am i right?

1958 cadillac coupe de ville

had this posted on flickr and instagram for a few days, before someone commented that i'd tagged it as a fifty-nine instead of a fifty-eight. i really do appreciate the corrections. makes it easier to search for what you're looking for, when it is correctly identified, especially when you want to see a picture of your own car.

i like the color of the car with the color of those flowery trees back there. i'd drive this, even if it is purple.

---

hoping to work from home tomorrow. only a few people in the office. was supposed to rain, but i think they've changed their minds and it will rain friday and saturday, but still. traffic will suck in the afternoon, because it just does.

merciful

so i hung out at the broiler for a few hours. its a different crowd now than there used to be. the vibe is different. maybe its just me. maybe its just the cold, or the holidays. i really intended to stay later than i did, but i just wasn't feeling it. 

there were a couple dozen cars there. some of the new clubs tend to gather in front of their cars and don't move. kind of bovine, just standing there. i didn't feel like out-glaring them out of the way, so i skipped them. shame.

i'd already spent time shooting cars i'd taken before. mainly, if they were in a different location, or the light struck them different than before. fricking richard's car got in a few shots, but i'll pretend it isn't there, since it doesn't exist in my universe.

sometimes, you just need to look at something differently, and it will be a lot more interesting. i've shot this one before, but i wanted to get some of the roof, then noticed the neon, then the sky, and angles and colors. just wished that the soccer mom van and other newer cars were not there, since they were hiding some other nice old cars.

this one seems to be for sale now; tiny tiny "for sale" on the window doesn't really scream that you're trying too hard.

i wanna be sedated

so i get to do this medical thing on friday, and my better half is saying he isn't going to let me get near my tripod all weekend. even though there are big shows out in san pedro and el segundo i was thinking of going to for a change. i suppose i'll spend the weekend sleeping it off anyway. not looking forward to it.

anyway, been a long week at work and it's only tuesday. working extra hours, and then staying up late, is wearing me out. probably won't make it to either bob's or ruby's this week. pooh.

this here is the front end of jack's star chief. really a spectacular car. he's usually there at bob's representing the mercifuls of long beach. even made it to the whittier show last weekend. too bad he usually is parked in the vicinity of richard's car, but you know the saying, "you can pick your friends, you can pick your..."

ps: hey geri, yes, i did tell my better half he can start calling me baroness von jones soon.

pale whale

it's a big one all right. these old cadillacs are pretty and curvy and big.

finally made it to a regular show, an old standby, my comfort zone. had to go to long beach anyway, and bob's isn't that far from there. hey to angel, who always seems to be there, and doesn't hesitate to come over and say hi when i'm there, as well as the brothers with the old chevy. and then there's richard...who can bite it.

i haven't been in a few weeks, and now that it's warmer and the sun is up later, i am kinda disappointed that there weren't more cars. i think the mercifuls club has adopted this show, as the majority of the cars seem to have their plaque in the window.

the lot just used to overflow with cars, all the way to the back lot. now they've just been all clustered up in the front lot. maybe i just didn't stay late enough. i would have preferred to catch the sunset, but i also needed to eat dinner and have time to play with a picture.

i even decided to leave, thought of going to the show over at the spires, and threw my stuff into the trunk. then got a phone call from my better half. while sitting in the car, an old beautiful original chevy pulled into the space next to me. i was going to get my camera out again after i got off the phone, but he moved it to another spot, and so i didn't.

sweet dreams

so i went to the broiler the other night. end of january. temps in the upper 70s. weirdest weather i can remember.

anyway, lots of cars were already in the lot by the time i arrived. these pretty little things were all spit shined for an official photo shoot for a magazine i can't remember the name of, but i'm sure you'd all recognize it. quite the production, with a large team of people setting up fancy lighting and lots of cameras.

got this one fairly early on, though i was intercepted when i first arrived by someone interested in pictures of their own car. he's a regular. already had posted his car, and tried to show it to him on my phone, but the signal wasn't that great. had to go fetch my ipad out of the car, and finally found it to show to him. dude, if you're reading this, i sent you an email. waiting for a reply...but i digress...

story i heard from the owner of this lovely nomad was that it was the third time his car had been featured as a work in progress, only this time, the car had just been completed. hot spanking new paint job. perhaps it was really featuring the paint shop, as three of these cars were completely awesome and similarly pinstriped and metal flaked up in lollypop colors.

anyway, i got my shots in between their set ups and all the people milling around. only i didn't use a flash or their lights. i'll look for the magazine, but i'm perfectly happy with my pictures, even if they aren't perfect.

take me to your leader

i've seen this t-bird several times at the broiler. never can quite get the angle that i want. as i've said before, i should probably start carrying around a ladder, so i can get higher shots when the cars have detail on top.

the funky art deco paint pattern in off-white on a rusty-type matte brown, make me think of a alien craft that has traveled quite far, and by alien standards, is a late model for them too. the pattern is reversed out on the roof, with rust and white on an off-white or silver background - i can't remember right now. strange colors from the lighting only add to the atmosphere. now if it had just been a bit foggy...

it has "slow dancer" painted on the side of the roof, which running through my mind, points to several different interpretations, and i can only wonder what it really means.

merry effn xmas

as promised, i stopped at the broiler this past wednesday. hadn't been there in a month, haven't really been to any shows much. i think my shy side is getting the best of me. gonna forget how to shoot pictures if i don't go out and practice.

anyway, it was already dark when i got there to deliver angel's print. actually, he was right behind me on firestone, but he pulled around the front lot, i went out around back. saw him park his car, then lost track of him when i pulled my camera out of the trunk. figured he went inside for dinner. didn't feel like chasing him down, so i spent my time taking some pictures.

i was experimenting with my camera settings; i don't know how well i like them. too many long exposures, so i was just fooling around. at one point, i swear one of my contacts from flickr was standing by watching, but he never said anything, and since i wasn't sure, neither did i. thought i saw another one through the window of the restaurant, but again, not positive. hard to tell from the little pics people use in their profile.

anyway, i spent a bit of time taking shots of some of the mercifuls' cars. i was back behind this one down low. one of the members stopped to get something from the trunk of a car nearby. i guess it's a little odd when no one is expected behind the cars, so he looked to see what i was doing. don't worry, not touching your cars, just making them mine, in a way.

as always, i like the fins on these. but in this shot, i liked the fat boy sign, as well as the the lights on the drive up parking roof, and how they reflect on the paint and chrome. and for whatever reason, the way i seem to catch the reddish cast in the sky when its dark at the broiler. left it full frame, cuz i didn't want to crop any of it out.

gonna be spending tomorrow in the kitchen, baking stuff for xmas, so i'm pretty sure i won't be posting again beforehand, so have a good one, whatever you do.

oh, and angel liked his print. hope he takes a picture of it after he gets it framed...i wanna see.