lighthouse

today was our eighth anniversary. made it past the seven year itch. (just keep scratching it😜)

better half was on call for work, and i had to drive out to pick up my daughter at the airport, so we spent several hours apart.

was over a hundred degrees outside, so no point going anywhere not air conditioned in the middle of the day. we did manage to walk uptown in the evening for dinner. still nice to find stuff to talk about after this many years.

letting my daughter borrow my car for the weekend...i hope to see it again on monday.

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this truck was at the legends show at point fermin. nice spot near the lighthouse. not sure why there weren't as many cars parked there, aside from not being out where the majority of people will pass by. this is nice near the tree, and without all the electrical wires that show from other viewpoints of the house.

i can't decide which i like best--this show or chicano park--both get a crap ton of cars and are fun to make a weekend getaway. point fermin is literally on a cliffside by the ocean in san pedro, so some years it stays cool and overcast in the morning and through the day, gets a good breeze.

chicano park is good for a roadtrip or train ride weekend.

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getting up early for the dia de los muertos show down the street in uptown. it's grown quite a bit since the first year, with maybe ten cars and a short row of vendor booths. now it's an equal part full on car show and art show with some vendors in between, all decorated with skulls and shrines for the celebration.

out early and mostly done by ten, when it heats up, people start showing up and the show officially starts.

a family

i was minding my own business, walking through the park at point fermin, looking for something interesting to shoot. cars were moving in by this point, and being directed left or right when they reached the lighthouse.

queue the random guy to come over and tell me to take pictures of his family's cars. all of them together, then individually. like i'm there taking orders. sure, i'll take them, gave me something to do. kinda doubt he'll buy prints; most guys like that just don't.

i could be totally wrong, but that's just how it came across.

nice set of chevys, then he said the ford at the end was also part of the group. they had that pop up over the truck, until the guy told the other guys to move it back. didn't ask what was so special about that one in particular.

anyway, did as i was told/asked, and got on with my life.

brotherhood

i went to this end of the park hoping to find a car with a good shot of the sunrise coming up over the car. this club was at the far corner, under this tree. i could see good shots as i approached, but they were still moving their cars around. the parking director told them where to park, and when he wasn't looking, they tried several times to pull their cars forward to get them lined up. then the parking guy would yell at them to move them back...he had to fit so many cars in this field, they couldn't spare the space.

i think they tried a couple of times before the parking guy threatened to invite them to leave.

anyway, i saw several beautiful shots, but couldn't get them, for all the cars and club guys walking around. i'm really the one in the way—the show really doesn't open for public viewing until ten or eleven—so i had to let those shots go. i work around the edges, and get what i get.

i know that camper kinda ruins it, but i really liked the color of the light.

back it up

i stood and watch the owner park this car here. couldn't wait for him to park and leave. he rolled out of the car looking kinda grumpy. almost thought he was going to move it somewhere else, but he didn't. i walked away and came back after he left.

i think maybe i love the trees in this park as well. i'll shoot most anything with them in the background. they just frame it up so nicely. they help camoflauge most of the crap and buildings too.

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apparently, somehow, somewhere, i've managed to crack a rib. started hurting a few months ago; finally couldn't ignore it any longer and saw a doctor, and got it xrayed. i probably shouldn't have mentioned it to my better half, knowing he was going to treat me differently. he'll make me follow the doctor's recommended orders to take it easy and not lift anything or overly exert myself. i've been walking around for a couple of months already, as is, so come on.

anyway, i'll probably take a few weeks off from going to car shows, and pulling my camera bag. unless i can talk him into being my bag boy. oh well, more time to work on pictures i already have, right?

we've got a trip booked soon, running away for a week, and i don't think we're going to bring the big cameras with us for a change.

turn off the light

got up before the sun and out to point fermin yesterday. clear sky and a full moon, we ran around trying to catch some pictures of the legends' cars that were already in the park.

don't realize how quick it fades from night to day until you're hauling a camera bag and tripod across grassy fields, to get to cars with the promise of a better point of view. still wouldn't trade it for a point and shoot camera. i'll use my phone camera for quick shots to instagram, but they're more of a documentation of stuff i saw quickly or where i've been--they're the throw aways.

i've shot this car before, and he always seems to park here every year. you don't know how much i wish bad things on that scrawny palm tree, whose pathetic trunk snakes up between the car and the lighthouse. ruins the shot, and i'm not going to waste time photoshopping it out...it was there, so there it will stay.

it was dark, so of course the park lights were on. do they get some sort of discount for those horrid yellow-tinged light bulbs i wonder? the blackness of night inherently sucks the color out of stuff and neutralizes it, but with that light dropping its mandarine light down on the car, everything getting hit by it just gets whacked to an orange spectrum. would have been so nice with just the moon and stars shining down.

posted the color version here too, because despite it burning my eyes, it's sort of ok, because that's how i saw it.

a went back a little later to try and get the same shot as last year, about the same time in the morning, but the sunrise just wasn't as spectacular, and every sunrise is a different experience, to be enjoyed in that moment. maybe next year...

good day, sunshine

here's another for the day. from legend's san pedro show. i was there before the sun came up. they can't keep you out of the park. so there i was dodging the cars as they were bringing them in. actually, i'm pretty good at staying out of the way. i can move on, and come back later.

here, the sun is just coming up, the light still purple. makes it worth the effort of getting out of a nice warm bed—you just can't get this light at high noon.

busy weekend

man, i'm tired. did the viejitos show on saturday morning, then out to san pedro before dawn on sunday morning. then been busy busy at work since monday. going to vegas next week on business, so i gotta squeeze some picture time in when i can before i go.

barely posted anything from the viejitos show yet, and i have so many good shots, but also have a crap ton of good shots from the legends show. so, i'm just gonna get some of the usual shots i promised to post to certain people first, and get them happy, then do the stuff i really liked/loved.

from sunday. saw this one really early in the day, and had set up to shoot it. nothing else really around, few people, faint light. got half my shots in, and then the owner came around this side of the car and started unloading stuff from the back seat. and left the door open. i waited a few minutes, but the sun was rising, the light was changing, and he still hadn't come back around to close the door. i'm not gonna touch a car, and close it, so gave up for the morning.

came back around later in the day to find it like this. too many people, splotchy, bright light. took a few shots from the front too. really made me regret not asking him to just close the door in the morning. oh well. it's ok. just not as lovely as it was early.

great show overall. was last year, and had expected no less this year. hundreds of cars, no way i could shoot every one of them. but damn near filled up my memory card, and i did burn through a battery. bummer that my better half couldn't go; he would have been there if he could, but had to take care of his mama...responsibility is a heavy responsibility, as he would say.

motivation

saw this one at the legends show at point fermin. the owner wasn't around, but a guy who said he did the restoration on it was there. said it only took about seven or eight months to fully rework it, since the owner had the cash to get it done quickly. otherwise, he said it typically takes several years.

he did a pretty good job, i think. guess money changes everything, no?

i get misty

perfect weather for pictures early in the morning. fog and mist rolling off the water and through the park kept the harsh shadows away, but it sure did wonders for my hair. getting longer, and being baby fine, it just goes all limp, so i don't even bother to do much with it now. i'll chop it short eventually, but now is the time to see how long it will grow, which i suspect won't be much past my shoulder blades. at least i can tie it up now, when i get too warm and absolutely don't give a damn how i look, as long as i can get a good shot.

this chevy was parked with the bridge town oldies club, but i'm not particulary sure it belongs to them. not perfect, but slightly less chipped paint from this side, i think it was the color that stopped me for a shot.

my better half must have handed one of my cards to the owner, as he sent an email to me asking to see any pictures of it. i knew full well that i hadn't passed out any cards this early in the day. i forward those requests to him, and i know he sent off what he had taken.

well, i happened to have shot it too. always fun to compare our shots, but i don't think he posted his for all to see.

anyway, i see that i've posted a bunch of chevys. i think next time i'll post something else for a change. should really look back through the shows i went to last month when i couldn't post, and show them some love.

sweaty palms

well, if it wasn't taken in december, you wouldn't know that it wasn't a hot day. out at point fermin park, on a cliff, with ocean breezes. truly, i don't remember the temperature. i know it was overcast when i got there, and people are wearing short sleeves and shorts. so maybe it wasn't a schvitz of a day, but it may have been sultry (let's ask owen's mama).

anyway, people not from california insert stereotypical imagery here: palm trees [✓]; vintage car [✓]; blue sky [✓]; reflections [✓]; hot chicks in bikinis [   ]; sunglasses [   ]; frilly drinks with umbrellas [   ]; surf and/or skateboarder [   ]...