piece of tail

  

i think this truck was one of the last group of cars to enter the show, horns and sirens blaring, look at me, look at me.

i was really just digging the cloud reflections on all the cars, and this truck was no exception in its glossy finish that caught them.

not sure if the owner of this was one of the few guys that stopped to talk with me or not. if he's the guy that i cropped out of the picture, then no, and i don't think i threw a card in the window. oh well.

and the fox tail appeals to me. guessing it has been dyed to have stripes. too orange and full to be racoon. i have several tails from canada, fox and wolf...much too big and pretty to carry around, as well as the old racoon tail that i've had on my key chain for close to 20 years now. it keeps wanting to come apart, as it is drying out now, and i keep sewing it back together. i suppose i'll have to find another. hard to lose your keys with that thing on it. only ones i've seen for sale are thin, pathetic things. maybe i'll get back to canada soon and find a decent one.

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i tried to hit several shows this weekend. two of them were no shows; a third i didn't have the energy left to go to after all, and will try again next month. mr lindsey might need to update his cruise night list. either several that i have tried to hit up are summer only, or they've been cancelled. at least i didn't drive out to them specifically; happened to be in the area, and made the effort to stop. oh well.

blue velvet

can you not see why rainy days make for the bestest images? look at that sky. and that the sun is muted like a big soft box, killing off harsh reflections.

i take pictures of the cars as i find them, but there are times like this, i wish i could move some of that background crap out of the way...it's cluttering up a perfectly fine car picture.

check out the airbrushed picture on the visor of this dodge. skelly banditos. :)

watermelon ding

saw this truck a couple of weeks ago at the broiler. it's pretty interesting. the patterns and the paint give this otherwise plain jane truck some attitude. is it more bad ass with that dent on the front bumper? that must have been a pisser of a day.

________

went to the broiler this evening. not really much going on. a lot of the same cars i've shot before. didn't stay long. i blame it on the full moon.

did get irritated by some granny with a plain truck. i was in the midst of doing a set of exposures, when she, apparently the owner, decided to open the door and sit in the truck. then lean out the window and ask what i was doing with the pictures. told her i put them on my blog if i like the shot.

she stared at me. then, the got out of the truck, leaving the door open, to go chat with her buds behind the truck. buttholio. eh. was a throw away shot anyway. she either was being obtuse, or was just passive aggressive enough to not tell me she'd prefer i didn't shoot it.

i could make an ok shot of the frames she didn't eff up, but i'd just end up ripping her as richard the second. best leave her to her anonimity, and delegate her truck to the non-existent category in my eyes. blithering idiot.

you could even say it glows...

no idea what kind of car this is. they stripped off all the things i'd look for first to figure that out. another one of the awesome cars at the broiler from the magazine shoot.

really amazing paint jobs on these. can't remember if that nomad is being lit up by the lights for the shoot, or if someone's got their headlights on, but it really brightens things up, almost too much.

sweet dreams

so i went to the broiler the other night. end of january. temps in the upper 70s. weirdest weather i can remember.

anyway, lots of cars were already in the lot by the time i arrived. these pretty little things were all spit shined for an official photo shoot for a magazine i can't remember the name of, but i'm sure you'd all recognize it. quite the production, with a large team of people setting up fancy lighting and lots of cameras.

got this one fairly early on, though i was intercepted when i first arrived by someone interested in pictures of their own car. he's a regular. already had posted his car, and tried to show it to him on my phone, but the signal wasn't that great. had to go fetch my ipad out of the car, and finally found it to show to him. dude, if you're reading this, i sent you an email. waiting for a reply...but i digress...

story i heard from the owner of this lovely nomad was that it was the third time his car had been featured as a work in progress, only this time, the car had just been completed. hot spanking new paint job. perhaps it was really featuring the paint shop, as three of these cars were completely awesome and similarly pinstriped and metal flaked up in lollypop colors.

anyway, i got my shots in between their set ups and all the people milling around. only i didn't use a flash or their lights. i'll look for the magazine, but i'm perfectly happy with my pictures, even if they aren't perfect.

make up your mind

saw this impala back in november on my way back up the street from the dia de los muertos show in whittier. perfectly nice low rider, but couldn't they have just put the damn top up or down? it just looks half ass like this, but maybe they like it that way? am i to admire the plush interior? and why the mirrors? what's up under the wheel well that i need to see? the hydraulics? perhaps i just don't understand low riders, and i should just stick to the oldies.

take me to your leader

i've seen this t-bird several times at the broiler. never can quite get the angle that i want. as i've said before, i should probably start carrying around a ladder, so i can get higher shots when the cars have detail on top.

the funky art deco paint pattern in off-white on a rusty-type matte brown, make me think of a alien craft that has traveled quite far, and by alien standards, is a late model for them too. the pattern is reversed out on the roof, with rust and white on an off-white or silver background - i can't remember right now. strange colors from the lighting only add to the atmosphere. now if it had just been a bit foggy...

it has "slow dancer" painted on the side of the roof, which running through my mind, points to several different interpretations, and i can only wonder what it really means.

bloody mary

ok, so maybe too many warm, red cars lately, but i had this one ready to go, so deal with it. i'll post something from the other side of the color wheel tomorrow. maybe subconsciously i'm wishing for the warmer days, now that winter is moving in again? nah. i like it cooler, able to bundle up and keep warm. in the summer, once you're down to that last layer of clothing, you can't get any cooler even when you take it all off.

i like the car, but the color...red is a bitch to shoot sometimes. too saturated, loses a sense of detail. might also be because of the time of day and the position of the sun on this one. bright, tomato red, with pinstripe detailing.

front end was up against that truck practically, and not that interesting. i like the chrome contrast on the back, and even the tail lights on these, but haven't decided if the spare wheel attachment adds or subtracts from the look, but at least it's all matchy matchy.

hope you got a good one

i only went to a few shows at ruby's over the season, for whatever reason. several times i went and saw this cadillac parked out on cadillac row, always with several others of similar year—not sure if it was a club, or just guys that knew each other. and each time there was another photographer guy that had obviously been asked or hired to shoot pics of the cars. each time, i'd stay out of his way, and just keep walking, and other times got the chin nod. guess i get to be a familiar sight after a few shows.

so, i was surprised to find the cars here on the last night of the year, the photog no where in sight. this was toward the end of the evening, so people had moved more towards the front of the show. i can't quite remember if the owner was nearby this time around...it was a busy night; owners of these types of cars are usually hovering in the vicinity to be sure nothing happens to their babies.

well, i suppose i'll never see the shots the other guy took, but here's mine.

get it up

low rider types are also not my typical subjects. these two were just on my way out of the show, and there weren't too many people milling around, so  there you go.

i find them difficult to shoot, not this red one in particular, but others are. they like to lower them way down, then pop one or two wheels up so the angle gets all screwed, and/or they pop open the hood and trunk to show off the boom boxes and hydraulics.

i took a shot of the car behind this one. it was up on the far side, so it looks a bit funny. not sure if i'll post it. i haven't decided yet.