what's up?

night night

has been a hell of a week at work. too much work, not enough time, slipping deadlines. unwanted overtime. cancelled day off. some people got let go. somebody died.

pretty sure i have to work tomorrow and/or sunday. but first i need to get my oil changed.

meanwhile i'm hanging with my kid's dog, who keeps bringing me stuff to play tug of war, and not letting me type more than a few words at a time. he wants more attention, though i've played with him and walked him all afternoon since i got here. and here he is again.

i'll just post this car up because i like it. not quite full dark, but it is from only a single frame from the camera, since all the exposures of the five i did of it were the same exposure time, so i kicked the pixels a bit to bring it out of the background some.

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.

dud

purposely drove out to the broiler yesterday. i'm in the mood to shoot, and was hoping there would be some cars in downey to help me with that.

i go there rarely anymore, mostly because i have farther to go after work, and just can't bear to sit in traffic that much longer. and the last four or five times i have decided to go, disappointed by how few cars are there. it used to be so packed, even the back lot was full, even when i got there early.

well last night, got there about five-thirty. only a handful of cars there for the "show." small group of regulars, and i wandered over to the few i've met before. they joked that they didn't remember my name, where have i been, etc.

they talked about another show going on at the same time. mentioned that at the show i used to go to off alondra, they had torn down the building and were putting in an in-n-out or something.

anyway, i give up. this show is off my list, not worth the stress of the traffic. i liked the cars that were there, but too far for too few. sorry.

spent an hour with what there was and bid it goodbye for wednesday night shows.

wishing this woodie wasn't next to the t-bird, but apparently the owners are buds, so oh well.

mary poppins

been another busy week. my son graduated law school. has been sort of lost since he took his last final, with nothing to do. not a problem. now for two months of studying for the bar. then the waiting begins.

work busy again too. i have deadlines that are forcing me to work a day or two over this holiday weekend. better half, same story. oh well.

-----

posting these, only because the owner chatted and seemed interested in seeing pics of his car.

these cars are almost twins; same year, same paint, same details. turns out the owner of the car on the left built both of them. the only difference i'm seeing is that the car on the left has a chrome spare wheel cover and the other matches the car.

they're practically perfect in every way. just close the hood and slam down the trunk next time.

eight-track

went to the wingfest this past weekend, hoping for a lot full of impalas. got there close to nine, not too early, but before official start time, hoping for fewer people in the shots too.

ran into a fellow flickr friend, rudy, who knew me by name, and after getting his name, recognized him again. last saw him a couple of years ago at the majestics new year's show.

met another photographer, who said he had driven in from indio. he admired my rollie bag, and i marveled at all the camera gear he was carrying around, slung about his shoulders and waist.

and also victor, who i'd seen the day before at the la mirada show. he gave me a heads up on the show, and also mentioned one out at santa anita, if i needed more cars to round out my weekend.

there were only a few cars there. fine. i'll shoot them. more cars trickled in. gave them the benefit of the doubt, that people were at church or nursing hangovers.

hoods and trunks started being popped open. <sigh> ignoring my usual dislike of shooting them that way, i just shrugged and rolled with it.

before i left, there was a reasonable number of cars, but with lots of space for more. wished the cars that were there had moved to allow for more space between cars, since it seemed available. oh well, shoot ‘em as you find ‘em.

this car was over toward the back corner. i was looking at it, wishing the trunk was closed. few people were around it at the time, and i liked the trees, clouds, and the broiler sign framing it out.

owner was sitting there with his better half. he said i should look inside...check out the eight-track player...asked if i knew what one was. said a lot of people don't know what they are anymore, and hoped i didn't take the fact that i knew what it was in the wrong way. no worries. we're all getting older.

haven't seen one since my dad sold off his old cadillac...in the eighties...and his crap music collection came and went with the car.

told me about how he had found it online, and also had some recorder, if i understood, that he could make his own cartridges of music.

well, it made him happy. rock on.

just another day

so its kind of trying to rain outside. just rain already.

vacation time is way better when you've got something or somewhere planned to be. i got nothin. maybe if it was spending the time in my own house, rather than my better half's. but my kid is still living there for at least one more semester.

i guess i'm looking forward to freeing all my stuff from storage. it will be like christmas. then deciding on what i don't really need anymore—been without it for four years—so how much of it is just old baggage from a past life?

meanwhile...three more days to figure out what to do with. still doing backups and copyright filing.

thought this one from bob's big boy was ok. this car parks here a lot. if he's handicapped, that would be the reason. anyway, the car sits, i move. i liked this angle this time.

wondering if more than a few cars show up at the broiler on wednesday nights anymore. might just go over tomorrow if its not raining. week before xmas, used to get the lights on the drive-in and wreaths on the cars, so...

effected

there's a chevy under there: glitter, chrome, airbrush, pinstripe, reverse doily/lace, glass etching...i dunno...a bit much? interesting, but i don't know where to look first. sorry.

long day, so i'll bite my tongue and stop now.