors, that the girl didn't know what was what at that point in the day...we were a bit early, before official open time...and the other lady was spot on with the spectator fee.

we thought it was funny. anyway, we got our black bracelets, and felt like tagged animals...easing back into character here...

we decided to split up, better to encircle the unsuspecting prey. it became apparent, that it was the other way around—we were surrounded. beast were lounging everywhere, in the shade, in the sun, many being rubbed, err soothed by smaller species.

the small animals seemed keen on attracting attention. they are known to sometimes collect shiny objects, to attract the females' attention. the females may pretend not to notice, but they do. they do.

we began shooting, almost immediately, but the beasts have surprisingly thick, tough skins, and it was if they did not even notice or feel our presence. they stay where we shot them. there were so many, we had to move quickly.

occasionally, one would rumble past, causing us to jump out of the way, but really more of a threat posture than an actual threat.

the sun was going higher in the sky, some of the beasts had strong odors, hot metallic smells, animals dying a slow death. they needed a cool drink, or else other larger beasts would come and drag them away.

the herds were clumped in packs, with sometimes a lone animal nearby.

i spied this brightly colored animal, with it's pack, on the far side of the field. it reclined under this feeble tree, in a futile attempt to stay cool. it just sat there, and i shot it. i shot it several times. and i would do it again...

join us again, next time. for another edition of the mutual of omaha's wild kingdom.


ok. that was kinda stupid, but i dont feel like starting over. thank you for your patience.

schwetty

1950 chevy deluxe

i know, i know. i owe some people pictures of their cars from the last few shows. patience grasshoppa.

got up early and headed over to the car show at the crossing / four square church. roll in wasn't until eight, but i was there at seven. hoped to at least shoot the host clubs' cars. was there early, also, hoping to get in and out before the temperatures rose too high. 

well, being a bright and mostly cloud free day, it was already warm at seven, and quickly heated up. quite a change from last weekend. i'll take overcast any day. 

i'm curious how this show is run. they said it was their tenth annual show. it's near home, so easy to leave and go back, if i fill up my memory cards.

i've been to at least three, and i think a different club has hosted each year. this year was hosted by kustom oldies. they seemed efficient enough, but while i was only there until about ten thirty, and the lot did mostly fill up, it lacked a lot of the cars and clubs that i'd expect to be there.

i wrote it off to people being at the la roadster show at pomona, or one of the other nearby shows. i briefly thought about going to one in la habra, then after chugging a bottle of water in the shade where my car was parked, called my better half, instead, to see if he'd been called in to work—no—and if he wanted to go get lunch. so i did that instead.

i went round the parking lot four or five times, following the changing light and shooting new arrivals.

saw this chevy there. loved the color. the owners stopped me for a moment, wondering what i do with the pictures. the wife seemed interested in getting a t-shirt or something with a picture on it. sure i know a vendor that does shirts, mugs, stamps, lots of junk. as usual, told them to wait and see if they like the picture first. i liked this one best.


oh, better half reminded that i should mention that i got another five pictures in the oc fair again. two cars, a hood ornament, a portrait, and a landscape. i try to mix it up sometimes. and again, he says, i'm already a winner, just to have something to hang at the fair; a ribbon is just icing.

fine

1963 chevy impala

i'm back. i did finally leave the house, and go to my mom's.

better half started blasting the room i was in with lysol, while i was trying to eat dinner. sense of smell is intricately locked in with sense of taste, and since i think lysol reeks of vomit, it was going to ruin my dinner, that he had so graciously walked uptown to get me. i was afraid the next step was that he was going to go stand behind his mother's wheelchair, with her in it, and draw a circle of salt around them, and start shouting, "thou shall not pass!"

seems the only thing we ever have difficulty with is coping with germs around his mother when we're ill and who would kick the other's ass—underdog vs mighty mouse.

everyone's fine, btw.


loved the color of this car, and how the light was hitting it.

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.