what's up?

power slave

1958 buick special

1958 buick special

went to front street this morning. only photographer there for a while.

got home after eleven, and happily transfering pics from camera to computer, when the power went out. neighbors started emerging from their houses and actually talking to each other, so i knew it wasn’t just this building. hope the computer is all right.

better half says it’s widepread here in whittier. so no pictures to fiddle with for a while. should be interesting to figure out dinner if it stays off that long.

i’ll play a game. i’ll post a pic from my backlog each hour and see how many i get to. after all, they aren’t doing anyone any good

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this backend was from mooneyes last month. i do so love cars with interesting back fins and lights. not sure i’ve seen this one before.

waiting on that change

1937 buick special

1937 buick special

waiting. right now, for lunch.

things changing at work. tis the season for reorganization. sidesteps, but mostly day to day things will continue unchanged.  

life at home has been and continues to be hectic as well as erratic.  

my dad out of the hospital, but they really haven't fixed him. so more to worry about there. 

right about now, i'm thinking about vacation. wondering if better half will take a ten year anniversary trip with me, or if i will go solo or with my bro. happy to just get in the car and drive, but probably will fly somewhere, anywhere really. 


another car from the front street show. don't see too many of this model around, and it's beautiful.

i was told the city did not allow them to use the streets for the show this year, and just kept them only in this parking lot. does explain why there weren't so many cars there. but on the plus side, i found close parking easy. 

early and late

buick eight

had a choice of two shows i wanted to go to today. just needed to pick which to do first. pretty much knew which would have more cars, so decided to start with the other one, just to be ornery.

past years' at this show in south gate had been quite busy, with an abundance of cars waiting to get in before the sun was up. so based on that thought, i was there by five-thirty.

aside from the people working the show, there was exactly one impala, which turned out to belong to one of the workers. so i sat in my car and waited. i watched the lone guy waiting to check in cars that were late registers, observed the trash collectors. 

it was almost an hour before the next show car drove in, then another fifteen minutes before the first club showed up. by then the sun was up enough, the "golden hour" was about done.

got out and started shooting anyway. more arrived, so that was good, though still not the consistent numbers as before.

when they opened the gates of the golf course, i headed over and took some video of cars driving past. i suppose i'll post some clips when i have more time.

once there was a lull in the drive-ins, i tried to talk my way in, expecting to pay and get in as usual. but noooo, the lady at the gate said i had to buy a ticket at the ticket entrance. problem with that plan was that the entrance didn't open until ten and it was only about eight.

i should have taken that as a point to head over to lincoln park there and then. but i was tired, and hopeful that one of the other workers would take pity on me and help me out. a couple said to talk to jackie. i was about to head over to watch the girls' softball game for a while when one of the groundskeepers offered to chat with the lady at the gate. by the time i figured out who jackie was, i was being helped out at nine-thirty by that guy, who got me in the ticket gate only a little early. good enough.

just a photographer, feeding her habit, i mean hobby, doesn't always work at the gate. if i'd said i was with a magazine, i wouldn't have been on the list, so why bother fibbing?

so, with the light changing already, i got to work. there wasn't much really, that i hadn't already shot in the parking lot. there was plenty of room, as they hadn't even filled half the field, but the weather was perfect, with lots of shade, so i made the best of the situation.

couldn't decide which picture to post, so closed my eyes, and picked this one. it's a buick, but i can't quite figure which year from the fifties it is specifically.

only stayed inside until a little past noon. decided to skip the other show, as i needed lunch and kinda felt icky. my guts hurt. i suppose i should see a doctor about that.

fine dining

we walked uptown, to the dia de los muertos show this morning just after six. later than we planned, but didn't sleep well last night, and heard the alarm ten minutes late.

there was already a long line of cars waiting to be let in. seemed to be a bit of a disconnect or disorganization on the part of the people letting the cars in. letting them sit too long, cars started overheating, even very early in the day. it didn't stay cool very long. vendors seemed to be showing up relatively late for this type of show as well.

this show has really grown, when i look at pictures from the first year we went out, in 2011, only had maybe ten cars. each year, more. this year really blew the last couple out of the water. so many cars. why did it have to be such a hot day?

anyway, took lots of pictures. not as many as i would have liked. had to keep stopping for water breaks. better half had enough of the heat after breakfast, around nine. he followed me around for a little while, then he walked back home. on call for work again, so he needed to cool off, just in case. i probably sweated off my suntan lotion within the first couple of hours, so by the time i left around elevenish, i was a bit pink.

i looked more hideous than normal, but expected it to be hot, and decided to not give a rat's ass about how i looked. been so long since i worried about makeup and dressing to impress, i just couldn't imagine how the women dressed for the day of the dead kept the makeup from sliding off their faces. never was much for wearing makeup anyway.

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talked to several people, and i promised to post their cars, if i got a good shot. so if they happen to be looking for them. give me a few days—i'm out of town a lot, and away from my computer. not doing them in any particular order, so don't get your panties in a twist.

liked this buick, and would have shot it again before i headed home, after the sun really hit it, but there were too many people around by then. 

i think the owner was inside the restaurant, and saw me shooting the car from the window. he came out to ask about prints. i do hope they knew he was coming right back, not doing a dine and dash.

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hmm. down to one more show on my list for the year. heard about one in canoga park early november, but didn't get the details.

thanks to the dead sleds for the flyer, already had the show on my list...sorry we missed your anniversary show.

special

life is speeding up lately. yes, i know i missed the gatos show yesterday. rare day that my better half could get a few hours out of the house, and he wanted to go to the fair to see my pictures hanging on the wall. matter of priorities sometimes.

we had fun, almost like a date. spent a lot of time talking about nothing and everything. walked through the buildings of schlocky stuff for sale, looked at the crafts, watched the mariachi and pacific islanders dance shows. weather was mostly good, so we stayed later than we had intended. his mom was fine—he called her twice—and told him to stop worrying and enjoy the time out.

next, going to speed through the week at work, even when a work week feels like it drags on forever. next weekend, a college graduation to attend, followed by a drive out to vegas. whittier car show coming up when i get back, then something else i can't even remember right now, then pick up the pictures from the fair... blah blah blah. stop thinking about things, and just do them. life happens. just one big check list...

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went to the sultans show this morning. perfect weather for pictures, got my favorite parking space, very close by. got there about six-thirty, and there were some cars, stuff rolling in. watched yet another ballet of parking the cars. it's a sort of choreography between the club members on what cars should go where. some are more organized, with walkie talkies, others just yell across the field, over the revving engines.

park isn't huge, so these guys just yell. but they do pack them in well. the park was filled, except for fire lanes. i made the outer circuit to start with, to stay out of the way of the moving cars, and to keep them out of my shots.

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starting with this car. belongs to a retired gentleman, who i think said he'd owned it for thirty-eight years. i've seen it around before, shot it before, but had never talked to the owner. i liked the paint combination, and the back windows are kind of different. the hood had been up, so i had decided to just shoot the back end. he offered to close the hood, so i offered to take a picture or two. so here's a few shots for him.

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briefly considered going to mariachi plaza, and decided i didn't have the energy. looking forward to seeing everyone else's pictures of all the cars i wished i'd been there to shoot.


special

saw this buick on the edge of the grass, by some vendor booths, in chino. didn't remember seeing another one, so set up to take a shot of it.

owner turned out to be one of the dead sled guys. i think he said he recently bought this car. told him i didn't think this would be considered a sled-type car. what do i know.

had a cracked window, which i only noticed when the owner started talking with some other guy about getting new glass for it. that guy said he could get the glass, but that he doesn't do installation. what's up with that?

i like the front chrome on this.

 

a day like any other day

spent dead presidents day out and about, running errands, grocery shopping, and doing laundry, which i doubt any of the presidents had to do themselves. ever.

i've got a biography of bruce lee running while i play with my pictures. interesting guy. i remember watching his movies on the weekend when i was a kid. he kicked ass. and what kid never pretended he was flinging nunchuks around?

so, no car show today. maybe i'll go to chik-fil-a tomorrow. probably going to my mom's anyway. gotta get back into a groove before the summer shows start again.

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saw this buick at the majestics new year's show. big car. elegant lines. love the pine trees framing it.