what's up?

bass ackwards

i did shoot this ornament from this side, but feel like it needs to be flipped, so it's "looking towards the future." but the drivel filling the space below, is looking back a few days, about a photography class i attended, here in hot, but not yet sultry, florida.

i've always done things in not quite the proper or expected way, be it kid first, wedding second, changing my name for one but not for another. my mother must have been disappointed at the time, and continues to be confused by my choices.

sitting here in florida for the past three days hanging out with hundreds of photographers, wannabes, and world-renown experts in photography and photoshop, taking in my annual training/improving my skills/learn how to do stuff better at work thing. while not feeling like a complete idiot with a camera, i am surrounded by not just a few camera snobs. if it ain't canon or nikon, it ain't shit.

i'm sorry. your camera has a sony sensor...look it up.

first day, i took a class on posing people and lighting. need to learn more about it, since i will have to shoot headshots for work. three hours of the instructor's explanations and examples, then an hour letting us take turns with four studio setups with lights and models.

here i show up with the only sony i have that will accept their flash trigger. even tested that it would actually work with the lights before class. no problemo.

before she lets us loose to work with the models, she gives us the camera settings for iso, shutter speed and so forth, in manual mode. check, check, and check, but then there is one setting blinking on my screen--m.m. -2.0. i'm in line to shoot and i cannot figure out what the camera needs to make it stop. to me, a negative exposure is going to be dark. i can't find any setting in the menus showing anything but zero.

i ask the people around me, since many actually do take pictures in studios and/or have some intermediate knowledge of what we're doing. camera settings are camera settings, regardless of brand name; it's the menus that are different, that freak people out.

they all take a look at my screen and get a strange look on their face, not recognizing the display. when they see that it's a sony, they back away as if i've brought a voodoo doll to class and i've already shoved a pin in it. fine. i get out of line and ask the instructor. she can't help either, but says the other settings are good.

i head back to the line i was in, heading to the end, but they had saved my spot, and i was next. fuck.

i'm seriously shy, and out of my comfort zone as it is, but i go for it, cuz it's my turn, and we're all pretending like we know stuff.

i walk up and shake hands with the model, in this setup, it' a guy who might as well be ryan reynolds' twin brother. sure i can work with deadpool.

i tell him my name and confess that i am completely out of my element and haven't worked with directing people before. these models expect that, and will help by doing some initial poses to start you shooting. great, right?

no. i put my camera up to my eye and i see...nothing. it's dark. hmmm. ok, then open the screen on the back of the camera, same thing. hold it up and blindly point it at the guy and squeeze off a few frames, and yes, the big ass lights fire as they should. but i can't see what i'm shooting, so i pass the trigger to the next guy and quickly go back to my seat, not bothering with the other setups.

i know it is probably something simple but i don't know what term to look up to fix it. i send my better half a picture of the flashing display, but he was really very busy with work at that moment and didn't know off the top of his head.

aside from that, i've only brought two lenses with me. one is perfect for close-up headshots and/or stand from a good distance to get more of the body or motion in the frame, being a prime lens on my crop sensor. not enough space for that, but i really want it's sharpness.

the other was my wide angle, which, is good for cars, but i really didn't want to be all up in their faces or want the distortion.

i ended up changing back to my usual settings i like for car shows. everything normal, screen and viewing through eyepiece just as expected. wtf. i just watched everyone else and fired a few shots of models from where i was. then class was over.

wasn't pissed that it didn't work, because it did...there was just a setting that i didn't know and no one to help think it through.

i was back at my car, trying to decide where to get dinner when my better half calls and says he found out what i needed to do to fix it. really was just a matter of making the camera not use the "live" view feature which was trying to interpret the settings given by the teacher, and making it a very dark screen, as the flash hadn't fired as i looked through the eyepiece yet. a simple menu setting to turn it off, but not in an obvious place when you don't know what you're looking for.

oh well. not a completely wasted day, but very frustrating.

i did enjoy the older gentleman, who seemed to like to brag about his experience and what he does, in a very loud, deep voice, to anyone and everyone. not only that day, but over the next couple as well. bloviating, self important, and obnoxious.

i guess he is that insecure, he needed to hear everyones' praises when he showed off some of his images. even submitted one for an instructor to critique. teacher said it was ok, not great, more of a lucky shot. he argued with the story behind the picture, how he had to wait to get it, and that the company had used it for a calendar and other things, with him getting paid in benefits like a free membership for a year, etc. i wanted to tell him to just shutup.

showdown

back in washington dc with my bro. his wife and kids flew in yesterday. their hotel reservations got screwed up and not enough beds. bro stayed with me, since i had two beds.

now she's spending her morning on the phone yelling at expedia customer service, trying to switch hotels. she has already been disconnected once. feeling like we should fetch the kids and take them out while she deals with that.

anyway, a few more days and headed home. has been fun, but missing my better half. hope he will pick me up at the airport. pretty sure he will...ya he will, no worries.

another sunrise shot. tired of them yet? i suppose i should sleep in more often and just shoot when the sun is high and harsh, and see if there is any 'mood' to be found at high noon. middle of a dusty road, shoot-out, just like an old western flick.

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.

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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.

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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.