tally my bananas

i thought this ’56 packard carribean was different. hadn't seen one before, and i thought the color combo was nice, with a creamy off-white, a turquoise stripe and black on the bottom. i liked the way the sun was hitting it. unfortunately, had to crop out a bit on the left and right — people moving through the image too much on the left, and i didn't want to bother nuking them out of the picture. also cropped the owner in her chair out on the right, but now it's ready for an 8x10 anyway.

i was out of town for the past week, in las vegas, on business. this is the third year in a row i've gone there, and will probably end up there again next year. so over it.

need i say that as one who doesn't bother to gamble, doesn't drink or smoke, i find it a very unglamorous place to be.

always entertaining is seeing what the cat dragged in to the casinos very early in the morning: shit-faced women, who tried to keep up with the boys and didn't, hopefully being escorted to their own rooms by men who know them; men and women who didn't get lucky at all, but were all dressed up with no where to go; very large people in town to have fun for a few days, looking far too serious and planted at one slot machine for hours on end; a man on a gurney with a bucket in his lap, being rolled away by casino security; chicks in underwear dancing on a stage, while drunk guys howl, as if they had a chance; people on the bridges selling water for "juan dolor"; people slapping decks of cards and trying to hand you pictures of naked women that you can "call any time for a good time," who jump if you snap your fingers back at them; the unmarked planes that take off for area 51...oh i could go on and on.

there is beauty if you look for it. the patterns, textures, and colors are all around, day and night, changing with the light. if you were up before the sun, after the riff raff has gone back to their rat holes, and just wait for it, the sunrise coming up over the mountain range is spectacular to watch. especially from a jacuzzi tub. 

one twenty

i look forward to days like this. overcast skies, which add more drama to a picture, as well as softening the light. only trouble is, it keeps a lot of cars away from the shows. either the threat of rain ruining a perfect wash and buff job or it's just too cold to stand around outside for a period of time.

i'd seen this packard several months earlier, but had shot it from down low. just a big shot of a grill topped with a hood ornament. interesting to me, but not enough to bother with here. and here it was, not too crammed in with other cars because of the weather. the owner was nice enough to chat and move his chairs away from the front of it for my shots.

i suppose he's long since given up seeing it here...i warned him it could be a while. well, really has been only a week or so. so many pictures to choose from, and i remembered him. thank you for moving your chair. now if i could only have gotten the next car over to move somewhere else.

founder's day find

so we were walking around in uptown whittier on saturday, and came across the whittier founder's day celebration going on at a local park. <yawn> but hey my eyes spotted an old car driving by and realized they had one of the streets along the park blocked off and maybe about 20 old cars just sitting there. i think the oldest was a 1916 buick, a few chevys, a pair of terraplanes, and some other interesting cars. also a good selection from the whittier model a club...or was it model t?

anyway this beauty of a 1936 packard was sitting in the shade, the owner and friends sitting in lawn chairs in front of it. i can't recall the exact model, but maybe the owner or his friends will let me know. i let them look at my book of proofs while i took pictures of this one and a couple of other cars down the line. they seemed really impressed, so yay for me. :) i must be doing something right.

he closed the hood for me to get several good shots from various angles. i like this one best, though i have another from a lower angle that hides the apartments behind it and shows off the hood ornament pretty good. maybe i'll post that another day.

was all in the family

this packard one-twenty (i think the owner said this was a 1936), at the santa ana elk's pal joey dream car revue, had been in a family for three generations. this owner recently acquired it from the grandson of the original owner, not sure if it was financial necessity, or just that the guy was just more interested in restoring old model t's. anyway, he said it was all original parts, and hadn't been restored yet...he's only had it a few months.

and while shooting this one, finally met the famous dave lindsay, of http://www.socalcarculture.com who introduced himself. nice guy. talked camera tech talk with my husband for a long time.

tommy's boy

one of the few oldies at the aliso viejo cruisin' at the cup last weekend. this 1934 packard eight was in fairly excellent condition. the owner (hey thomas!) said he'd bought back in the sixties, if i remember correctly. i guess i should write down the tidbits of history that owners share with me, not just the make and model. they are just like members of a family when they've been together that long.

let me know if you wanna buy a print.