candylicious

we used to frequent the other candy store uptown. they had a thing where everytime you bought candy, they'd add credit or punch a card, and once you'd collected X number of credits, you'd get some free stuff. so when my better half's niece and nephews came to visit, off we'd go to the candy store.

well, when we had saved enough credits and went to claim our free stuff, the owner said something to the effect of, "oh, we decided to end that program." like last week. no warning. no consolation prize.

so effectively, they lost a good customer, and we haven't been in there since. we've been to this one once in a while, since we've cut back a bit on the candy intake, and those kids have grown up a bit and don't visit as often. little farther to walk down the street, but they're more friendly here, and convenient to the movie theatre, if you like to BYOC.

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i took a long walk today. not feeling too good now. i spent the evening trying to decide what to post. running out of room on the computer, so started by looking at 2011 pics. i had a couple of hundred images i'd marked as favs to work on then. but there just wasn't one screaming to be seen today. same for 2012.

thinking i'll be pulling the 2011s off to backup drives pretty quick to free up 450GB of space for that year alone. it was a good year, is all i can say.

so back to 2013. i've already tagged over 400 images for consideration. then i whittled that down to 21 for today. then i had to ask my better half to help me decide from six that were standing out the most.

he liked this one best. probably because the colors popped. and they match the candy store...they might have parked there on purpose.

i've seen it a few times recently, at other shows. i considered another picture of it, but i'll save it for another time.

i like the minimal pinstriping on the front by the headlights, and on that air cooler thing.

and standing behind it was this guy, who must be friends with the owner. he remembered who i was, and said he'd seen me at one of the shows where this one was at a couple of weeks earlier. last time i saw him, he was at ruby's and said he was still working on his car. all it takes is money and time. and i'll be waiting to take another picture of it when it's done.

hussy

so we've been trying to go out and walk when i get home, after eight hours on my butt at work, followed by one and a half to two hour drives home in traffic. don't start playing with my pictures until almost eight o'clock, so kinda bummed about that. something has to give, and it's going to have to be this.

so, quick post. love hood ornaments. love my lens, though i don't think as much as i loved my old one that my better half now uses. and when i get the focus just where i want it to be, icing on the cake.

ditman and first

the owner of this truck stopped me up the street and asked if i'd shot it and where he would be able to see pics. i hadn't been there long, so no, i hadn't at that point. i asked which car was his and got "the black truck down there," as he abstractly waved his hand toward the street.

so i'm assuming this black truck was his, since it was parked with the other bomb club cars and he happened to be wearing a bomb club shirt. there were other trucks up there in the vagueness he'd motioned to, but i don't think there happened to be another black one nearby.

i don't always take a shot just because they ask. depends on the person. some just assume i will. ask nicely and/or have a nice car parked in an interesting spot. he lucked out on all counts.

the car was clean. i liked the details.

was out of town this weekend, and had hoped for rain. didn't take my camera with me. woke up to a bright, sunny day. fine, as there weren't any shows going on where we were, and if no one tells me about one i missed it will be like it didn't happen, right?

dearly departed

soon after we arrived at the show on first street, we ran into a guy who asked about pictures we might have taken of his car at the whittier dia de los muertos show a few weeks before. he'd been looking for them online, but i don't recall handing him a card, so it would have been a bit more difficult to find it anyway.

wouldn't have mattered, as i hadn't posted too many from that show. haven't posted much at all, really, been so busy and sitting in traffic too often.

here are a few shots from that day. he was parked up toward the donut shop, at the end of the street, away from the street vendors and crowds and the other pod of cars at the next intersection.

yes, the door and trunk were open, and i normally would have not taken it. they're missing some dearly departeds, so i'll admire the shrine.

and i usually pass up cars when they have the dolls up on the bumpers too. just don't like them. not in the creep me out way, just kinda whatever.

i don't think i took one shot of the car from the first street show...it happens sometimes.

nash it up

another quick one. again. tired.

to avoid posting yet another truck, thought i'd post this one. he didn't actually talk to me directly; he talked to my better half, who had taken a picture of it at the bomb club show that i didn't make it to a couple of months ago. pretty sure i've seen it before, and if i did a search of my files, i'd probably find it.

i liked the hood ornament and the emblem on the front, with it's slight pitted imperfection.

east first

someone gave me a flyer for the old memories east la show out on first street. kinda wished we had gotten up and out earlier, because it turned out to be more than we expected. the veterans celebration took up four or five blocks of the street and included a stage and music.

lucked out and got parking fairly close and headed out to the end of the street and unpacked. first block on one side was taken up with bomb club cars. i've seen some of them before. several of the guys stopped to talk to me, so lucky you, i'll start with your cars.

getting late, so i'll just quickly start with another truck, since i think the owner was the first one to say hey. i think the shot from the other side was maybe the better view, but the sun had gotten too high, and my shadow was too close to the car, as was anyone who was walking behind me, so here it is from the other side.

happy that there some smallish clouds in the sky, they always make a better picture. better than the plain blue that is more typical, and they reflect so well in the polished slates that are the hoods of the cars.

why?

so this gorgeous truck wasn't quite in the show at st hilary's, but in the parking lot just outside. sometimes i find some extraordinary cars just outside of the best shows, in parking lots, on the street, around the block. 

i figure it's the entry fee, they arrived after the lot got too full, or just too late to enter the competition. otherwise, i just don't know. come on, guys like to whip'em out and compare them, so come on inside the gate and play the game.

the only thing i really don't like on this otherwise perfecto truck, is the stupid, asinine bullet hole sticker on the front, just next to the headlight. i just don't get those. you want a bullet hole on your car, just shoot it already.

pretty maids all in a row

its nice being at a show early. guys park their babies and go off to socialize or find breakfast. and i can pretty much futz around with my camera without interruption, or lots of people wandering into the frame.

sometimes its more interesting with a couple of people in the frame, helping to tell a story about a car show. but this time, i preferred the fog.

i've managed to take a few rows of cars like this lately. just haven't had time, as usual, to do anything with them. 

out of sorts

first, happy bday to my better half.

i gave him a woody.

the one from the pixar movie...i know what you're thinking... >:)

have had a very not feeling right weekend otherwise.

on friday, my better half walked five miles round trip, when he took his van in for service. ended up with a sore ankle, so he didn't want to go anywhere on saturday.

i stopped for about an hour and change at the latin gents show, then started feeling wobbly. probably because i needed to eat. weekends throw me off...i sleep in late, so i eat later than usual.

anyway, packed up and headed out, while seeing more cars arriving. considered going back later, more toward sunset, but just couldn't bring myself to drive back down there.

then today, there were a couple of shows i'd thought about going to, but, it's my better half's bday, and thought i'd just hang out with him and whatever he wanted to do.

this shot is one of the last couple i shot yesterday. couldn't resist that light and how it was falling through the trees. it just feels like fall. maybe that's why i feel weird...time to hibernate. i sure as heck don't feel like getting up at 4am and going to work tomorrow.

all in one weekend

went to three shows this weekend. good ones. missed ruby's last show of the season, but i'm ok with it. i've seen other people's pictures and i'm still ok with it.

continuing with the bomb club cars...

here's richard's (not that one) master deluxe. he pimped one of the photos in my book—was a picture of his friend's car, got him to look at it, got it sold after carrying it around for a couple of years.

i took several shots of his car. i liked this one best. just loving the fog. wish it happened more often.

then the next day, we went to the viejito's show. (ya, my better half likes to spend time with me when he's not working.) who do we happen to run in to? yep. same guy. same car.

as i was saying, fun to shoot the same car in different places, different times, different light. what do you think?

dude, buy a print. i mean if you want.

here's the plaque from the car next to it, since richard's car has window blinds covering his.

it was their halloween show, btw. not as many cars as usual. i assume it was the baseball game again. but i did see this...which was pretty scary in itself.