what's up?

sparkly

1963 chevy impala

really liked the paint job on this one. and since the owner came over and said hi, thought i'd post it.


talked to some guys that drove down from fresno. they said this heat was nothing to them. one of them chatted about my cameras, which sony models i'd used or liked and why. he said he's seeing more people interested in getting them. he knew the difference between full frame and cropped sensor, so not a novice.

forgot to ask him which car was his, or i'd post it if i shot it. maybe he'll read this and let me know.

best in show

1937 packard

i've read that this little red packard won best in show the other day.

i took several pictures early in the day and one later in the afternoon. i liked the early morning shots better. i just couldn't decide if i liked this side or the the other, showing the spare wheel.

strange thing i noticed in the other shot, was that each hub cap is from a different type of packard. i suppose it's difficult to find a complete set for the same type and year. so as long as it says 'packard' all is good.

i liked the reflections on the door; this side a deluxe; on the other side, a special deluxe.


bought a boiled egg early this morning, out foraging for bfast at five am. turned out it was a dud of a sort. the shell didn't want to come off in one piece; the membrane underneath didn't either. by the time i got back to my desk, it had what looked like the lunar surface, but in white. 

then the yolk inside, wasn't light colored and fluffy, but deep golden yellow and not quite fully cooked.

so, does that mean they didn't cook it long enough, too long, or was the egg too fresh or too old? i'm still alive to note this late in the afternoon, so i guess it wasn't spoiled.

the kid

1939 pontiac

i made it out to both car shows yesterday. skipped the evening trunk n treat—by then i wasn't feeling well. probably had too much sun. or yesterday's carnitas got their revenge. maybe i should just not eat them anymore.

i shot a lot of pictures. so now i am behind about four shows in the last couple of weeks, for anyone looking for their car. again, if i promised to put yours up, send me an email, because i am starting to forget.

this one is from the second show, at the whittier elks lodge. the veteranos were the host club, and i got a hug from one disguised/acting as security at the gate. he even gave me an ice cold water, which i really appreciated.

near the entrance, the originals club had their cars lined up behind their pop up, which kind of sucks, because there's the tent, which i hate, but whatever. my friend armando, who i've run into off and on for what he says is four years now, was there, and seeing the other guy get a hug, wanted one too. introduced me to his youngest daughter, who was spending time with dad at a car show. chatted with him for a while, then went and got started shooting cars. 

when the pavement got too hot, i went back and caught some shade and probably talked to him for over a half an hour. he's a new dad. suprised the wife let him go out and play, but i'm sure he'll make it up to her somehow.

at some point, he asked me to take a picture of his car with his daughter. she seemed pretty shy, and didn't know what she should do, and i was all awkward because i don't usually shoot people...wait, that sounded weird...take pictures of people.

this one turned out ok, and caught her looking at me, instead of her dad, who really should have jumped in with his kid for a picture.

da boyz

quick post. relatives visiting here, and i'm tired. stayed up too late last night, followed by a long day's work.

i did manage to get around to finding the originals east los angeles club, eventually. not hard to miss, with their big banner hanging from the trees.

they're a friendly bunch, and i've gotten to know them a little the last couple of years. armando always says hello, and shakes my hand.

the tall dude with the pepsi, called me over to show me something in his phone. for no reason, and completely randomly, he had a picture of me he'd shot at last year's show. a picture of me taking a picture. at least i didn't look too pissed or squinty or whatever it is my face does when i'm focused on a shot. he even showed it to my better half, when he'd been over there.

i'm pretty sure he added another to his collection, as i shot his car here. shiny car. buffas, they have lots of buffas.

figured it would only be fair, that i'd shoot a picture of all of them. didn't turn out too terribly awful.

armando’s bel air

armando is one of a very few car owners that will stop and chat with me, even if i look busy, or pissed, or whatever you want to say my face looks like. i'm not pissed. usually just have sun blazing into my eyes. hate wearing sunglasses taking pictures.

he usually drives a thirty-nine pontiac.

this show, i see him, but i dont' see the pontiac. he walks over to say hi, shakes hands with my better half and myself, and points out this bel air. oh, and that they've made their plaque fancier.

never did mention whether this is his other car, or if he got rid of the pontiac.

this is nice, but i see them all the time. pontiacs are harder to come by.

has bean

can't pass by a pontiac without shooting the indian.

i've got a few shots of the car, but i'm not so impressed with them. not liking the other cars and pop up tents in the background. don't know why, since that's how i find them most of the time. maybe if i look at it again another day, i'll like it better and post it.

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spent the morning doing a lot of driving. drove my better half down to the optometrist, where he got in trouble for not going in for a couple of years. he'll have new glasses soon enough.

then drove back, avoiding the eff-up on the freeway at valley view, where they are doing construction or something all weekend.

stopped at the market. cooking up pots, or more seemingly, vats of beans today. never made them before, and my better half was whining the other day that his mom hadn't made any for a while. i finally asked her to show me how to make them for him, so we had to pick up ingredients.

first market didn't have everything we needed. second market didn't have the pig cankles, so i had to go to a third market for those.

anyway, spent the afternoon doing that. the house smells like onions and jalepeños. better half chopped/obliterated onions in some sort of device he'd bought at the swap meet. his mom sifted through the uncooked beans for the defects and dirt, and told stories of when she was a girl doing the same for her mother.

so it kinda seems like they did most of the work and i just wrote down and followed her directions and stirred the pots. fine by me, i'm not going to eat them.

results are mixed, probably because of the different sizes of the pots used. better half just dumped one pot as being way too salty. says one pot is probably perfect, the other two probably could have cooked a bit longer...not my fault...his mom said they were done time-wise. i didn't think they looked the same as the first batch. whatever. they'll eat them anyway. i'll try again some other time. maybe buy more big pots to cook with, so they all cook at the same rate.

ya, i hate cooking. i'd rather bake cookies and bread. way better than beans.

an original

took the better half to the showlow's fifth anniversary show in pico rivera yesterday. pretty good turnout. more than last year; not as much as the year before that. perfect weather. overcast that didn't burn off until after noon, and it didn't get too hot. gotta love that.

was shooting pictures of an acquaintance's car, when a couple of his buddies came over to say hello, and tell me they'd heard about me, and could i shoot their cars too.

ya, i'd already shot one of this car before they had walked over, but i went back and shot a couple more. i liked these better anyway.

i'll post the other guy's car shortly. i think i'll be too busy at work the next couple of days to get to others.

captain packard

last weekend, i also went to the azalea festival and car show in south gate.

i had stopped at another show the previous friday, and raynbow of the oc viejitos told me about it. so thanks, so much raynbow!

i hadn't been to this particular festival, but had been to the greenspan's show on the golf course last summer, so hoped it would be as good as that was, and i wasn't disappointed.

at least a couple hundred cars crammed onto the grassy knolls, so i got to shooting. (see what i did there...yes i did).

again, a perfect day, cool and overcast. i had a harder time getting out early like the day before. so tired...guess i'll get used to it.

ran into a couple of guys from the originals club right off the bat. armando has a very nice pontiac, and had bought some pictures from me last year. very nice guy. introduced me to his friend, and pointed out his friend's packard here. says he would be interested in getting a picture done too.

seemed specifically to be interested in a front view, and this was the one i liked best of the bunch. they also want it faded out on the edges, in a vignette kinda fashion, so i guess i'll do a little more work with it.

and i was so distracted by all the cars, i forgot to shoot new pictures of armando's car...oh well, next time, my friend.

----

aside from sometimes posting bigger size pictures this year, i've started to post some straight out of the camera shots over on flickr, of stuff i may never have time to get around to polishing up, but figure some people may be interested in seeing their car anyway, if they bothered to talk to me. so go check out my digital junkyard if you're curious. no, i'm not going to post everything, but enough so if i shot your car at a big show, it may be over there.

quick post

1938 pontiac

just a very quick post, as i have to get my butt to work. getting set up at my other place, so i can doggy sit my son's golden retriever. was up late backing up my computer and trying to sort through over a hundred pictures i took the other day at this car show in south gate.

wow, i mean, WOW. was a great show and so many cars and clubs turned out. we kinda stayed all day, and wished we had gotten there earlier. it was overcast most of the morning, so it kept fairly cool, but it did feel humid anyway. must have been the water evaporating off the grass.

i couldn't decide which car to start with, so i'll just throw one of these on here. especially since the owner was so nice and chatted with me for a while. i have several angles i'll need to work up for him to see, but at least i thought i'd tease him with this one. might go and tweak it a little, since the clouds above seem to have darkened up the front too much.

oh, and the group was posing for this picture for several people, including a young girl who seemed to just be getting into photography. that's great. they were being very nice to her. i snuck in a shot too, but with this lense, i would have needed to get up closer, but then i didn't want to get in everyone else's shot.

egad, i gotta get going...busy day ahead. won't be posting here until tomorrow night, if anyone is looking...