what's up?

terminal

after a lot of time wasted plotting a trip to london and france with my bro, his wife shot that idea down at the last minute, citing his kids' spring break and family time. i secretly think she didn't want him to go to europe without her. maybe he's a little pw, but we changed plans and are staying in the states.

i should have just gone by myself, what with the british pound being eighty cents to our dollar...was really a bargain, even with last minute booking.

so here i am, sitting in lax way too early in the morning, heading out to the east coast. i think i've gotten about six hours of sleep the last couple of nights, and i'm tired. burned out and ready to just be away from work.

going roadtrippin' with hotels booked tonight and the last, and no idea where in between. spending more money i don't have, just to relax ese.

what i'm saying is, i'll be away from my computer, so those few people i talked to at the last show about their cars, well, you'll just have to keep waiting to see the pictures. sorry, ran out of time.

i'll be gone for a week and a half, back in the office for three days, then back to the east coast on a business trip.

busy month, and going to miss a few of my favorite shows 😞 east coast shows are mostly muscle cars, so <yawn>.

better half staying home with his mom, so if you happen to see him moping around uptown, say hi.

i have a couple of older shots i can post, but nothing new, besides this beauty. shot it earlier this year, at the dia de los muertos in whittier, and here it was at walnut high school. owner came right up and said hi, but had to remind me about where i'd met him before. as soon as he said it, i knew exactly where it was...better at remembering the cars than faces and/or names, until i meet you a few times.

nothing better than to hear the kid say, "i used to follow you, but..." ya other stuff gets your attention. no big. not writing anything worth reading anyway. just drivel. gave him another card.

shot a bunch of different angles, but this is the only one i had time to fiddle with...still sorting through the two hundred car shots i did take that day.

was a pretty good day for a show. usually a hot and sweaty day in walnut at this annual show, but the chance of rain this particular day, with the clouds blowing through, kept it a mostly comfortable temp, with a cool breeze.

appreciated a slightly inebriated guy, in different part of the parking lot, manplaining how the noisy chevy deluxe driving away on the street, just on the other side of the fence, was all original and therefore more valuable. keep 'em noisy is all i could say, as i watched it driving away. then he proceeded to talk me around an old thirty-six chevy, pointing out the skirts and chrome bits that add several thou to the value. then he just wandered away. ok then.

-----

guess i'll go wander around the terminal and watch planes take off. better half would have liked that part. ttfn.

abuelo's 55

quick post. quickly realizing there is not enough time to get everything done before vacation or in a day, even.

told a few people i'd post pics of their cars from last weekend's walnut high school fundraiser/unidos car club show.

here's a front view at the owner's request. hood up, i don't like, but that's they way he set it up. guess i'll add an engine shot when i have time.

gotta get to work now...more later.

just testing

clearly, i haven't bothered to learn any video editing skillz, but i'll still shoot some video sometimes. usually, when the cars are moving and i can't do what i like to do.

haven't tried uploading video here, since i switched over to the new layout, so figured i'd give it a try.

shot some video clips last week, since they gate guard wouldn't let me in, so just shot cars while they rolled past.

i'll add a few more, if the first one works ok, for chuckleberries.

goals

appropriate signage, no? i'll add this to my annual review goals: work hard and get me a stylish old chevy. think they'd go for it? nah. but they might be interested in this picture if the little in-house photo competition actually happens, unless they make me be a judge. then i couldn't participate, right?

i'm kinda thinking i got better shots out in the parking lot than inside on the grass. mostly because i got the early morning light here versus later, harsher light. pfft. it happens. i say i got lucky; better half says the more i shoot, the luckier i get.

i've shot this car elsewhere, but i do kinda like this one now. and if i shoot it again in the future, i'll probably like that one better too.

limping my way through two more weeks until vacation. though the time off i have scheduled this month for vacation and business trips will make me miss a few of my favorite annual car shows. that part sucks, that and traveling without my better half; hoping to spend some time with my brothers, so i guess that will make up for things somewhat.

splintered

anytime i haven't been out shooting regularly, it takes a few shots to get into the swing or rhythm of setting up, framing up and firing off shots. i don't expect the first few to be good.

this was the first car i shot the other day at workman high school' fundraiser. was already overheating.

it's a little distorted, but i like it anyway. it pops a little. and i love the hood ornaments on these cars. wishing the little palm tree head wasn't behind the yellow reflector thing on the hood, but oh well.

reaching for a cooking pan in the lower cupboard, trying to not force my better half to move away from the sink, i tried to reach through a slightly open cabinet door. it's an older house. the cabinets have layers of paint and wobbly pull handles. and rough edges on the bottoms of shelves.

so yup, my knuckles slide up along the bottom of the upper shelf and i got the pan and several long splinters in my finger. one i pulled out with my fingernails, just because it was sticking out of the skin. the longer one seems to be just under the skin, with either a smaller third beyond that, or just a cut.

i don't like digging for splinters. probably had one as a kid that my mom went after rather unpleasantly. so i'll just put a band-aid on it and let it work itself out.

didn't hurt at first, but within about five minutes, it started hurting like a mofo. oh well. hope it isn't lead paint.

nice to see you again

so, in spite of not feeling too great (again), i went out for a short while, to the fundraiser at workman high school.

for fuck's sakes, man, it's winter. why the hell is it in the eighties in march? and the cars are on blacktop. it was in the forties and raining a week or so ago. i really hate california sometimes.

photo courtesy of jim diaz—thanks jimbo!

glad i brought my hat. sometimes i worry it may be too offensive with it's pinstriped message on the brim, but then i hear the lyrics of the music being played, and it seems rather tame in comparison.

took a quick round of the show, then went back for a few more particular cars.

i think this was the second or third car i shot. the owner is actually just peeking into view behind it. he came over and re-introduced himself, saying we'd met at a previous show. guessing that would be one in covina, back around halloween.

told him i'd post his car; i try to keep my promises, if i can keep my memories straight. so hope he likes it.

my head got swimmy soon enough, so i packed it up and left to find lunch. pretty sure i'll faint at a show one of these hot days. i do hope someone friendly will watch over me and my gear until i wake up.

hangry

still sifting through old pics. recently got the call for entries for the fair, and can't decide what to enter.

this one's nice, it seems to pop enough, but i don't know that it's in my top ten. that's the other thing--if i enter as many as i usually do, i end up with several being selected for showing. then after, if they don't sell, i'm stuck with them.

this is fine, as i really like what i shoot, and enter; the problem lies in the lack of enough wall space to display them all. and also the money spent framing that could have been used elsewhere.

maybe i should post them for sale. i'll think about it. they're just taking up space in storage otherwise.

-------

i've had such a rough week at work. the pace has been brutal, and in spite of more outside help coming, we're being warned that the workload probably won't let up anytime soon.

on the up side, it sounds like i may be adding company portrait photographer to my resume, with them reviewing my wishlist of camera gear, to see what kind of budget they really want to throw at the project. as long as i just pretend the ceo is an old chevy, i should be ok.

i also received a bonus, so to celebrate that this week is almost over, i'm sitting in a restaurant, treating myself to a nice piece of steak, a rare treat. too bad i'm by myself, except for the happy hour patrons, who aren't far enough into their cups to be loud and rude yet.

emerald city

one from about this time last year--at dino's bomb squad's blessing of the bombs. haven't seen a flyer for this year, or i'd add it to my calendar.

they said it usually gets packed, but not last year, not while i was there. not when the priest went around flinging holy water around. beaded right up on those shiny polished cars.

i'm sure there was something else going on, so a lot of cars were siphoned off there.

still, nuff pretty cars showed up. reviewing old files, and saw that i hadn't posted this one. i like the color, but it does take some getting used to on this model, being so different from the typical/traditional black.

so close...

dear gary,

i haven't seen you since last year. i was out in chino this morning, in what turned out to be a wasted trip. i thought of you for some reason.

different cities, different car shows, different people get associated.

though i only know you by acquaintance, and you always saying hello, at least to me, (not so much to my better half whom you had never met, but gave a huge stink eye to last year), and dropping a joke once in a while, you are the one that comes to mind when i pass through riverside or chino.

i haven't been out toward your part of town much this past year. i haven't been out much at all. life gets in the way, and all else falls to the wayside.

i was not far from the main drag where the corn feed run will be soon enough. wondering if you are well, and if you will bring the ford or the chevy out this year. the last couple of times it has been the ford, which is nice, but much too perfect and electric green.

hoping the chevy is up and running. maybe you finally sold it. i much prefer a chevy anytime. here's an impala, that was just down the street from your car. nice, no?

it was threatening to rain that day, same as today—maybe it is always cloudy in chino? and probably reminded me of last year's show.

i briefly thought of taking the fifteen minute drive out to belatedly shoot some pictures at the pomona swapmeet. had my bag and tripod with me, in case there was time after my appointment. when that went south, i looked toward the sky and seeing the airplanes, heading toward lax, flying so low they might as well have landed on the freeway, i took that as a sign of impending rain, and headed home.

only rained for about an hour here in whittier, so i don't know how it went out there, but of course, i now regret not going. well, maybe next month—oh wait, shit—i'll be on an airplane then. fine. june fourth.

looking at my calendar, i see i still have time off from work scheduled, ending the first week of april. so if i travel anywhere, i'd be coming home the day of the corn feed run. what to do, what to do. already going to miss the chicano park show because of another trip.

well, things are spinning every which way around me at work and at home, so until we meet again, take care old man.

kathy

go dodger blue

got my oil changed today. and they found a few other things, of course.

i'll be needing a new car soon enough, but not today. not from a dealer. they gouge me a bit more every time i take it in, now that it is over ten years old. but any time i get out of there for less than a grand is a good day.

pomona is tomorrow, but so is some rain. i keep checking; the phone app keeps changing it's percentages. not much cover out there, though i suppose a plastic bag would do for the camera.

i have to be somewhere early anyway, so probably shouldn't cut it so close, only to have to leave quickly. so i guess i'll just sleep in and wait until the next meet.

spectacular fleetline in dodger blue. really brave of these guys with convertibles to drive them out with the top down. rain came down, tops went up though.