redemption

i like lowdown in uptown. not really for what they sell—it's cute, but i'm just not in the demographic for the clothing anymore. time is doing it's thing on me, and i'm not fighting it. just part of the process. kinda don't give a shit anymore. slowly becoming my mom, while my mom slowly becomes her mom.

anyway, they have an art show, their target crowd shows up. mostly to party, i think. they enjoy the artwork, but i don't think many buy. show ends, they go home. owners mop up the mess the next day.

some bring their cars; that's what i show up for. it's an addiction. some days the pull is harder than others.

lots of cars showed up for this show. cops accused them of having an unauthorized car show. same thing they argue every time they have an art show. this was the first car i shot that evening. i just walked up and down the street, avoiding traffic, jamming into small spaces, shooting what i could and what i liked.

lately, i haven't been in the mood much to get out to shows. just feeling tired, and the heat doesn't help. looks like i only have one show i really want to go to on the calendar for the month, san fernando high school. missed it last year because i was sick...haven't had a cold since then, so hoping it stays that way. it's a good show, and organized. i show up way too early, to get in and get out before the heat overwhelms. the people at the gate usually let me in early, as long as i stay out of the way.

picking coins out of a bear's butt

fourth of july. sitting at my puter watching illegal fireworks through the window. was going to walk uptown, but my better half said that there are a-holes throwing m-80s in drive-bys. interesting city, whittier and los angeles. hate living somewhere, where you have to worry about something stupid like that. could be anywhere now-a-days, i guess. where i grew up, the worse to worry about was eggs being thrown.

there's been some jerk in the neighborhood spending time late in the evenings driving around tossing the things here and there, playing cat and mouse with the cops. i have a hard time falling asleep as it is, so thanks bozo. he just went by, and five seconds later, a cop, lights still dark following at a fairly quick rate...hope he catches him.

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here are some random cars, the right colors for the day. red, last night at ruby's; white, last april at chicano park; and blue, march at the unidos show at walnut high school. all chevy's, all beauties, all, i wouldn't mind having.

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oh, if you're wondering about the title, i've spent the last two days rolling all the spare change in the house. i don't have a piggy bank—i have a bear. he was stuffed so full of coins, i had to keep poking him in that little hole on the bottom to get them loose enough to shake out. i've had him for like thirty years, so i really didn't want to smash him.

found a 1945 mercury dime in my bear; a few other silver dimes in other jars.

between my change and the buckets my better half uses for his, we hauled over a grand to the bank. damn that stuff is heavy! but hey, all we need now are a few days off at the same time and a road trip is in order.

is there anybody up there?

am i the only one that loves to crunch tree bark under their feet? that satisfying brittle crackle when you find that perfectly curled and dried seed pod? didn't think i'd find that this late in the summer, but i took a walk this evening and found both my favorites, and i slowly stepped down on them, to enjoy that snap, crackle and pop. ok, i'm weird. whatever. been a long day.

going to get some sleep tonight, so won't blather on here for very long. 

first car i shot from last week's foursquare church show. sun comes up early now; i got there early, and it still got up there first. love the cloudiness surrounding the sun. i so much want to stick an alien spacecraft or pterydactyl or something bursting forth, but decided that wouldn't be appropriate blasting out near the church.

it did help to light up the inside of the car, catching the interior details. that's always nice.

mach 1

ok, this isn't one i usually shoot. sometimes i see stuff that i know some of my flickr buds like, and i'll shoot it and post one once in a while. i like to think they do the same for me...mostly hood ornaments. i know i'm imagining it, but that's what i like to think.

so i'm throwing this one up for my flickr bud, stuart. he posts a lot of muscle cars, but i don't think i've seen him post a funky green one like this. for that matter, i can't say i've ever seen any mustang painted this color. so, vomit. i like this green, but i don't think it's great for this car. i don't know why.

wingspan

saw this last month at wingfest. out in the back corner. i think the owner said she'd driven a couple hours to be there. nice car. back end is my favorite, and is the most distinctive part of these cars.

main thing i remember about it, was her kid. he was playing with a little gun type toy that would shoot a toy car a few feet. not that interesting on it's own, but he kept shooting it at me while i was taking pictures of another car next to this one. he was funny, so i let him keep at it, until his mom told him to cut it out.

no, i didn't take a picture of him in action, and i don't want to post a picture of a kid here—not without permission anyway. and what i did shoot isn't that interesting. just a kid playing. cute though.

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thinking about what to do on my next long weekend. which is actually this coming weekend. four days off, but there's a holiday thrown in there. usually messes up travel plans, right? and car shows. so...more hanging out around the house.

spent yesterday running around doing errands; today, feeling domesticated i guess: laundry, baking, and soon, cooking some dinner for a change. i got a craving, so time to make an exception for cooking. hate cooking, but i'll cook a meal once in a while, just to have a plate of whatever. i know people that will take the leftovers.

missing a few car shows this weekend. just don't feel like shooting. probably because it's too hot out. but mostly because i'm out of space on my hard drive. still shuffling files to back up drives.

full history

started my day by dropping my pictures off at the oc fairgrounds. fourth year in a row...will it be a fourth honorable mention? seem to be collecting those. it will make me laugh if i do. eh, good enough they will be on the wall.

then a quick run through the swap meet, and out to my condo to grab the mail, without disturbing my kid and his dog there. didn't feel like walking the dog.

randomly, it started to sprinkle. explains the humidity. almost felt like when i was a kid back east, just before the rain comes. almost, but not quite.

back home now. afternoon moving files on my computer, to make room for more. i can fill up a eight terabyte drive like nobody's business. they say all hard drives fail eventually, which means someday, everything i've ever shot will disappear at some point. sad thought. buy a print.

better half just now pointed out six or seven bad ass old chevys driving by the house. can't remember the club, but i've seen them all before. maybe i should take a walk up to the cigar bar with my camera...

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saw this mercury at the chicano park show. i think the simple blackness of the car balances out the busy and colorful mural behind it. i get that it's a historical mural, but do they have to jam the whole history into a freeway overpass?

kinda reminds me of the doodles my sister used to fill notebooks and her bedroom wall with. just not so bright.

focus

shot this bike, while ignoring the crowd. focus. if i thought about it too much, i would have missed too many pictures. not anti-social, just socially retarded in large groups. forget the "imagine everyone in their underwear" advice they give people doing public speaking. not speaking, but still surrounded.

that lady staring real hard, didn't bother me at all. probably didn't realize she was in the shot, and just makes me smile. don't like her pants much, but the shoes are ok.

and the other dudes, i have a whole story in my head making me laugh. especially the guy on the phone, and who he might be talking to; that's just me, my brain just goes there. ask my better half.

there were other bikes around the corner, but mostly in dark colors. this guy has the balls to park it front and center, just screaming for attention. well, it got mine. enough to ignore all the people.

hallelujah

made it out to only one real car show this past weekend, over at the foursquare church. not too far away; could have walked over there if i'd wanted, but at seven in the morning, it was already hot. i'd caught the end of this show last year, and liked what i saw, so thought i'd check it out from the beginning. 

there were only a couple of show cars in the lot when i arrived, plus the street of vendors setting up out front. so i walked over to the far corner and took a bunch of shots of that car.

as i mentioned a few posts ago, i'd been messing with settings on my camera the night before, and was giving it some testing. you can only tell so much by pixel peeping, so usually i don't bother looking at the back of the camera except when composing a shot. but since i'd messed with the focus of the lenses, i thought it best. basically, i started redoing the adjustment tests all over again, but this time on the subjects i shoot rather than a stupid paper target.

still not so sure i've got one of the lenses dialed in, but the one i used extensively for a couple of years, i think is pretty close. i shot the later in the morning shots with it, and i'm pretty happy with those.

this is one; saw several kustom oldies cars lined up at the front of the church. shot the obvious from the side, with the steepled church directly behind. nice, but safe and boring. i think this more angled shot gave a better sense of the car and still showed it with the church.

and did i mention it was hot? not as hot as h-e-double hockey sticks, but hot enough to melt ice cream. and me. i took several water breaks, dashing inside to cool off under the slowly turning ceiling fans. if i stood still long enough, i could cool down comfortably.

one time, i went in a different doorway, and found myself at the door of the church proper. strangely empty, i took the opportunity to get a shot. simple and unadorned, i suppose it allows worshippers to focus on what is really important to them, but i still wished there were stained glass windows to add a dash of color to the space. 

mayor of whittier

this car is whittier. i see it a lot, mostly parked down by the cigar bar. they call the owner the "mayor of whittier." i don't know the story, but he does seem to know everybody, at least everyone in car culture.

it's just a nice car. he tweaks it a little bit here and there. last time i talked to him, he said he wasn't planning on doing much more to it. takes a good man to know when to stop; enough is enough. seems to be a good point here.

chrome and paint

the show last night at lowdown in uptown was fun. it was well attended, and drew so many classic cars, that the cops wanted to shut it down a few times for having an unauthorized car show.

i got my better half and went down there just when it was technically starting at five. only a few people inside, so actually could check out the artwork. the last couple of shows, it's been so jammed with people, i couldn't really appreciate the show. better half tried shooting a picture of me by my pieces, but i hate being in front of a camera, and just feel like a dork, and can't crack a smile. and he does a three shot burst with his little camera...and i'm supposed to hold still for all three shots. nope. i'm not sure if he got any worth keeping. whatever.

myself, i'm a big, shy, introvert, and just get very uncomfortable in a big crowd like that. instead, i can get behind the camera, and take advantage of the party goers' cars. we walked back to the house and got my cameras and headed back over. i can focus on the cars, and ignore the pack of people staring at me, and whatever i'm doing. not being a big old bitch, just coping.

anyway, i think this car belongs to the shop owners, so i'll start with that. best angle i could get, without standing out in the street, which wasn't closed...because it wasn't a car show, remember? thanks for letting me participate, and sorry for pestering you, to the point of just walking some pictures into the store to get an answer. the fun part of taking the pictures, is sharing them, so thanks for the opportunity.