crackle jack

all right, another post tonight. up goes a shot with the new lens, no thanks to my insurance company. told them the truth about the old one – a piece that worked the autofocus broke inside it – and it wasn't covered. whereas, i think many people would have purposely dropped it or misplaced it and then reported that damage and would have been paid...but that's another rant that doesn't belong here.

so stuff was going on at the broiler tonight...a photo/video shoot or mini concert in the parking lot. lots of girls dressed in '50s garb and makeup milling about. i assume more cars would show up, but there really wasn't, at least while i was there.

anyway, this old pontiac drives up. i've seen and shot it before elsewhere. while the owner isn't the friendliest dude to run across, and had grumbled at me last time, he never had a problem with it before. not sure why he puts a fugly flyer advertising some other vehicle for sale on his windshield.

anyway, as i set down my tripod in front of it, he came over and asked that i not shoot pictures of the car. some drivel about it showing up all over the internet lately, and please don't. ok, no problemo. he didn't really say it in some intimidating, anal sort of way, as a former posting mentioned. since i haven't posted any of the shots of it i've taken, he can't blame me for any real or imaginary postings of it coming from here. of course, doing a quick image search doesn't turn up his specific car

i did ask him if i could take a shot of the hood ornament, and he said yes. told him i had a new lens to test, though by that point i don't think he could care less. then he returned to the pack of car owners, which also included my everlasting nemesis, richard, so there was some explanation for his cantankerous attitude.

so here it is. wish he'd parked around the corner, so the sun could have hit it and made it glow. i think the lens is a keeper.

took a shine to it

this car caught my attention. off at the end of the lot, the sun just starting to go down, light hitting it just so. the pinstripes and chrome just begged to be looked at, just had to get past a handful of hydraulicly-endowed cadillacs.

i like that the fuzzy dice match the color of the roof and interior. i'd lose that antenna ball if it were mine, but i ain't so nevermind.

crossroads

there have been a few new shows listed on dave's site recently, at least i've never seen on it before. this is from the good times show off crossroads parkway, in the carl's jr parking lot. figured if there wasn't much there, we could just go to fry's down the street.

there was a pretty good turnout: lots of chevys, lots of low rider cadillacs, and lots of hydraulics being bounced around. the show started in the late afternoon, but the sun is still dropping fairly early, so started shooting as quick as possible. there was a space of time before the parking lot lights came on, where it was pretty dark, and hard to see the cars. i still took some shots in the various lighting conditions...never know what you'll get. always learning, so practice, practice, practice. see what works and what doesn't for a picture.

there were beautiful cars from one end of the lot to the other, but this was one of the first group of cars we looked at. the owners were friendly and brought along their nice, big pit bulls too.

master of the universe

maybe not of the universe, but of the road. yummy grille on this old buick. lots of chrome. and oh so shiny. would i buy this if i had the cash? i dunno. what would i buy? i'll have to think about that.

lots of cars are showing up with for sale signs plastered on the windshield. is time to start the next “project” or can't afford the gas? well it's a buyer's market, if only i had the money to get something and do the upkeep. do these old cars become money pits, like boats?

------- wtf, it's already after 10 pm...no wonder i'm tired. i can't help myself...just had to post one more. nighty night bunny wab-bit.

old guard

this line of chevys was at the old memories eastside charity event at the broiler yesterday evening. i got my better half to join me for this one and a couple of other shows today. good sport. thanks d.

the rain had stopped earlier yesterday, but the cold continues, with intermittent strong winds. the wind wobbles my tripod sometimes and messes with my shots, and throws them out of focus. guess i need to get a weight to help stabilize it from the shaking.

there weren't as many cars as we expected, probably due to the weather, but still a few worth shooting. several people were very helpful about moving their chairs out of the way, so i could take a picture, so thank you very much. there were some cars that i really wanted to get, but the sun was busy going down, and was casting too much of a shadow across them, so i had to pass, or the location just sucked with all the posts and light poles screwing up the look.

my hubbie ran into another photographer who cared to advise him that if he used a flash, you wouldn't need to use a tripod. the camera model my hubbie uses doesn't have a built-in flash. the guy said you can buy them pretty cheap. yup.

usually, at this point my hubbie would have whipped out his iPad® and shown him that we do all right without it, but he didn't have it in his bag. he just handed him one of my cards and told him to check out my website to see what we get without using a flash.

so, camera guy, i hope you didn't lose my card. please let us know where we can see your pictures, we'd love to see them.

blimey, it's limey

i did mention there was a car show at whittier high school a couple of weekends ago, as a fundraiser for the baseball team. i didn't get there as earlier as i'd planned, so the sun was already pretty harshly in the sky.

there were a decent number of cars there, mostly chevys. main club representing was the bomb squad. not sure if this one is one of theirs, as the majority of those were around the corner from this one. it was such a brilliant green, enhanced by the sun, i had to have it. wish the owner would have closed the trunk. eh, the owner was behind the next car over, and seemed oblivious to hey, someone is taking a picture of my car. screw him, i cropped him out of the picture, so there.

there were a number of cadillacs all hyped up on hydraulics, all jumped up and posing. i only took a couple of shots of those, cuz they aren't really my thing. they just make me wonder why they do that, but to each his own.

there was a spectacular old chevy truck parked out on the street, i suppose because he didn't want to pay to participate for a trophy...there seemed to be plenty available, maybe everyone got one at the end of the day.

cherry

it is getting difficult to choose what to post. i have so many, but you'll just have to wait. go somewhere else if you want a photo dump.

busy weekend. only hit up two shows on friday and one early on saturday. had planned on a couple today, but valentine's day plans took priority.

this one was from friday. mmmm, the cars at the chubby's show are just so delicious. it's just chevy heaven every friday. the latin gents just do them right, and seem to represent more than other clubs at this show. 

not quite sure if this is one of theirs though...he drove in and parked all by himself. pulled in and dropped down. parked with no one near means fewer background distractions, i have more options for framing the picture, less people milling around, though they did start walking over by the time i got my shots. i liked this one best.

i was down lower for this shot, on my knees. one of the guys went with the "you don't have to worship the car" joke. at least that was one of the cleaner ones i've heard. thanks. :)

i would have it

favorite parking spot. check.

sun setting. check

reflections. check.

hood ornament. ooooohhhh. check.

pinstripes. check.

lots of chrome up front. check.

mary poppins...practically perfect in every way. check.

shine on

i realize that most photographers would be irritated by lens flares, but i kind of like them sometimes.

here is yet another chevy in the primo spot at chubby's diner. another perfect car. with yet another reflection of me in the bumper. arrrrggghhh. i suppose i could photoshop me out of it, but that's not what i saw, and what better way to prove that i took the shot?

i like the grill on these and the overall curviness of the car. just screams classic. oh, and of course, the hood ornament works for me too.

backup singers

yet another chevy (shocker) from chubby's diner last week. i got there very early, and this was the first of three shows i hit that evening.

i've seen this lime bomb here before, and also over at angelo's, and possibly/probably at garden grove last year. i think it belongs to one of the latin gents.

it's just beautiful and was parked up in one of the spots you can see from the street. you can't help but notice it. they always put nice cars out front to get people's atttention, get them to stop, have a look, and maybe go and eat in the diner, i suppose.

that bunch of cars in the background are also probably owned by latin gents club members. you know how i feel about cars with the hoods open...but in this case, they just make me think of the star and his backup singers. open up and say ahhhhh.