for life

1937 dodge1937 dodge1937 dodge hood ornamentgot my better half up and out of bed by six yesteday. he really had wanted to go to ruby's on friday night, but after a second evening with a two and a half hour drive home from work, i was just not in the mood for it anymore. traffic sucks, and surface streets didn't help much either gotta make a deal with the boss, so i can just work from home on friday afternoons, at least.

my point being, he had gotten his shit together, and rigged up his little screen and rollie rig, and had been ready to go the night before, so it wasn't too difficult to get packed up early on saturday to go to the show over at la mirada rec center, by city hall. he had been hoping to shoot some video at rubys, and was going to give it a try at this duke's show, since i told him it was on pavement.

it's fairly nearby, so we were there about six-thirty. i'd gone the year before, so already knew where i wanted to park. couldn't see anything going on, so we left our stuff in the car and walked over to see if anyone was there. it was a relay for life event, so i expected to see more people, but i guess all of those volunteers were inside, near the pool.

we did see a line of dukes cars sitting there, so went back and got our gear.

last year, it rained off and on, and was in the other parking lot. this year was overcast, cool, and in the bigger lot. they roped off an area that i heard held about two-hundred and ninety spaces. i think by the time we left for lunch, there was maybe half that of the show cars, but the majority were the kind we like.

i haven't been out shooting much, so it was nice to have a perfect day for shooting, without the sun and heat. i always remark how tired i am all week, sitting on my ass at a computer, but give me a car show, and i can spend a good six hours walking around, crouching up and down, and be happy as can be. don't even feel too sore after, though my ankles to get a bit stiff if i sit too long, but that probably has more to do with my shoes than anything else. and it really tells me i need to get off my ass and move more often, and burn off some of this gut that seems to be sticking to me, the older i get.

anyway, it was a well organized show, and quite a few guys came over to chat with me. all very nice people. it was really good to see lots of clubs interacting, though there were a one or two, whose members just sat in a huddle watching, and frowning, and i guess, hanging tough. i'm sure i gave back my best resting bitch face, which is apparently my default look anyway. i think i didn't bother with their cars, hood was up and the other, nah, i just didn't need their pop up in the shot.

talked to a guy who told me a long story about how this dodge used to be his car, but events in his life forced him to sell it. at least he sold it to someone he knew very well, a guy he helped to raise, i think he said, so he knew it was in good hands. still, it must hurt a little to be so near, yet so far from something you loved.

it's a nice car. seen it before, and it's probably up here somewhere else, if i bother to look.

wasn't a whole lot available food wise this year, so since we hadn't eaten breakfast, called it a day around twelve-thirty, before our headaches got too unbearable...

roosevelt for president

saw this car toward the end of the day at the azalea festival. found my better half there, already chatting up the owner.

if i remember correctly [better half can correct me if i'm wrong], he'd bought the car from some really old guy he knew. so old, there was a roosevelt for president sticker on the window. can't remember if it was just stashed in a garage for years before it was sold, but wow.

i think he said he fixed the car up, got it running again. said he took back to visit the really old guy, who was so happy to see that the sticker had been kept in place on the window. after so many years, it just belongs there.

dodge

so just running virus scans and doing copyright filing, looking through old pictures. i kinda like this one. not the whole car, which was kinda frankencar, just the front here.

chicano park

busy weekend, but fun. tired now, so i'll be brief.

even better, my better half got to go with me. his sister got out of the hospital, and she was well enough to take care of their mom.

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we got to the park around five-thirty in the morning. there were already cars lined up in staging to go into the park. so we decided to go over by the stage thing and unpack our cameras on the steps. within a minute of unzipping the camera bags, we were approached by an older woman who wanted to know who we were with, what were we doing...etc. we simply said we were just unpacking our cameras to take some pictures. she said the whole park is reserved for an event, they were setting up and that we had to leave. we replied that we were here for said event, and repeated we were just unpacking. she persisted, so whatever, we'll move somewhere else and unpack and do exactly what we planned anyway...to go back over to where they were staging the cars.

honestly, there wasn't anything or anyone there on that piece of the park, and we weren't intending to get in the way even if there had been. going to bite my tongue here, because i like the show, and want to go back again next year, but get a grip. even the cop in the car in a neaby parking lot wasn't going to bother us. hope she had a nice day. 

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took so many pictures. the weather turned out to be perfect, overcast with bouts of sunshine. never really needed a jacket, even so early in the morning. i liked this picture because it seemed to represent the show and location well.

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and as we left the show for the day, i was waiting to cross the street, when my better half started laughing. i turned around and he pointed at this painting. and OMG, it was the lady who had told us to leave in the first place. took some searching, but i've figured out who she is, and why she had the authority to ask us to leave. we still found it funny that we started the day with her and here she was again, on our way out...

maybe a doctor can remove them?

i had carried my camera bag with me for a couple of days this week. drove over to chik-fil-a on tuesday after work, took a stroll around the lot, but didn't even take my bag out of the car. oh well. probably was too early, but i haven't seen anything there like they used to get at the fuddruckers location. is it the location or the people running it?

wednesday, the traffic was moving pretty well, so i drove up to the broiler. it's a lot different feel than a couple of years ago. not as much there, the back exit is blocked off. looks like one of the local car dealers parks some cars back there. and that's where the low rider guys go as well, back in the darker parts of the lot. probably better that way. they don't come across as the friendlier types, and seem to care less about people seeing their rides than they do for hanging out and smoking skunk.

trying out a new camera bag my better half got me for valentine's day. nice bag. just not sure it's very practical for car shows. i'll have to try it a few more times before i can say one way or another. good for travel on a plane in the overhead. ya, that's it—a good excuse to fly somewhere, to test if it's travel worthy.

anyway, i took a few pictures in the hour i was there. saw a few people i haven't seen in a while. sorry if i was a bit abrupt. i haven't been out much, and have had a long week at work, even by hump day.

i liked this old car when i first saw it, but by the time i got around to shooting it, it had broken out in homies. and machine guns. i don't get it. but then, i don't get my mom's fondness for dolls either. but why put them all over the hood? bad enough when they are parked in front and back, but this is just overkill. i think i'll pass these cars by from now on. just showing this one because i liked the light on it.

i sure enough would like to knock them off there, but this is how it was, so there you go. maybe i should have just shot the hood ornament...

i think its beautiful

made it out to the oldies san fernando car show today. been waiting all year, since attending the last one, when we'd driven out there and were happily satisfied by how many cars were there. unfortunately, my better half, who has been getting over pneumonia, had to bail on accompanying me at the last minute, after a particularly bad coughing bout. thinks he strained a muscle or had a back spasm, and didn't think he'd do very well hauling his camera around in the heat, but not hurt enough that i should stay home and take him to a doctor.

i arrived about an hour before the official opening time. parked around the corner, and walked past the line of cars still pouring in to the show. i wasn't sure if they'd let me in so early, and was resigned to having to sit for an hour watching the cars go through the gate, but the guy letting the cars in noticed me standing there, and said i could go on in, as long as i paid the entrance fee. the show is for the benefit of the school and the football team, so i don't have a problem with it, and had expected to pay anyway. promised the guy i'd stay out of the way, so thank you to the guy at the gate for letting me get an earlier start.

was still overcast for about an hour, so i hurried to shoot what i could. thought it would be best to get to the cars parked on the asphalt earlier, to avoid getting too baked later. glad i brought my hat with me, as i'd forgotten my sunscreen. didn't get too fried, and it was lovely in the shade, with a cool breeze most of the time.

i will say this is an awesome show. well attended, and well organized. people came with good attitudes, and for the most part, quite friendly. they'd even opened an additional lot for cars to park under the solar panels for shade, which had been under construction last year. i made it through the back lots, which i'd had to skip last year because we'd brought the nephew, who can't take the heat even more than i can't. i'll definitely try to make it there again next year.

so many cars to choose from. so i'll start as usual, with one belonging to someone who bothered to chat with me for a few minutes.

the owner of this dodge, told me it was the only one of that year there, and of course, i forgot to type it in my phone, so let's just call it a '36, until he drops me an email to correct me. i want to say he was wearing an oldies car club shirt, but this other dude is photo bombing my shot advertising his car club. actually, i've shot pictures of one of their cars before, come to think of it.

anyway, the owner seemed kind of ashamed of its condition, but said it was all original. he'd bought it from the daughter of the original owner. i think it is just as wonderful as any of the other cars out there, imperfections and all.

***the dog is asleep, in case you were wondering. i'll be paying for it later, when it's my turn to sleep.***

mirror finish

i went to a few shows on super bowl sunday. found this at super cruise x in garden grove. first i'd heard of it, but was told by two different people that they've done it for ten years now, every super bowl sunday. 

almost didn't go, thinking not much would be there, but the guy that gave me a flyer earlier in the week claimed there would be several hundred cars there. and i suppose there was. i got there a couple of hours into it, and stayed less than an hour. only because it was hot and there wasn't a lot of shade on the asphalt were one would want to take pictures from.

this one is a dukes car, parked in front of a business flying a dukes banner, flanked by dukes cars. they're all perfection in their own way. took a couple of shots down low and one at normal level. i like the normal one, but it shows too much of the surrounding industrial buildings and people and cars and other distractions, and this lower one shows off the hood ornament so nicely, and the sheer mirror perfection of the door just makes me happy. ended up flipping a coin to which to post, so here you go.

no show

so the year is going out in a whimper. drove over to the viejitos show this afternoon. a block away were some of those look at me, look at me, small package guys with their new big ass trucks, with doors that open upward, hoods that flip up and all their blingy stupidness.

drove past. they were in the lot i usually park in. thought maybe they might be overflow from the show. but no, where the nice cars were supposed to be, nothin. well, there was one viejito, seemingly just arrived, climbing out of his nice old truck. perhaps he was as mystified as we were as to where everyone was. we kept going, but probably should have stopped and shot his truck just for the heck of it. i suppose it was cancelled for the holidays, and the weather...cold and windy. didn't think/realize it was supposed to rain.

we weren't far from disneyland, so stopped there to pick up some of the sourdough bread for my mother-in-law. wasn't as crowded as you'd have thought, but busy enough we weren't going to stand in the soup line. fortunately, they have a cart outside, that they were just opening for the day, and got some there.

the skies were looking increasingly gray, so we decided to skip eating there, and headed for the little sandwich shop hiding in the hotel there. no long line in there. as we sat down to eat, it started pouring rain outside.

by the time we finished, it had mostly stopped, and we headed directly to the car. sprinkled a little on the way home.

so it sucked that there was no show, but my better half reminded me that i didn't really have space for more pics anyway. but i would have shot them anyway.

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i haven't decided yet whether to drive in to work tomorrow, or work from home, now that i've been enabled to do so, thanks to the IT department. pretty sure i'd be one of the few in the office, as i was last week. it was nice and quiet, even with the few other die hards working in offices elsewhere sending me work. i can think of only one person who might send me something to work on, and after that, there'd be no one to approve it, so really, wondering what to do.

probably the clincher will be the weather. if its raining, i'd be less inclined to drive in, and then fight the traffic coming home.

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found this car at one of the summer shows out at enderle. i'd never seen one before, so of course i had to shoot it. interesting tail lights, i think.

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oh ya, for christmas, i gave a few people a small book of hood ornaments i've shot over the last couple of years. a few have asked for copies for their friends. if you're interested, i've put it up for sale here, or you can preview a few pages from it anyway. no words, and i kept it simple. thought i'd let the images do their own talking. there's a small book of flowers, if that's your thang as well.

which way to in-and-out?

another weird summer here in so cal. when i was a kid, it would be hotter than h-e-double hockey sticks by may. the last few summers have been relatively mild, compared to the rest of the country. it's almost july, and really, i've had to drive all the way to riverside to find some real heat.

this one was a couple of weeks ago, overcast, but not raining. can't remember if the gloom burned off in the afternoon or not. great weather for shooting cars without harsh shadows. only spent an hour here before going into work on a sunday afternoon.

didn't notice at the time, but i like how i caught the reflection of nearby palm trees on the car. makes me think of the drink cups at in-n-out, with the little palm trees, and i almost want to look under the car for the john 3:16 they hide on the bottom rim of the cups.

blue velvet

can you not see why rainy days make for the bestest images? look at that sky. and that the sun is muted like a big soft box, killing off harsh reflections.

i take pictures of the cars as i find them, but there are times like this, i wish i could move some of that background crap out of the way...it's cluttering up a perfectly fine car picture.

check out the airbrushed picture on the visor of this dodge. skelly banditos. :)