1941 chevy special deluxe
quick post, still unpacking and unwinding. trying to convince myself that i want to go to work tomorrow.
thank you to any and all who have served our country, which includes my dad, brothers, uncles, and grandfather.
1953 chevrolet bel air
back from vacation, way more tired than when i left. at least tomorrow is a holiday, so i have one more day to recover.
as usual, my better half and i have said, after marching all over the place, miles a day, for a week, we should try to keep it going, and i expect that will last about a week after we get back to the work routine, and the summer heats up. we did about four miles today. thinking of climbing the hills nearby tomorrow, though my better half might not go, as he did trip a couple of times while out being touristas, and his knee is kinda sore.
i'll probably just sleep in. i am really tired and sore. i need to sit in a hot jacuzzi or get a massage or something. i imagine one of those things would help.
this was the first car i shot at the relay for life show.
shot it from this side, because the owner was sitting on the other side, and was trying to focus on the car. the plaque in the back window was for the classic dreams club, and said bakersfield...long drive for a benefit show.
apparently, he was curious what i was doing, or shooting for, and then wanted to be in the picture. oh, ok. i guess.
most guys would then come around front of the car, and do some pose, or throw down some signs or something. this guy just stayed behind the car, and there he is just over the hood, some kind of strange hood ornament.
next time, just be in the picture. get out front, like you really mean it. own it.
1952 pontiac
i'd never seen this pontiac at any of the shows i've gone to. knew other cars would get in the way soon enough, and so i took a few shots while the owner was still polishing it. i do that sometimes, just shoot low, from the opposite side they are working on. if you're low enough, it doesn't matter if they stand up.
owner was telling my better half, later in the morning, that he had gotten the car from his uncle when he passed. i think the uncle had told the owner as he was growing up, that he would leave the car to him when he died. he said his uncle retired from his job not so very long ago, and passed only a few months later, and kept that promise.
it's a beautiful car, i thought.
still visiting the east coast, but apparently keeping west coast time. sleeping in late / staying up late. kinda screws up finding dinner when a lot of places are closed in the city. fortunately, there is a very tasty pizza joint less than a block away, a la pieology but not, open late.
no set plans, since i grew up not too far away, and we seem to vacation here in dc once a year. it has rained off and on the past couple of days, but i love it. today and the next couple will be in the eighties and sunny.
talked my better half to getting out of town, took the metro out to old town alexandria, rode a free trolley down the main street to the waterfront. walked around the artists' colony at an old torpedo factory, then walked up the street a bit to find food. seemed to be food of all kinds to choose from, but just settled on seafood. it was good, we ate too much, and were too full to even use the two for one coupon at ben and jerry's in the tourist guidebook. oh well.
decided to take a water taxi back over to georgetown. this one ran a recorded soundtrack babbling on about various buildings and historical points of interest along the way. mostly my better half stood at the front of the boat taking pictures of airplanes overhead, flying in and out of reagan national airport, which has a landing strip right damn next to the river, so no pressure on pilots to touch down on pavement and not water. must be fun in winter, when the snow and wind freezes the river and ices the runway.
landed the boat in georgetown, and took a ten minute walk back around the watergate hotel and through georgetown university, to the foggy bottom metro station. back to the hotel to dump our cameras and chill for a bit.
then to end the day, took the metro out to nationals stadium, to watch them play the mets. down inside the metro station, the sheer number of people passing through as game time gets closer, is monitored by some seriously grim anti-terrorist security guys, with bomb sniffing dogs, and dudes carrying m-16s. the station is just outside the park...when you come up from the underground station, there's the stadium.
we run the gauntlet of people selling counterfit team logo crap, scalpers looking to buy tickets, homeless people asking for money. we needed tickets, and there was a line of about twenty people at the main windows, but my better half went around the corner, to what appears to be will call, but were actually just additional ticket windows, and had no wait at all.
we like to sit up at the very top rows of seating, up behind home plate, those were sold out, so we were up just off center on the third base side. that side is shaded from the setting sun for an evening game, and up top, you get a breeze coming up off the river, which is also a few blocks away.
it was a good game, several homeruns were hit, and the home team won 7-4.
the stampede back down to the metro feels like cattle into the chute. they need people whose job would be to jam as many people as possible into the train so the doors can close, packed like sardines.
anyway, a few more days to go. no idea what we'll do each day until we go out the door. and that's just the way we like it.
1948 chevrolet stylemaster panel truck
saw this chevy panel truck at the duke's display at relay for life. this was one i shot fairly early after arriving.
i passed by later, and the owner lowered it down, and leveled it out, but there were more cars, pop ups and people to contend with, so those. shots are just ok, but not my favorites.
so we're finally taking one of those elusive/dreaded things--a vacation. and of course, it's all been a little bit off since it started yesterday.
been busy all month at work, leading up to it. worked late on thursday, trying to get the big stuff mostly done, to spare coworkers a lot of pain. that forced me to stay down at my mom's for the night, instead of packing, etc., as i had planned. then worked at the office in the morning, and raced home at lunch time to work four more hours from there, to finish out the clock, and miss friday traffic. did my time, and got packing.
better half worked at home all day, and had also been working like crazy before the trip. he didn't pack or get the supermarket shopping done in advance of the horde of family coming down to keep his mother company while we're gone. also means we don't get to see the two babies of the family, who are both now walking. it's a trade off.
after much running around, i got us going out the door just before eight p.m., to catch a red eye. he thought it was a bit early, but it turned out to be a good thing. traffic around lax for last mile before our exit was terrible. we had to drop off the car and catch one of the shuttles to our terminal. the shuttle took it's sweet time getting to the garage, but we still ended up with the recommended couple of hours to spare.
enjoyed the airline pilot on the shuttle ride from the garage to his flight, entertaining the captive audience with historical knowledge, as well as hitting on a random travel agent headed to new york.
checked the bags, got through security fairly quickly. didn't even have to remove our shoes, which is a plus, because i don't even want to think about what the sticky stuff on that linoleum is every other time we've had to go through security. just no.
had about an hour until boarding, and started noticing delay times dominoeing through flights ahead of ours. our crew was on a delayed flight coming from san fran. ultimately, we were listed as the last flight out, leaving at one a.m.
then came the announcement that the flight had been cancelled, due to the crew being timed out on their shift or one of them not feeling well...depends on who you wanted to believe. that was followed by the mad rush to the counter for rebooking. briefly thought of just heading home, but then they put us up in a hotel, to get a few hours' sleep--it was two-fifteen a.m. by then--before we had to be back at seven.
we'd settled on a one-stop trip, instead of the direct to the east coast, which would have meant just sleeping in the terminal. so i'm sitting here in san fran typing away, waiting for our connecting flight, while my better half is getting his ya-yas out, geeking out watching planes and shooting a time lapse of the runway and the really awesome clouds.
1951 mercury and 1950 ford
1951 mercury
putting up a few shots of these two cars, since the kid asked. well, he asked my better half, and then i got the email.
i like the idea of the nose to nose shot, but i'm not so sure my wide angle lens does them justice. just couldn't get up high enough. maybe next time i should climb on top of another car or truck.
not sure if these are works in progress or if this is it. better half said the headlights are really meant for motorcycles is what i think they told him. whatever they are, the headlights on the black one had small red lights around them and they made the grille glow red.
black one belongs to the dad, the other to the kid. nice to share the same interest, and to pass your knowledge on to the next generation.
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...
just before the rain. was starting to sprinkling lightly, and taking one more walk about, and found raynbow's pontiac. didn't see him.
last time i saw his car it was for sale. no sign this time, and the viejitos plaque was still in the back window, so i suppose he was there somewhere.
didn't notice that tudy had arrived with his '56 until after the rain got going and i was waiting up under the building entrance. next time, always a next time...
i took a few shots of this bel air, then moved across the aisle to shoot a chevy delray. i was kneeling down, pulling my other camera out of the bag, when i look over and see this mallard and his girl walking toward me.
weird to see walking thru a car show, and they did not seem at all afraid, so i took a few shots of them too, and they walked right next to me. didn't realize they got to participate in the relay as well.
made it out to la mirada today. american cancer society's relay for life and car "exhibit." it was mostly overcast, which makes for really good pictures without harsh shadows.
duke's car club chapters from everywhere were the hosts, so there were lots of chevys to keep me happy, and they have lots of friends. heard about the show from a whittier guy we met at chicano park last month.
saw lots of cars and people i haven't seen in a while. took lots of pictures.
sun peeked out momentarily, then went away and then unexpectedly, it started to sprinkle. it wasn't in the forecast, but you know what i think about weathermen...they're always wrong. my camera is mostly ok with a little rain, but the lens not so much.
when it started getting a little more persistent, i had to go over to a nearby building with an overhang. i waited about half an hour, hoping it would clear up.
owner of this car happened to be walking into the building, i suppose to "wash his hands" and mentioned that i had taken pictures of his car and would be interested in seeing some pictures of it. i liked this shot best. this side view is also ok, i suppose. 
i always feel worn out after the drive home from work. typically takes over an hour when it should only be about forty-five minutes.
and people on the freeway are insane, so i'm not the only one. but really, most people drive fine; it's the one too many f-holes that think they are exceptional and the road is theirs. you know the ones i mean—they swerve in and out of lanes, giving semi-trucks no effective warning or brake space. they'll drive up the shoulder if need be.
ya, my hands hurt sometimes from gripping the wheel too tight. after a long day at work, followed by that drive, i feel about as old and tired as this truck.
but it's still here. and so am i. i need a vacation, but don't have one scheduled. maybe i'll visit my kid tomorrow and sit in the jacuzzi. better half can't go anywhere on weekends until his mother is better, and even then he'll worry about her.