what's up?

is it a sign?

lincoln continental

i didn't sleep well last night, and had a hard time staying awake today. yet here i am posting, early for me anyway.

picked up my pictures from the fair today. only had one offer to buy one, and that turned out to be more of can you take a picture of my car inquiry. about what i expected. oh well, they look ok hanging on the wall here. left the honorable mention ribbon hanging on one of them for now. i'll pull it off before it gets too dusty, i suppose.

here's another lifestyle car. hiding in the shade on a hot day. unintentionally caught a religious symbol by the car. maybe it's a sign?

lincoln's second term

1963 lincoln continental

rubys was pretty busy tonight. was interesting to see what must have been a whole car club drive up one of the rows, expecting to park all together, when there were not so many spaces open. a little shuffling, a few people encouraged to move their chairs out of spaces, others leaving, somehow they all seemed to eventually settle into place. then to shuffle again to get closer together.

saw several people i hadn't seen in a while. always nice that they remember me and take the time to chat. and many cars that i've seen, many times, in many shows. lots i've already taken pictures of before, but always looking to see them in a different spot, position, light. they all pose so patiently, if only all the pesky people would stop walking through my shots. ah, well. such is the nature of the beast. count to ten, sometimes twenty.

so another post of this car. again, with lens flares. always buffed to perfection, in it's relative simplicity, compared to those bombs. i kinda miss his other car, which he says is somewhere else, in storage or being worked on, or both.

how was your day?

1931 lincoln

so i haven't been posting as often as i think about posting. my life is a bit busy right now, as i've been saying previously. and it will continue to be so for at least the next month.

today, i intended to get to a car show before a baseball game. i didn't quite get out of the house as early as i had thought i would, but i did manage to make it to original mike's for about 20 minutes before i had to scram.

got there almost an hour after it started. probably a good three-fourths of the cars had their hoods up, but it was a decent turn out, at least compared to the last few times i'd been there. i didn't have time to find owners and look longingly at their pretty beasts until they got the clue, so i shot about a dozen others that were ready to go.

this one had the door open, but i haven't seen one of these before, and it didn't bother me as much as an open hood would have. not sure if that's the owner there. i think he threw something into the car, but people throw flyers and stuff into cars all the time. he wouldn't get out of the shot no matter how much i stared, so there he is.

and of course, as soon as i called it a day, packed up and about to close the trunk of my car, in drives an oh so bitchin old mercury, clean, low, pinstriped...perfect. pulled into a parking space, sat for a minute, then backed up and left. why, oh why...followed it down the street a ways until i had to turn left, and he turned right...

enter continental

1955 lincoln continental

so i had to make an emergency trip to washington state this past weekend. i had wanted to hit a show on saturday, but shockingly, it rained. that was fine, as i had a lot of things that needed to get done anyway.

sunday was father's day. overcast, but not raining. found only a couple of car shows on the net, in opposite directions. so i picked this one in burien. turned out to be a strawberry festival, street fair and carnival, with an added bonus...three blocks of cars. classics and muscle, about 50/50. new stuff to shoot, so yay. only had time to check out the car show before i had to get back to family stuff.

i'll start with this one, since it was the first car i shot, and the only one i bothered throwing a card onto the seat. one comment on that; around here, cars get filled up with flyers for all sorts of crap–upcoming car shows, parts, wheels, etc.–but at this show, there were no flyers, cards, anything thrown into/onto the cars. i almost felt like i violated the space, but i had to throw at least one card at a car...just as a i was here, and hope you come check out your car on my blog, thanks for letting me shoot it.

anyway, i don't think i've seen one of these before. it was pretty clean, no rust, really amazing condition. they must keep cars hidden in the garage all winter in this state. not the only pristine car here.

strangely, no one asked me who i was with, what i was doing, mostly didn't say nuthin at all, though i was the only one hauling a tripod. oh, and thanks to the baggage gorillas at the airport, the tripod head had a broken piece hanging off of it, and i feared it wouldn't work right. i managed to get the piece back in position, though it popped off a few times. finally twisted it a bit, and it seems to be usable. kinda sucks, as they don't make this model anymore.

i got a bunch of other shots that i'll post soon, but it's late now, and i have stuff to do before bedski.

winkin' blinkin' lincoln

1963 lincoln continental

so my friend reine has several cars, or so i've heard. i've seen this one a couple of times before, but have never shot it for whatever reason.

after meeting up with him inside the broiler, he'd asked if i could take pictures of this one. i took several, but there was a car next to it at the time, and the owner or someone was sitting on the bumper of his car, and didn't get the clue and move.

this is a later shot, after i'd already put my stuff away and was preparing to leave. my better half pointed out that the sun was beginning to go down, and to look how the light was hitting it. i noticed that the other car was gone...so out comes the camera stuff again.

i do think these sunset shots were much better, and this was my favorite one.

continental succulence

1968 lincoln continental

also from the big boy's in orange, this juicy lincoln was in the bigger lot. not really sure if it was part of the show, or just a spectator's vehicle, i couldn't not take a shot of it [sorry about the double negative]. i do that a lot...take pictures of cars owned by people who have come to check out the other cars, but not to participate in the competition. if it's in a public place, it's good enough for me. some of them are quite nice.

very nice paint job, airbrushing and pinstriping, in your face, and yet somehow subdued. the owner was nearby with a group of guys. watched me closely, asked what i was doing and for whom. i handed out my card to all of them before they headed off to grab some food at one of the restaurants.

lead sled

1950 lincoln mercury

this merc custom, also from the whittier uptown show, is seemingly the companion piece to this one. this was the second of three similar vehicles parked on this corner. maybe it was just a coinkydink that they were clustered in the same area. i don't think i bothered with the other, as i remember it was just painted in primer gray and not too dazzling or remarkable.

i remember this being a spectacular, deep blue, but i think maybe i've made it too dark here. the time of day made for an uncontrasty, flat shot, so i had to jack it up a bit. but that's the point of my tweaking, now isn't it?

hot rod lincoln

hot rod lincoln

my best guess is that this a 55–56 lincoln of some kind. just not finding one with exactly the same bumper set up. guess i should've asked the owner — i think he was the guy who asked me "what is it you've been doing all these weeks here?" my answer was, "having fun," but maybe i should have been a smartass and stated the obvious answer, "taking pictures." nah, he was curious enough to ask, so i didn't feel the need. anyway, i handed the guy my card, so i hope he sees his car, if it is indeed his.

nice pinstripe job, and interesting paint. didn't quite overhear the whole story, so i'm not sure if he was saying he painted the car himself in his garage, or he took it somewhere. its kind of a matte finish, which is a little unusual when its not primer, but then this car was a bit unusual, and i don't have another one like it in my files.

i also think i've seen that guy in the doorway...i think he owns this hot rod, and is also currently selling an old cadillac.

very continental

very continental

i was about ready to pack it up the other day at fuddrucker's el toro, when this incredible 1947 lincoln continental pulls in. wow. stretched body, clean. i have never seen one before...i'm always on the lookout for models i haven't shot yet, and here was the prize for this day.

i have images of the back end too. had to wait patiently for a little girl to get out of the frame. she kept flitting about with her cell phone, keyboard out, but pointing it at cars (maybe it had a camera, maybe she was just dancing with herself, oh oh ah ahhhhh) while her parents talked to the owner of the next car over.

choice of politely waiting or losing the light, as the sun was setting...sometimes it's difficult to bite my tongue. i try not to be too intrusive, but really...how difficult is it to not notice a camera on a tripod and someone staring at you?