what's up?

how romantic

beat my better half home from work. today is valentine's day, so he got stuck in traffic, and ended up just going to costco, since he was near one.

switched my hours at work, and so far, it takes me just over an hour now to get home. i guess that's better than over two, and there's no way i want to start at five in the morning, so it is good enough.

i was just going to walk uptown for a slice of pizza for dinner, since my better half decided to just have something at home, but then he didn't want me to go out in the dark alone. ended up that he needed to go to home depot, so i drove, with the intention of going to pollo loco.

upon arriving at that fine dining establishment, we were assaulted by some overpowering, lovely aroma from the "rest" room hallway. figuring how the sense of smell plays into the sense of taste, we decided to find sustenance elsewhere. wasn't quite as awful as the taco bell a couple of weeks ago, but the reek was just starting to permeate the dining area.

my head was swimming, so i just ended up at del taco in the home depot parking lot. meh. not quite ruths chris, but filled the empty space gnawing at my insides.

saw this car drive into the lot. better half says the driver was waving maniacally at me/us, but i didn't notice the driver, just the car, noting the club. i've seen it before.

gotta be just a blem tire, but that suspicious bulge makes me nervous as it did the first time i noticed it a year or two ago.

maybe i'll spy another suspicious bulge later...

ding ding

winkin' blinkin' lincoln.

this car drove up and parked just as i was walking by.

first glance, my thought was, well, that's a horse of a different color. usually see these only in black or white.

next thought, was that the owner looked familiar, but i'd never seen this car before, to associate with that guy. from what i've read elsewhere, he's only had it out and about recently.

hadn't noticed when i shot the picture, on the car or on the teeny tiny camera screen, but on my computer screen, there's a great big dent on the side. maybe he should have kept it in the garage—would have been safer, but what fun is that.

maybe someone will let me know where the dent came from, assuming it's new, and that he didn't have it painted and polished that way.

donuts

no car shows for me today. got my taxes done instead. looks like i can either take a small vacation or put new flooring in my place, maybe new kitchen cabinets. decisions, decisions.

changing my work hours starting tomorrow too. hoping my drive home will get closer to an hour more consistently, instead of more than two. i can't take it anymore.

saw this pink caddie last week. pepto-bismol pink. or rather, donut box pink. helped that they happened to have a donut box next to it, to confirm.

the other nomad

one of the cars that were at the super cruise when we arrived early early. i only shot them because they were there.

better half was talking to the owners, and the one that owned this one came over and asked if i'd seen the his other nomad. uh, no. just got there.

so he proceeded to pop the hood. normally, that would have ended my interest in the car, but since he seemed so proud of his little joke, and had made nice with my better half, i shot it.

might say a pale man on a pale horse, but nope, death rides a moldy camel.

i would just say, i've seen better airbrushing. and i've seen a hell of a lot worse.

nomadic life

i've been so busy at work, that all i want to do when i get home is zone out in front of an episode of game of thrones. the saving grace for the last couple of days has been that the evening drive has only been just over an hour, instead of the new norm of two plus. no reason why the difference; traffic just goes with the flow.

mentioned the drive time to my boss the other day, joking that something was going to have to give. either i was going to live at my parents' house or move back in to my house with my kid and his wife there, on weekdays, and see my better half on weekends, or... well, needless to say, he's willing to explore other options, mostly shifting my hours however i think would work best.

thinking about shifting from seven to four down to six to three. i'm down here by six anyway, so might as well, right? doesn't mean that i don't want my house back, but i'm in no hurry--pretty sure my better half likes having me around, but i do feel somewhat like a nomad, bouncing from place to place, collecting mail, walking a dog, avoiding long drives in rainstorms.

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i've seen a car like this one before, but hell if i can remember what kind it is now. what is it? pretty sure the last one i saw had all identifiers removed too, so looking it up wouldn't help.

on a typical car, all the airbrushed patterns and pinstriping might be too much, but this car has fairly simple lines, so it just works. >> was told the paint was done by starlite rod & kustom (thanks usautos98)

watched it drive in and park here in the corner. the main parking area was full and busy with foot traffic. here in what felt like a back alley of the industrial park, it found an interesting place among an interesting backdrop.

i got to it first, before any of the other photographers. they got good pictures too, look them up on instagram.

exhausted

quick post; i've been up and running since four am. not unusual for me on a weekday, but weekends, i prefer to sleep in. and i've been so busy at work, doing extra hours to meet deadlines—i hate tradeshow season.

anyway, made it out to garden grove and the hillco annual super cruise before the big game. was somewhat disappointed this year in that the turn out at five thirty in the morning wasn't what it's been the last few years that we've gone. add that it was overcast and really a nothing sunrise, with a hint of drizzle, i suppose that could be the reason. loved the overcast though, the big softbox in the sky. kept it way cooler than the average year at this show.

i'll write more on my next post, on another day. supposed to rain the next couple of days, so i will probably stay down at my mom's, away from the computer.

owner of this rat was curious, but only barely. asked if he would be able to search for a picture of it on the net. he could, but that would take way more time than just looking me up. tossed one of my cards through the roof hole...lol.

this shot shows a more overall view of the thing, but i kinda like the profile picture, which maybe i'll put up another day.

off to bed now...

mind the gap

i walked around the lot several times last week. deciding which cars to shoot, looking for opportunites to get the shot i wanted, looking at how the light was hitting the car. mostly looking for gaps in the herds of pedestrians plowing through the aisles.

tried shooting this car from the other side a bit earlier, trying to get the sunset behind it. not too many people passing by on that side at the time.

but then the owner walked into the shot and proceeded to open the door and stand there talking on his cell phone.

i have several frames showing his back side. i had just let the camera keep doing it's exposures, figuring he would move along, and i could just dump those shots he was in. i mean, the sun was moving, and sunset, the light really changes quickly.

but it was an extended convo, so i gave up and moved to an impala convertible on the this side of the car, just out of the frame to the left.

shot that car, with the sun hitting the hood and the plastic seat covers (wtf?), then turned around, and took shots of the fleetline from this side. pretty sure the owner was still standing in the open driver's side door on the phone, but from down low, i can ignore him entirely.

still some blurriness, because people are still walking nearby, and it picks them up in the reflections, but i don't care. at sunset, with long exposures, it becomes more about capturing the feel of the moment, not perfection.

the escape

i'll put this one up here, tho it's clearly not perfect. sharp up front and focus quickly drops off. busy night, lots of people and cars shuffling through the lot. there's a balancing act of timing and exposure and finding space for a tripod so that it isn't a tripping hazard.

i was almost back to my car here. better half had given up taking pictures because there were just too many people and cars packed in the lot. he was getting nervous as there was no way out, should anything go down. said the cops had already been by three times, and had threatened to have cars towed for blocking entrances, but last had left to get more back up. the fire department had also walked through shakingtheir heads, and left. pretty sure the manager of the big boy had gotten a talking to, and the neighbors behind the wall weren't too happy.

i had parked on the end under the overhang. he'd texted that there was an opportunity to get out right then, or we'd be stuck for hours, and i needed to hurry. finished the shot and was at the car within a minute.

there would have been just enough space for me to back up, but now not enough of an opening to exit without taking out the back corner of an impala. i would have been fine to take more time shooting, but better half was tired. owner of the impala saw that i wanted to leave and offered to take my spot.

oh why hadn't i backed into the spot, as i usually would have; it would have been so much easier. the impala had backed into the empty space that i had intended to back into, so that i could drive out.

instead, everyone was directing me to just back all the way out into the street. fine, on a normal day, i could do it, but there were so many people walking behind me, and i can't see around my better half sitting in the passenger seat.

finally, one of the guys from the oldies car club, who was trying to guide me out offered to do it. by all means, yes and thank you! better half jumps out of the car, to allow for more visibility, i guess, and i got in the back seat.

club guys do know how to move a car, and it was in the street just like that. we had escaped.

there was a line of cars waiting there and around the corner down firestone, trying to get in, so the void was quickly filled.

whisper

another from yesterday. before they ran out of room. i don't think anyone ever did park in that empty space; there was no room to manuever if someone would have wanted to.

the light was changing. sky still not dramatic enough, but a whisper of color was enough to kiss the cars.

got lucky that no one walked through this shot, considering how close it was to the pop up tents collecting the donations and selling raffle tickets.

back street boy

we went to the fundraiser for oscar at bob's big boy this evening. got there just around start, at five. back lot was already pretty full, front lot for restaurant patrons was also pretty full, but i managed to just get a spot at the end of the overhang.

mistake. should have got there earlier. so many cars. not enough space. people everywhere. oscar was a popular guy.

the parking lot was literally jammed within an hour. no more cars could fit, or there was no way to get to the random spaces that had been saved for friends.

sun went down so quickly, that i had to start taking longer exposures not long after. finally got tired of fighting the people walking through the shots, so i went out the back entrance of the lot, to see what was on the street.

cars were still arriving, but weren't being allowed in. went out on the street and shot the closest cars; didn't want to go around the corner in the dark—better half was still somewhere inside, with the crowd.

saw this chevy parked near the entrance. couple of guys were sitting nearby, and another car pulled in front of it, blocking the driveway, but i had a few minutes without interruption.

owner was standing nearby watching. came over and peeked at the screen. said it was his project car. not a bad project to have.