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.

caught a raynbow

ya, i posted earlier. i ran too late for the viejitos show. drove over there only to find them cleaning up the lot, maybe a dozen cars sitting around, according to my better half, who urged me to stop anyway. told him i didn't want to get in the way now that it was over.

instead drove up to a show in lakewood, intending to stop at the costco there anyway. that one was as he expected it to be, not that busy, really only one or two cars i'd bother to shoot. i didn't feel like breaking out the camera for that. i think probably because i hadn't really eaten all day, and maybe was a little loopy. i didn't feel hungry, but figured i might as well get something.

so we went over to the mall behind the costco, found where they hide the food and was satisfied with a salad. by then my better half started feeling dizzy, probably because he waited too long to eat, so after all that, we didn't go shopping either.

so, broke my own rule to at least take one picture to make it worth the trip. two car shows, no pictures. no groceries. and i'm ok with that.

here's raynbow's pretty pontiac from the show last friday. saw it today, right at the front, but since we didn't stop, didn't get it. kinda like this better anyway. mid afternoon light would have just made it average.

not so sure i'm digging the painted hood ornament. but it's his car, so he can do what he wants, right?

hooch

i've shown this one before, but it really is a nice car, and i found it at the viejitos marketplace show in july, mostly off by itself, so why not show it again?

really spectacular paint and pinstriping. can't really say anything bad about it, except for that the glitter paint is so reflective, it blew out detail in spots because of the hot afternoon sun. that's mostly my fault, for not carrying a filter around or something.

it was a good show. i really need to go back through the pictures from that day. it was during the month i was watching the dog, so i really haven't posted much from there. and there have been so many other shows i've been to since then, perfectly good pictures get lost in the shuffle.

so many cars, so little time.

dashed dream

quick post since its late. this one is from the viejitos oc show at the anaheim marketplace.

typical scenario, where the owner asks if i'm with a magazine. typical answer, no. can see the excitement fade from his eyes, for just a moment, but since he was still enthusiastic about his car, and i liked the way the trees were reflecting on the hood, and the minimal pinstriping, i went ahead and took a picture.

maybe he'll see it, assuming he didn't wash the card i gave him, like others i've heard about.

eagle has landed

all right, i'll show you this one. not because i am starting to love cars with their hoods open, but because it's just a spectacular car, and the owner is so very nice.

the finish on it is smooth as silk. the guy told my better half at a regular monthly viejitos show a few months earlier, that it was a family project and that all had taken turns sanding the surface so fine, using flour to show the high spots, before they got it all painted up. i've posted it before. i like my better half's versions:here and here

this was in what should have been a pretty good spot for a typical car, on an end spot, under a tree. but with the hood(s) up, with background foot traffic, it was just difficult to frame up a decent shot. from the other side, the doors were open, and there was a car next to it, and next to that, a pop up tent, that really kinda ruined it. took a couple of angles from this side, and i guess i like this one better.

and by this shot, he'd moved the car polish bottles and rags out of the frame. :)

nubby

you should really see this one in person. its pretty phenomenal, especially the paint job. the body paint is reminiscent of those marblized bowling balls at the newer alleys.

this is from the viejitos oc annual show, but i did see it previously, down at chicano park, under a bright, hot sun.

viejitos shows get a good turn out, lots of variety in cars, and are meant to be family friendly. even their rap performers use no profanity at all. contrast that to the show in san fernando...save that for another day.

and there's a pretty interesting airbrush job on the trunk. car club members as skeletons.

underwear or bikinis?

eleven more days | forty-four walks around the neighborhood | forty-four baglettes of shit. that's how i'm counting down until my kid gets home and can have his puppy back. i'm tired. better shape, but tired every day in a good way. i want to get back to playing with my pictures on a more regular basis. just to get time to myself tonight, i've had to bribe the dog with another bone to keep him occupied. i've taken too long and he's finished and is already trying to sleep, but my typing is keeping him from totally going under.

anyway, not soon enough.

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here's another from san fernando. i suppose i really should be working on a few from the viejitos show, if i wanted to be all chronological about it, but i tend to jump around to any show from any year, depending on my mood, or if i feel like showing a particular car.

truth be told, i should have worked on the car that was sitting next to this one, since the owner practically invited me to have my way with his car, inside, outside, upside down. what was it, a '39 chevy? ya, the kind that the hood opens up like bird wings. he didn't know i don't usually shoot cars with their hoods up. i like the car, but usually, i'll pass them by. but i did take some. maybe i'll even post one when i get more time.

i liked the angle on this one better.

getting tired, so i'll leave you all with this question to ponder: are these chicks wearing underwear or bikinis? so much i could say about this picture, but i'll button my lip, as i've already said too much tonight.

mojito

so, i've been able to sneak away from the dog for a few hours at a time on weekends to attend a few car shows. problem is, he doesn't let me spend a lot of time at the computer actually going through what i shot, before he wants attention. he's more work than a toddler.

so i figure, i'll have plenty of pictures to work on when my son gets back from his trip and i get back to my regular routine. and plenty for rainy days, should cali get any of those this year.

did manage to scare that coyote away long enough to get away from him this early morning. it really wanted to come over and say hello. forgot to bring a stick or something, as i wasn't planning on going on such a long walk. hadn't expected to be in his way this weekend, but the dog got me out of bed so early. probably thought i was going to be late for work.

i spent this morning at the viejitos orange county annual car and bike show. i'm downloading those pictures while i blather on here. had to be over a hundred cars and bikes there. i really wanted to get there earlier to miss the heat, and even though i could only manage to get there close to start at 10, it was overcast and cool until at least 11. 

circled around about three times, probably have at least seventy shots of cars, and about sixty ornaments and detail shots to show for the two or three hours i was there. 

saw and spoke with several people i see around a lot. shook hands with raynbow, the head of the viejitos club and the guy running the show. always very welcoming when i see him. he's got a shiny new pontiac he just finished building. too bad there were too many admirers around it when he showed it to me, and when i got back around to it, the hood was up... i'll have to get it at one of their regular monthly shows sometime. really beautiful work though.

handed out my card to the couple of guys that inquired about my photography. i'll warn you, it will be at least a couple more weeks before i can really get to them. and then, i'll only post them if i think the shot or angle or whatever was good.

excellent show. thanks to whichever one of you guys handed me the flyer, or i'd have never known about it.

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oh, the above car has taken me about a week to get up here, worked on it a few minutes at a time that i could get the dog to go play with a toy. he's staring at me now, because he knows i'm about to go get my dinner out of the oven.

must be a sale on this neon green paint, because i'm starting to see it more often in the last year. saw this one at the old memories harbor club show from last month. the color definitely gets your attention when it drives through the lot. it calls, i follow...

who's your daddy?

 

so we drove out to brea this morning, to check out some annual show over by brea mall. if i had wanted to see a bunch of newer muscle cars with their hoods open, i could have just gone to the dealership down the street.

was about ninety percent peenie parade o'cars belonging to middle aged chubby guys who apparently think buying a car qualifies for entry in a car show. how the hell do the judges seriously go about judging these things? they're new, off the lot, or maybe a couple of years old, no effort to customize them has really gone on; i guess you could say they contain all original parts. probably paid the guy swinging the towels around to polish them up too. shit.

you really wanna know what i think about these guys? BFD. ok, don't ask me. my better half says i don't have a filter when asked my opinion on things.

really, we tried to salvage the trip, and wanted to get our cameras out of the bag, but it seemed almost a requirement to have the hood up. and the few and far between cars that we would have taken pictures of, just weren't doing it. too many people, crap location, and how crammed cars were into the spaces marked out. meh.

i did see a couple of guys i know. and i didn't even shoot their cars. even with the hood down. i guess i really didn't feel like shooting today, so skipped the hooters show this evening.

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so the news i mentioned the other day: i have four pictures accepted in the fair again this year. only three of them are cars. you'll have to go look for the other one over in pictures of flowers. of the pictures i entered, i can't really figure the reasoning for what was chosen and what wasn't, but fun just the same. so off to the framer's, and my mother-in-law is already imagining which wall this set will go on.

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oh, and this car is again from chicano park. and really, what dad wouldn't want a mostly nekked chick airbrushed across his hood? i think this is a viejitos car, but from new mexico.

anyway, happy father's day, dad. i know you read this blog, or at least look at the pretty pictures once in a while...

they all head south for the winter

so, i'll get back to riverside in a couple of days, but i wanted to put one of this beauty up before i forget. my better half talked the owner into closing it up later that afternoon.

i basically stare at cars with their hoods open if i really want to shoot it, and hope the owner notices and offers to close it. i've only asked owners to close it a couple of times because it was too good not to get it, and most typically will just walk past a few times and hope to see it again some day.

of course, i took advantage of the hood closed, and took several more shots. but i thought i'd share this one, just to show that i sometimes break my own rule. i think my better half mentioned that it's rare to see one in such immaculate condition, but if memory serves, d, there was about five of them in a row down at chicano park, each just as delicious as this one. but i did skip most of those, since they had one side up and one side down.

ok, this one had a nice engine, so i guess that was part of the reason i went ahead and took this shot. my better half liked this one better than the others i did, so maybe that's why i'll share it with you.

out of town tomorrow, so riversiders, hold your breath until wednesday. unless i go to big boy...

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