what's up?

works for me

better half was with me yesterday morning at pomona. i asked him what settings he was using before the sun came up. been a while since i've shot in the dark, so i forget what i've done before.

he said change the aperture, watch the histogram, adjust the exposure so it's less than thirty seconds. do fewer shots. i listened. then did my own thing anyway. it aggravates him to no end sometimes, but i do ok anyway.

black car under a dark sky. this one was off on it's own, and the owners were already off shopping in the swapmeet area, i'm guessing. it was cold. not so many cars were driving into the show area this early, so i could stay with my longer exposures. i took my chances with whatever or whoever might walk through the shots, but they would just be blurs.

i did tweak my settings a little bit, but not as much as i could have. i still got something usable out of it, i think.

wishin’ i had enough cash

got up early for a sunday, and drove out to pomona. happily, i have tomorrow off for the mlk holiday. i haven't yet taken a nap, and my head is starting to reel.

we arrived just around five a.m., and got a fairly close parking spot. was about forty degrees this morning, but we had a couple of layers of jackets and coats, that we would later take back to the car, when the temps hit the sixties.

the sun was still down, and the cars were few when we got over to the show area. bridgetown oldies showed up right on time, and got their usual spots by the bleachers. i went from here to there, in no particular order, depending on the lighting, angle, people and traffic behind the cars.

saw this lovely over by the fencing, when i went to the other side of the fence to shoot that car in the background. came back around after, when the light was hitting it nicely, to take a few shots. i liked this one best.

the car is for sale, btw. if only i had the money...

better half had things to do, so we had to head out by eleven. weather was perfect, or i would have stayed longer. maybe next month.

updated

welcome to my slightly revamped website. i understand it still needs work, but it seems to be working well enough.

maybe i'll just reformat it into pictures up front. i doubt most people want to read my pointless drivel anyway. except you, jimbo, that i know.

supposedly i can mess with the layout and not lose the text if i change my mind later. we'll see.

this shot is from almost a year ago. creeping around before sunrise can get some interesting pictures.

i like old chevrolets, in case you hadn't noticed.

spring cleaning

1946 chevy fleetline

i've found, the best part about the end of the football season, is the super cruise at hillco fasteners in garden grove, on super bowl sunday. basically a car show in an industrial park, and cars cruise by up and down the street, in the early hours before game time. we get there early, so avoid so many people moving through shots, or cars crowded together.

found this chevy next to this building with some interesting cinder blocks, that catch the morning light with the embossed patterns. can't quite tell if it belongs to a club, since i don't see any plaque. it's close to where the dukes usually park, but i don't think it's one of theirs.

spent a good portion of my day off bagging up clothes i don't wear anymore, tossing stuff in the closet. better half has been complaining that he doesn't have enough drawer space, so now he has three more back. now if i could only figure a way to give him half the closet back for his giant tshirts or pants, he'd be a happier camper.

looks like the transfer of my website stuff to a trial design completed after only three days. i still have some time to fart around with layouts to decide if i want to bother changing it up now. i suppose i will end up doing it anyway, to stay current with my web provider. just another system to figure out how to make it do what i want. they think it's simpler to work with, but i don't, and i can't figure out some things yet.

not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. i think they should just make all holidays require four day weekends, not just because the specific holiday happens to be on a sunday.

better half's mother is already asking about taking down the tree. he'll leave it up as long as he can possibly delay it. i think he told her by valentine's day. that will also piss off the landlord, cuz he can't make him take it down.

2017

1953 chevy bel air

hey, guess what? i didn't go anywhere this morning. too many shows to choose from, no recommendations, and just didn't feel like it.

so i'm starting this year off in a mood. and i'm trying real hard to bite my tongue and keep the peace. feeling a little back slide into by shell. i blame that on that ahole at the dukes show. still pretty pissed about that.

meanwhile, i've been filling my calendar with dates for upcoming car shows that i've enjoyed in the past. already know i'm going to miss chicano park day this year, as i have a business trip planned for that week/weekend. oh well.

relatives are in town, here in whittier, and at my mom's house.

holy hell, a plane just flew really low and made a tight u-turn, heading in for the landing at lax. yep, we are in the landing pattern here. just don't usually see them so low except when it's windy or rainy, which doesn't seem to be the case, as far as i can tell from this window seat.

sorry, got distracted by the big, shiny object.

anyway, hoping to see some old cars cruise by after the shows, heading through uptown. maybe i'll chase them with my iphone, but i don't feel like hauling my gear out. better half just pointed out a black and red sixty-one impala driving by...and so it begins.

kermit

1962 chevy impala

i guess i'll put this up for the end of the year.

they always seem to park this car under the solar panels behind the bleachers at san fernando. i suppose for the shade later in the day, as it's usually freakin hot later in the afternoon.

i don't remember it being that hot this year, but then, i get hot flashes, so i overheat in the winter, so it probably was for me.

anyway, caught it early, before they popped the trunk and the hood. while a little bit of sun was still creeping low, under the solar panels.

they don't seem like the friendliest guys, but they're busy setting up, so they probably just want me outta the way.

sitting in my window, watching the clouds grow darker, going to rain again soon. got up this morning and walked uptown, saw rogue one. it was ok, as far as the search for more money goes, and it did tie in at the end to the original star wars.

had yesterday off from work, and have been effing around with updating my website. doesn't seem to be importing this here current version, progress bar isn't moving. i do have more than a couple of pages here, so it might just be taking it's sweet time.

i really do not want to manually copy and paste every single entry. and the programming interface is all different, so pretty sure it isn't going to come over simply anyway.

guess i'll work on my latest batch of stuff to send in to the copyright office.

also, there seem to be several different new year's day car shows this year. majestics, the one we usually go to, have moved out to wilmington this time. together car club is at the dam this year. there's another out by dodger stadium, and i'm pretty sure i saw flyers for one in anaheim or buena park and somewhere else. such a dilemma. don't know where to go, or if i'll go out at all.

haven't seen the photographers or car owners of the stuff i like, posting which one they'll be heading out to, so i'm at a loss. someone recommend one to me, please, so i can talk myself into getting out of a nice warm bed before the sun comes up.

visitors

1947 chevy fleetmaster

another from the oldies san fernando show last summer. early on, there just weren't as many cars as compared to previous years. that allowed me to get out and shoot without a lot of people or even other cars getting in the way.

these just look like they randomly parked on the field, but the pop up tent ruins that thought, as it ruins the picture. i really hate pop up tents. but i love the cars, so i'll selectively not see it there in the background. fuckin’ tents.

a picture

1939 chevy master deluxe

i'm having a brain freeze between xmas and new year, so i'll give everyone a break from the chasm between my ears, that is full of random thoughts.

here's a picture of a nice car. i wouldn't mind finding one of these under my xmas tree, if not a fleetline.

elite green

chevy impala

this is a nice green car. couldn't get a good angle on it, since the front end was hopped up, and i'm not that tall, but this will do. lots of pinstriping and airbrush work. wondering if these are the type of wheels that they have to pull each spoke out and polish them individually. pain in the ass, i would think.

almost xmas. almost forgot that we had today off at work. all right, i really did not realize until last monday, when someone said something about the day off. which really screwed up my project deadlines, since i had factored in working today. oh well.

i guess tomorrow i'm getting baked, err, getting my bake on...a variety of edible xmas gifts. certain family members don't want things, but they do expect to receive their preferred baked treats. vinegar taffy for my dad...i'll do that last, as i'll burn my hands pulling that shit as it cools. but he likes it, so i'll make it for him. he says he doesn't inhale it all in one day like he used to, and his crowns on his teeth don't come out anymore, since he super glued them in.

my younger brother just decided he'd fly his family in on xmas day, so i'll have to make him a danish pastry. have made it for him every year since high school, except for last year, since he moved to the east coast right before xmas. i'm saying he's coming back just for that, but he won't admit it.

gave my kid the choice between some sticky, sweet, brandy-covered mexican bread or a loaf of carrot bread; he went with carrot. went to the market earlier, with a list, and yep, forgot to get the carrots. i'll go tomorrow.

and i think i'll make my mom some zuchinni bread, with cinnamon and nutmeg flavor.

apart from all that, i gotta make a batch of cinnamon rolls too. that takes all day, so i'll start those first. will be a busy day, and i'm going to make a big mess in the kitchen.

bodes ill

1956 chevy bel air

thanks panera for that flavorless egg sandwich with the eggshell spice. and the salt shaker that drops a teaspoon of salt with just a light tap. and the orange juice that tastes a bit off, with a lid that popped right off without breaking the safety ring. my lip is tingling now...probably all in my head, right?

if my day is starting off this well, i wonder how work will go? xmas came early there; my week started with a brand new kick-ass computer, with a couple of big curved monitors.

at least most people have already left for their holidays or are working from home, so it should be pretty quiet. me, i'm in the office. new computer to play with, and a new employee to keep an eye on, getting acclimated to windows vs mac. not a new revelation that i'm a terrible supervisor/teacher...ask my better half about how i met him.

here's my chance to fill this blank canvas, to train him on procedures the way i want them done. i've done things for so long, i do them without thinking about it, and have already forgotten to tell him a bunch of stuff. but then, if i think back to times when i started a new job, or observations of others starting, you see eyes glazing over from the sheer amount of info hitting them the first few days. so i'll just mention stuff as days pass or the questions come up.

here's another of the tj friends cars i woke up to see for the xmas parade. it should have been at the end of the line, to carry the fat guy in the red suit, instead of whichever political hack or parade host got to sit in it.