what's up?

if

i'm helping my better half this weekend, taking care of his mother. not sure if i'll get to any shows. might be a long night.

it's possible i may if i go to the closest show—foursquare church—and if i go first thing, before she wakes up. we'll see. i may get there, only to have to turn around quickly and head back home.

i still have plenty of pics from the uptown show i haven't had a chance to consider.

like this one. was parked in staging, waiting for them to let the cars in. took a set of pics before this shot, just a normal stance. then the owner, i think that guy there, stepped in to the frame, and dropped the car down like this.

it did look better this way, thanks.

adult beverages

i was heading back to the house when i noticed the bridgetown guys parked over on bailey street, near the barber shop, the one with the motorcycle in the window. it was getting pretty warm by then, so i was taking a break in the shade, leaning on the wall.

couple of the guys noticed, and offered me an adult beverage. no thanks, don't drink. another guy offered water, but i was ok, almost home, so declined.

asked if they were going to pomona the next day, as i know from experience, they are usually the first club there by the grandstands every time.

they laughed, and said that some of the guys would be there, but doubted they themselves would make it, at least first thing. by then, one of the guys seemed to recognize me, another asked for a card.

anyway, thanks for offering the drink(s); if i was going to keep going, i would have taken you up on it.

pretty sure i've shot this fleetmaster elsewhere, but thank you sir, may i have another?

hello gorgeous

saw this one very early in the morning, and couldn't quite tell if it was all black or what i thought i saw, a little purple tint. the light was muted by clouds, so i thought my eyes might be tricking me with a reflection of something else. what that would be, i dunno, since there wasn't a purple car nearby.

here, i found it later in the morning, and with the sun hitting the paint, i see that my eyes told the truth. it is purple and black. and simply, gorgeous.

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just got some emails. only got three pictures accepted into the oc fair this time, and those were not the ones that i would have expected. the one entry that i totally thought would get in, didn't. oh well, winning there isn't the thing to obsess over; just getting on the wall is the big win. anything else is frosting on the cake.

change of plans

pretty sure this picture is from the azaelia festival show, because i've been to very few shows this year that had the cars parked on grass. thirty-nines are one of my favorites, after fleetlines. the sun is bit high for my taste, but i still like the shot.

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i was showered and ready to pack up my gear for a show when i noticed i had missed a phone call.

was my kid, no message. so i called back and he said, "wassup?" i said, "i dunno, you called me, or was it a butt dial?" i can hear he's in his car, and the signal isn't the best.

apparently, he woke up this morning, and just had a thought that he wanted to take his wifey wine tasting. she likes it, he doesn't particularly, but he likes to keep her happy. solvang is one of her favorite places, so he booked a room.

they usually take her mum and/or sisters, but they were all working. so he had called me, knowing how much i like roadtrips, and to mention they had the dog with them. i guess they had hoped i'd say i wanted to go, and they would have swung by to pick me up, but by the time i'd called back they were already to calabassas.

my mind was ready for a car show, but my heart put the kibosh on those plans, to spend the rare opportunity to travel a little with my boy and his little family. threw some clothes in a bag, better half cleaned the windows on my car (thanks d!), and i hit the road. sad part was driving off, waving bye to him. one of these days he will travel again, but he can't right now.

and it was really a perfect perfect day, weather-wise for a car show. overcast, and in the seventies. damnnit. there will be other shows...

so here i am in solvang, sitting in the dark and typing on my ipad. had expected to be sitting in my own room with the dog, while they stayed out late at a wine bar or the beer garden. after a late dinner, they were both very tired, and decided to call it a night.

beer garden is open until midnight, and is pet friendly, so they could change their mind, but i'll be asleep.

i could have still taken the dog, but then i'd have to get up and walk him in the middle of the night and in the morning, so nah. and i'm in a hotel down the street from them, so if he got too hyper, i'd have to walk a block in the dark.

going to meet them after checkout, for lunch, then pick up some fresh pastries for my mother-in-law, then head home.

only brought one camera, no tripod, so even though i know of a few car shows on the way back to whittier, i won't be stopping.

it's going to be a weird week at work, so i guess i started it off weird too.

three way

saw this impala in the back lot at the memo ortega show. pretty color, sitting mostly alone...had to crop out a newer car behind it, was easy to get a decent picture.

maybe if i backed up a bit more, the wheel would have distorted a little less.

there are at least three tempting car shows tomorrow morning, as far from each other as to have to decide on just one, or none...sleep in, and just go to the latin gents' monthly show in the evening. what to do, what to do...upland, riverside or santa ana?

flip a coin? play roulette...if i wake up early enough without an alarm, just decide as i back out of the driveway?

i've been to the show in santa ana, and it is usually pretty good, and the lot gets full early, and is convenient to hit the gent's show on the way home if i stay there all day. used to go to disneyland in between, but who can afford the damn annual pass anymore?

could go hang out at my mom's for a few hours, or just go home in between.

that also argues to go to either upland or riverside, and just stop on the way home, to charge batteries and download pics. my fear is that once i get home, i won't want to go back out. it happens. usually too much sun, but it is only supposed to be in the seventies tomorrow...perfect weather.

guess i'll sleep on it. i still have hardly touched last week's pictures yet...not done sorting them out.

best in show

i've read that this little red packard won best in show the other day.

i took several pictures early in the day and one later in the afternoon. i liked the early morning shots better. i just couldn't decide if i liked this side or the the other, showing the spare wheel.

strange thing i noticed in the other shot, was that each hub cap is from a different type of packard. i suppose it's difficult to find a complete set for the same type and year. so as long as it says 'packard' all is good.

i liked the reflections on the door; this side a deluxe; on the other side, a special deluxe.

bought a boiled egg early this morning, out foraging for bfast at five am. turned out it was a dud of a sort. the shell didn't want to come off in one piece; the membrane underneath didn't either. by the time i got back to my desk, it had what looked like the lunar surface, but in white.

then the yolk inside, wasn't light colored and fluffy, but deep golden yellow and not quite fully cooked.

so, does that mean they didn't cook it long enough, too long, or was the egg too fresh or too old? i'm still alive to note this late in the afternoon, so i guess it wasn't spoiled.

stats

still working my way through all the pictures i took saturday. briefly thought about going to a show or pomona on sunday, but i was pretty tired, and i had stuff to do and relatives visiting, so stayed put.

i'll share a few stats from my day uptown:

i was out a total of seven hours, since the show was literally down the street from the house...got to take a break when it got too hot
shot about two-hundred and thirty-five cars, and more, if you count detail and hood ornament shots
just under eighty-six gigabytes of files on the hard drive. let's just say, i'd be in trouble space-wise if i had a full frame camera, a whole lot sooner in the year, at this rate.
at least 11,500 steps

thanks to the club that invited us to their xmas party this year. i'll think about if i want to get dressed up in girl clothes, and let you know. could be fun.

i think i have one or two more pics i promised, so here's one. pretty color, pretty car. i think this is the same color i picked out years ago, for a project car my ex was building.

second shot

another day, another car. owner watched me shoot the picture to the right, and came over to ask me what i do with the pictures.

i'm sensing a theme. don't see people asking every photographer what they do with the pictures, though i'd always be curious to see them. who knows what they do with them. i know i enjoy mine every day, and share a few here and there.

i suppose it has to do with the tripod. i think the guy that's out there at shows, with the old film camera with the bellows gets the same thing. no idea if he posts his shots, as i've never actually spoken to him...too shy.

anyway, saw the car again, on my way back up the street toward home. shot it again. it's a little more interesting, just because there is more color later in the morning, and more angles going on.

i was heading home to get some suntan lotion, as i felt my skin cooking. ended up downloading pictures from the memory cards, chugging a bottle of water and laying down for an hour. a little too long to sit still...was so sore when i headed back out.

went out, intending to shoot a particular car at the far end of the street, if the owner closed the hood as promised, as well as anything else that may have shown up and i'd missed. there were a few. arrived at said car, but the owner was not there, so didn't bother. shot a few more pics, and went to get dinner and cool off again.

uptown show

went out at five-thirty am today, up the street to the car show. better half walked me uptown, and pulled my camera bag around for a while. sun was already coming up.

noticed a bunch of classic cars in the rite-aid parking lot. went to shoot them, but they soon started to move over to the main street—they were there to volunteer to help set the show up and direct move-in, in exchange for prime parking.

strangely, as compared to prior years, they weren't starting move in until eight-thirty. we're used to a zillion cars lined up down the street waiting. nope, not much there.

spent time shooting the cars that were there. then noticed cars showing up further down, and went off to get those.

really love to shoot at this time of day, prior to move-in. fewer people, cool, overcast, everyone happy with anticipation. i really took the majority of my pictures waiting for eight-thirty.

then the time came, and it went very slowly. not sure what was going on, but it seemed to take forever to get cars moving. i took the opportunity to get some bfast.

i'm starting off, not with my favorite, best pics, but with the cars of people who talked with me, or asked about what i'm doing with the pics, as usual.

this nova was owned by the first guy that really chatted us up, mainly my better half, of course.

he popped the hood to show us what was hiding there, in spite of me wearing my infamous hat. whatever. here's a shot of the engine. dare a cop to try to catch up with it.

shark attack

yesterday was my boy's birthday. twenty-seven. how'd that happen?

they invited me to join them for birthday dinner. some restaurant down in laguna beach. because they're foodies, and know where to go when they want good stuff.

i haven't been to laguna in probably twenty years. no reason to go, and i always hated the crowds and traffic. i stopped going to the beach because there was no point in me trying to get a tan—i just burn then fade to white again. and then all the sand that gets in the car and in places sand just shouldn't be, if i went in the water on a boogie board or to jump the waves.

at least laguna main beach isn't too run down, as beach towns go, but i had a bit of a time remembering how to get around, and finding parking.

restaurant was hopping busy, and i got there early and put in my name to save a table. still would be about forty-five minutes. everyone else arrived and we walked across the street to the water, and some park benches.

flashbacks to places i'd been there when i was younger and dating my ex. and later, a building, where we'd attended a xmas party for work. so long ago.

remembering seeing a random man on a corner, wearing very loose dolphin shorts, with nothing under...and the wind blowing at the wrong time. ewww.

my sister lives out there somewhere, with her boyfriend/landlord/whatever he is. never have visited. i have issues with him. i see her once in a while at my mom's house, but mostly on holidays.

ya, probably be another twenty before i bother to go back.

anyway, it's difficult to find a gift for kids as they get older. they've already bought the things they need, and they have their own likes and decoration style.

so i fall back on their sense of humor, and just get them silly, just so there is something to open. found him a rubber shark puppet, and with some cash in it's mouth, he was happy enough. he's a lawyer, so he got the joke right away.

ready for the uptown show tomorrow. camera sensors cleaned, batteries charged. i should get to bed early tonight, but i probably won't. i can sleep tomorrow when i'm done.

saw this t-bird in garden grove at the super cruise. it sorta vaguely reminds me of a shark for some reason...maybe it's the headlights and shape of the hood.

it was nice in the early light of morning.