gently into that good day

saturday was my better half's birthday. plan was to go to disneyland and ride stuff, and hang out until the evening to watch one of the bands that rarely plays there anymore.

all week, i'd been telling him about this car show someone told me about, hosted by the latin gents, before i realized it was happening the same day. so i had started tossing out other options for his birthday. mentioned that this show was not too far from dland, if he could spare about an hour.

so i kinda hijacked his birthday, at least for a couple of hours. he said he mostly just wanted to hang out with me, and if i was going to be hanging out at a car show, then that's where he was going to be. especially since i was driving. sweet thing. he was bringing his camera to dland anyway, so he made the best of it, and took some shots too.

i had been told that there had been over a hundred cars there the previous month, and that they thought i'd really have fun there. all they had to mention was that it was associated with the latin gents, and i already knew that was exactly the type of cars that i would be looking for. i wasn't disappointed. though we did arrive at about the slated start time of two in the afternoon, there were already quite a number of cars there, with more arriving all the time.

i saw many guys i've met previously, and they came over to say hello, glad i could make it. quite nice of them, actually. especially some that i hadn't seen in a long time.

yes, to the dude with the civic, i did shoot a couple of your car. haven't decided if i'll post the better one here or not. to the guy with the yellow truck, the shot i took last year is here; i haven't decided if i like the shots from this show or the viejitos show last week better...keep checking...its a bitchin' truck, and i'll definitely post something soon.

yadda yadda. getting late, and there are plenty of other cars i can continue to blather on about. good show. hope to get there again in coming months.

liked this particular shot for a couple of reasons: first, i liked the car, of course. second, you need to know that the other two cars in this shot originally had their hoods up. that third one back has the two-sided type hood that opens.

well, i was setting up to shoot the green car in the front, and a guy casually walks over and closes the hood on the one next to it. i figure, well, he's going to leave before i can get to it, and mentally write that one off, and wait to take the picture until he's out of the frame.

but then he also goes to the split-hooded car, and carefully closes the hood on both sides, and walks away. that just makes me start to laugh on the inside. either he knows, or someone told him about my likelihood of shooting their cars when the hood is up is about zero. either that, or he was just being very considerate of me getting a better shot. makes me giggle to think its the former, so i'll just stick with that.

i'll throw in this shot, just because. its their show. they were representing. here was a whole row of them on the outside of the lot, though there were plenty more member's cars elsewhere. thought i'd give it a try to see what my camera could do with it. had to do three shot panorama to get this. kinda funky with a wide-angle lens, but it gives you the idea of what i saw.

why hide it?

when i go to that rare, larger show, i try to remember to investigate the side streets. if there's time. if it's not too hot.

sure a lot of the best cars, and those who think they have the best cars, are out on the main drag [hey gary from riverside], but its more crowded there as well. people wanting to stand thisclose to your car for a picture of themselves and their fantasy cars, or just because they need something to post on whatever social media site. or little kids, that are barely restrained from putting their sticky fingers on the paint, or trying to sit in the seat.

and there's the pissing contest of whose hood and/or engine is bigger/louder/shinier/more original than the next guy's, and oh, how many can get'em up. a lot of the old guys need a little help. i mean they use a bar or stick to hold the hood open.

so i'll wander over to where there are not so many people, or where there seems to be some shade. i am usually amazed at the jewels people hide off in the corners, and off the center of attention of the main street.

for all i know, they've been out all day, and they, too are trying to just take a break and cool off. otherwise, i just don't understand the why of being a wallflower? or maybe i do understand, only way too well...

new life

here's another of the few images i took from the showlow's st hilary show. don't really pay attention to low riders unless they have some exceptional, eye-catching something that compels me to stop.

there weren't too many at the show, at least that i noticed, being lost in a reverie of old chevys. i liked the artwork on this one, and that it was low enough i didn't curse the day for not bringing a ladder to get it. per their facebook, the club has reformed from a long ago disbanded group.

-----

so i took a week off with my better half, on a road trip from san diego to sausalito, with stops in between, celebrating our fifth anniversary. makes it difficult to post without a computer, and from an ipad or iphone, formatting is a bitch. i managed to only post once while on the road, and have since fixed what was screwy with the previous car post.

i did check for car shows, but only found one near us in san diego, and didn't want to drive over to oakland for another at the end of our trip. i'll post a few pictures from san diego soon.

taking the day off to sleep in and take care of laundry, etc., after the eight hour drive home yesterday. not looking forward to going back to the office tomorrow. it's always such a shock to get back into the swing of things, that we really only take time off once a year or so. i think they managed to get by without me, but hopefully they missed me anyway.

here's a shot from pacific grove, up by monterey, at sunset. nice, but needed some clouds or something. it was very windy, other than that, a pretty average sundown.

how much is too much?

i gotta think there is a point when one should stop. think michael jackson and his face nipping hobby, until his nose was practically falling off without the tape on it. what's the point of tweaking your face, if you're always covering it up with a mask?

i think there was a time, that this car would have been just fine. new upholstery, more than enough decorative vents on the hood, along with a chromed grille and wheels. that would have been nice and clean.

but it seems like a crazed pinstriper got set loose on this puppy, and went mask crazy with his mad airbrush skillz. and the glitter bomb. so much stuff globbed on, that there seems to be bubbles and creases on the paint. what causes that? a build up? almost like the decals we'd put on model airplanes as kids, and didn't squeeze the air out from underneath. you can kind of overlook it because the darker patterns distract the eyes, but still...wait a minute. is it just one of those car wraps, poorly applied, with some mad photoshop skillz killin it? that would be cheating, now wouldn't it?

could be worse. could be a honda with a big whale tail, all lowered in the front and all pimped out, windows tinted black. and an engine that sounds like the squirrels are going full tilt on the wheel that doubles as an engine. and big ass speakers in the trunk and sub woofers in the doors, rendering the passengers sterile with the sonic boom of the crap rap playing inside...oh, sorry. thinking of a car i passed on the street not so long ago. pfft.

-----------

on another note, my better half finally got a call on wednesday, with the opportunity to get into LAX and shoot pictures of the shuttle, up close and personal, before they moved it out. ya, we know a guy...

any other day, he'd have been there, no question. but it was our fifth anniversary, and told the guy, on this day, he just couldn't. of course he didn't mention it, until it was too late to go. i would have told him to go ahead, or else take me with him. errr. figures he'll see it at the museum eventually, and we'd seen the one out at dulles before. guess he has his priorities straight. i think i'll keep him. happy anniversary d.

the ’burb

ya, ya, i've posted this one before. i have no problem reposting cars, when i think i got a better shot of it. or just because i can.

in this case, a different location, time of day, and light. and it's so early, there's no one around. booyah!

orange you glad i posted today?

glowing

why is it they say that women don't sweat...they glow? bullshit. i was definitely sweating the other night at ruby's. not that it was that hot, but more that it felt humid. probably should have just worn shorts and a tank top, and expose more skin. levis just don't "breathe" even if they are made of cotton.

i purposely waited until later in the evening to hit this show, hoping it would cool off enough to persuade me away from the fans at home. and so i could start taking some sunset shots, with summer officially coming to an end, and the sun going bye bye earlier and earlier.

there were many cars i walked by because of their location, or owners parked in chairs in front of them. running out of room on my hard drive makes me more picky i guess.

i came back to this one before i left, and probably should have just kept shooting while the sun went south. the hood was so reflective, and the colors changing in the sky just glowed off of it. this shot isn't picking up the rose colors that i saw later.

glitterati

dear mr. car show guy (was your name victor?),

i take pictures for my own fun and post some here on this little blog. really, what fun is it, if no one sees what you shot? spread the joy or something.

no, i don't post nekked pictures, even pictures of the wannabe models (they get in the way of the car), or blather on in raptures on the wonders of alcoholic beverages or drugs, because i don't drink or do drugs and wouldn't have any idea about that—except by observation. and it doesn't look like those people are really having that much fun while they are doing it, and especially the next morning.

so, have no fears of being associated or mentioned on this here bloggy thing. or any injury to the reputation of your school. good on ya.

sincerely,
kathy@tweakedpixels.com

_____ 

these two, i think, are in the dukes car club. mr and mrs? i don't know. both have been glitter bombed on the roof. i shot the turquoise one before.

here is an orange one to complement it, at the show at la habra high school. both are wonderful to look at, and a pain to photograph. i need a ladder...

some kind of wonderful

not sure what this is—chevy or merc—but it was one of the few nice cars at ruby's yesterday. incredible interior upholstery throughout, and very light use of pinstriping on the hood and over the lights.

i go away for a couple of weeks, and when i get back, there's not really much there. fewer cars than ever.

at least when i arrived, had just parked and popped my trunk, an old acquaintance ( his car ) was just walking back to the show from the carl's jr. said he'd missed me, had been reading my little blog. had been reading my better half's blog. mentioned a couple of pictures of me he'd seen there. apparently, he perceived that my better half might actually like me. a lot. hmmm. hmmmm. hmmmm. of all things to notice over on his blog...i hate pics of myself, but my better half seems to like them.

so there was only a couple of rows of cars there for the show. didn't take too many shots, still taking it easy, though i am allowed to return to normal activity. talked to a few people i've met before, as well as a few others, about cameras, about pictures, about cars—don't know much about the last one, but i do like taking pictures of them. it's nice to get back out.

a big one

so my better half is always complaining about me posting the ittle bitty pictures, how you just can't appreciate them when they're that small. he says he has the benefit of being able to see them up on my big screen while i work on them, and how spectacular they look big.

i have a few points of view on this one. the car is terrific. i liked the other two images of it, from a lower point, showing the theatre marquee above. but this was a better look for the car. i like the pinstripes over the headlights. i like the pointy hubcaps and the swoop of the hood, the split front window. the car is basically a colorless, silvery gray, but the dash of color behind it, the sunrise sky dawning above it, breathes some life and color into its sleeping carcass.

so anyway, my point is, here is a big one for my better half. can't wait for mine.

little mermaid

i was just reviewing some of my older photos, looking for something i might have been keeping for a later point and forgot about. i think this one qualifies.

i posted the front end a couple of years ago, then forgot about it. it happens. i have a lot of pictures, as occasionally someone will comment on whether i have enough yet. well, no. i may be close to filling my hard drive up, but can you really ever have enough? i'm still learning and having fun with your cars and my camera.

this was from 2010, when the whittier uptown was still a decent show, overflowing in excellence of all types of cars, low riders included. while some of the lifestyles cars showed up this year, this one wasn't one of them. the few that were there had their hoods up, and had a crowd around them each time i walked by. in fact, i only shot one of them, and i'm not all that thrilled with it.

this one, i found early in the day, and far enough up the street from the main intersection, that there were few people in the way. though i did go back for more later in the day, and ya, more people.

the car is impressive. the paint finish is luminous on these candy cars, almost like you're staring into a pool of water, and you may fall in. interesting airbrushing and pinstriping on many of them, in interesting locations on the cars. liked the mermaid on the back end of this—wonder if its a portrait or just the typical fantasy girl guys wish they had.