show me the way

i've been incredibly busy this week at work. so much so, when i get home, i just have no energy to think much about playing with my pictures.

in fact, a couple of days, i drove home, booted up the computer, and continued to do work remotely. even spent last saturday doing work work instead of fun work, just to try and get somewhat ahead of the backlog at the office.

did no good, as i had to reswizzle what i did to work in some edits the following monday. oh well. such is the life of a graphic designer, right?

i had tweaked this picture over a couple of days, while waiting for the work i was doing to process. had it finished last night, but was too tired to post. back at an xmas show in santa ana. was threatening to rain, and the clouds overhead were just reflecting the heck out of some of the paint jobs.

i like this picture of a car show. the packed in cars waiting to be admired. the cars i passed by because the hoods were open, still caught because of the angle. they must have been doing the raffle, since there are so few people milling around in this shot.

anyway, got dead presidents day weekend to look forward to, with monday off. getting my taxes done too. i so hate making that annual trip to the preparer.

then, my son has decided to go ahead and set a date for his wedding. don't know why they can't wait until they've graduated from college and gotten some decent jobs. isn't that what all parents always ask? why can't they just stay small? why do they have to go and grow up?

he wants me to take engagement photos. told him i'll try now, then he still has time to get a professional to do them. i'm just more comfortable in front of a car then the happy couple.

home, sick

apparently the office cold has caught up with me. was able to work from home yesterday, and enjoy coughing up a lung without glares from coworkers. really not that bad, at least yet. i was going to go to several car shows this weekend, but i think if i made the move to head for the door, my better half would tackle me.

i think he's testing me now. he slathered me with vicks vaporub, and hoped i'd stay put while he took his mom to disneyland. i could just take a shower and go to one show, and be back before dinner. but really, i already have a few pictures i can play with, and i guess this is just one of those days i save them up for, right?

so i'll spare you my cooties, and stay put. i'll probably take a shower, and wash off this sticky stench of vicks. so gross. if they run too late, i will go uptown and find some dinner, but i will otherwise just stay here watching old reruns and looking through my files for some other cars to post.

saw this one last weekend at the classics/temptation show in santa ana. so glad the clouds started rolling back in half way through the time we were there. skies and the reflections on the spit shined cars are always so much better. and as always, the hood ornament.

outside looking in

i go to your car shows and take pictures. i am acutely aware that i don't really fit in, never have. i'm still the wallflower, observing from the sidelines, only now, i'm in the midst of things, yet still trying to be inconspicuous. doesn't really work with a bag and a tripod, so i just do what i do and sometimes you say hi.

only had time for one show on sunday, so i picked the classics/temptation toy drive at the santa ana elks club. i got there and realized it was at the same show, the year before, i went over and introduced myself to jae bueno.

i'd seen him around, but never had the nerve to say anything. but at last year's show, i found myself standing right next to him, so what the heck. he was very nice. he was there with his family. he was so fully there, healthy and enjoying the show; he was getting ready to head out to another event or family thing. so that memory was happy, but also bummed me out. so...

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i think this was the second or third car i shot. the owner, or at least one of the club guys came over and asked where they'd be able to see the pics, so lucky you, here's one. gave him a couple of cards. hope they see it and like it.

i never get tired of these cars. just love the lines. my better half is more of a '39 master deluxe guy lately, but i think i'm a fleetline girl right now.

my better half went with me. he was done taking pictures way sooner than i was, as usual, but said he was fine waiting. really, he wasn't. he was ready for lunch, and started getting a headache, so i kinda had to be more selective and hurry. i'll post more soon. it's late and i gotta sleep.

was nice chatting again with danny from the fleetliners...he knew i didn't shoot his car, because his hood was open...offered to close it, but we really were on our way out.

hey to the temptations guy who reminded me not to write a bad review...didn't know i was doing that...and don't worry...it was a good show. just close your hood all the way next time...

well, bummer

so i'm trolling my more recent photos for something different, and thought this would be interesting. then my week got busy, and didn't have time to get back to it and post it.

since i'd already started it, i figured i'd finish it tonight. but as i was trying to nuke the color funkiness from the sun glare—which i couldn't quite cancel out—i realized i'd already posted it recently. strange that i hadn't seen it in forever, and here it was a few weeks ago.

seems they added those big ass headlights, but the pattern i hadn't noticed initially on the roof is the same. pretty sure its the same car. pfft.

so someone tell me, is it a '39 or a '40?

tired now, so i'll go kick myself and get over it. i'll find another picture tomorrow.

chillin’

so i had some vacation time saved up, and i've got the week off. end of the world coming, so why not chillax? end of the world is my mom's birthday. is there some significance in that? lol.

its been raining off and on, and i love that. been sleeping in late. went to a movie today. saw the chevy at the havana house yet again. totally going to get my camera next time and shoot it. though i know i already shot it at the whittier uptown show. but different season, different light, could be pretty awesome. i'd ask your permission, but it stinks in there, and hey, you're out in a public parking lot.

thinking about driving out to pasadena tomorrow. maybe go shoot some flowers for a change. still a little bit of space on the hard drive. deleted some stuff from 2010, so some miniscule bit freed up.

also will probably end up in downey tomorrow evening. try to be there before sunset, maybe stay a little later, since hey, i don't have to get up at freaking 4:30 in the morning. all depends on what shows up. and how much my better half whines about me being out. he worries sometimes.

anyway, not going up to see my daughter, flights are too expensive...she'll have to wait until april. thought about driving to san fran for a couple of days, but i'd have to go alone, which i've done several times before, but i just don't feel like it this time. and it's raining up there all week so whatever.

here's a detail of the airbrushing on the shade thing from this awesome pontiac.

delayed gratification

there's something to be said for waiting. "all good things take time." "everything's eventual." there's the an-tici-...pation. a delicious, squirrelly itch, which you're sure will never end. sort of like love.

i suppose that there are a lot of pictures i take, that will never get posted here, mostly due to a lack of time and attention. and i apologize to any of the guys who have waited endlessly to see their car here. really, if you've been waiting that long, i wonder why you've never bothered to send me an email to ask about it. otherwise, i'm left to my own devices and whims as to what i post. and i hear that a woman's heart is a mysterious thing, at least my better half has me thinking so. let me know when you have me figured out, d. 

some days, i have no idea which car i want to post, i love them all. other days, i just want to delete them all, and go in search of new cars and new shows. and then i have days, sitting here, worrying how many more can i play with before i run out of space. come on after xmas sales! i need new hard drives.

anyway. taking a break from the legends of san pedro, to post one from the other show i went to that day. i found the token lifestyles car, of which there seems to always be one or two, at some of the better advertised shows. always immaculately painted, pinstriped and/or airbrushed. this one just seems so bright and cheerful in the craptastic background of santa ana. not one of my favorite chevys, but i liked it nonetheless. why ask why?

more whine

danny's car again. he really wants a three-quarter view of it. i've only seen it twice, and both times, not an optimal spot. i shot it before, but he wanted to see more of it. this one echos the other danny's car, both in color tweakedness and in lens flare. it's supposed to be a deep red wine color. must be the light and the shade on this side, again messing up the color. i like it anyway. guess i just like flares and starbursts.

i have a decent one from the other side, and it's the right color, but there's a group of dudes on one side and a single dude on the other in it that just bug me, and it's not quite showing this much of the car. throws the picture out of balance or something, and i can't crop them out without losing some of the car either. i think that is the point where i could revert to desaturating, darkening, blurring, stripping out the background, or a hundred other things to remove the annoying items. i don't have the time or desire to do that much work.

i need to get something done tonight for delivery tomorrow, so i'm just putting this one up because it's ready to go.

fleetmaster

well, my weekend hasn't worked out as i planned. spent saturday with my car in for routine maintenance, ended up getting it home for a little over $900. ugh. definitely not doing xmas this year. then, since i wasn't home to work on my pictures, i didn't work on the cars i wanted to post here.

so there's just this one, and then i have to go sit through a church choir thing my mom is part of, my xmas present for her. my better half enjoys these things, xmas carols and such, and it makes my mom happy that some family will go and see her do her thing.

for several years, i endured the show playing solitare on my phone, then last year i unfortunately picked seats up front, unknowingly sitting next to the pastor or reverend or whatever he was. oh, i had to behave. it entertained my better half, his mother and mine that i had to be ever so good, not playing games, or making any comments. i'm heading for the loft this time.

this chevy (starting to max out on chevys right here now) belongs to the fleetliner club. danny asked me to shoot their cars, and i have a few more to post when i have time.

xmas spirit

i'd intended to go to a couple of shows today. made it only to this one at the santa ana elks club. was going to also hit up the john force show, but as i approached the freeway ramp, the radio was reporting a big truck spin out up the highway and a motorcycle cop had just got on the freeway and began the zigzag pattern...didn't feel like driving the surface streets out there, so i skipped it. maybe next year. i guess i'll peek at dave lindsay's pics when he posts them.

anyway, as soon as i walked into the lot, i met up with danny, from one of the clubs at last week's show. he's interested in shots of his club's cars, several of which were there. i'll see if i like any of them another day.

the guy that belongs with this truck also asked if i could take a picture of it. said it was the first time he'd had it out since his dad died. well, i would have even if he hadn't asked. it's a pretty clean ride.

interesting zebra stripey airbrushing pattern and big red bow on the front. might have liked it better if it wasn't parked next to a white iron fence, which reflects on the paint and just confuses the eye with the competing zebra pattern.

i think it was a member of one of the host clubs for the show. hope he sees this. i threw a card on the seat.

the pointy things on the back

raining off and on all day. went to work for a couple of hours then got my taxes done.

pouring right now, and i'm just sitting here playing with my cars. not quite the same as when i was younger and playing with my bro and his hot wheels. never was much for playing with dolls. i still can't remember why i cut the hair off my sister's dolls, but i'm sure i had a reason at the time. i guess i was a tomboy then, and still a bit of it remains.

i still don't like dolls, and my bro still has his hot wheels. funny that he's never passed them on to his own kids. guess you just gotta keep those childhood memories for yourself sometimes.

anyway, i digress. took this picture last year, when i was just getting started taking pictures of cars. it was going to rain that day, but the guys still brought their cars out to play at this show that only happened once a month. they didn't leave until the sky got much darker and scarier.

i just like the back of these chevys from this angle. makes the fins that much more interesting.