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1964 chevy impala

went to the azalea festival show last year. i think we are done with that one, the attendance is low compared to past years, and the people at the gate, while friendly, just won’t let me in before it gets too hot.

here’s the back end of an impala. the front is pretty plain, so i always prefer the tail lights on impalas of any year.

kinda wished they’d closed the trunk, but can’t have everything.


whoa, it’s been a while since i posted. so much going on.

last post found me temporarily in chicago. later that day, i was in washington, d.c., where i spent a week at a conference. it was so hot outside, i did actually attend the classes. i had scheduled a free day to get out to the museums, but i so could not tolerate the humidity, i only managed the national archives, since the metro station was very nearby.

about half-way into the week, i found myself feeling so very sick, that i stayed in my hotel room and watched the video feed of the conference, and otherwise slept.

better half was unable to join me, so i was on my own, and had to stumble out for meals, and ultimately in search of some cough drops, nyquil, and tylenol.

standing by the metro tracks, i found i got really dizzy if i watched a train pull in to the station, passing me quickly. turns out i was running a fever over 101.

last couple of days there, mostly just coughed a lot.

flew home, to find i was positive for covid, though i mostly felt fine by then. locked in the bedroom, better half would fetch me food, and i didn’t see my mother until i went negative.

was very busy at work, with a big tradeshow in process, and another coming up.

lately, my brother got sick, and he’s been in the hospital for about a month now, and probably for some time to come.

better half’s sister is also in the hospital, and he’s gone north to sit at her bedside.

my daughter was here for a month with her dog, while she worked at the oc fair. i mostly watched the dog at my mom’s. at least a big barky doberman keeps the salesmen away from the door. no, we have no interest in bug exterminators or solar panels, thanks. they really are very pushy, and don’t understand no.

i’m doing some physical therapy, to help with the dizziness i’m still experiencing since i fell.

hoping to get back to swimming in the morning, before work, now that the dog is back at home, but my sleep schedule is all screwed up, so have been unsuccessful getting back to that.

i’m still rotating between visits to my brother, then working from my house or my mother’s.

not a lot of free time, but this past weekend, because of circumstances, i was able to sit in my home; in silence; in the dark; turn the tv to whatever i wanted to watch, as loud as i wanted; got to see a movie—wolverine and deadpool—which the better half would never want to see; and go clean my mom’s carpets.

i need to head over to see her shortly, but i’m delaying. got the ac going here; she keeps hers turned up to at least seventy-six.

expecting another busy week at work, though my boss is out of town, the show must go on.

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.

gruncle gruncle

quick post. tired. again. two hours in traffic to get home today. ugh.

we were standing over by the food trucks trying to decide whether to eat, get water, or leave the show. a guy walks over and asks who we shoot for. we tell him we're just having fun.

he asks if we could take a shot of his car, and points it out through the crowd. happens to be in our line of sight, so i said sure.

better half side tracks me on the way to show me a tshirt at one of the vendor stalls. nah, it was pretty plain, so didn't need it.

finally made it to the car. shot a few, but liked this one best. so, check another off the list of cars i said i would definitely post. because they asked.

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you should see some of my better half's pics. really killer. i don't think he's posted them to flickr yet. he hasn't posted or even played with his pictures much this past year. busy taking care of his mom and working too much.

his blog isn't really working right now, since he let the domain expire before he could move it to another provider. and then some ahole bought it. blog is still on the net, just hosted under a default url until he thinks of something else.

no matter what he tells you, he's still the better photographer, technically.

and now he's a great uncle. his nephew's girlfriend had a baby boy last night. and his niece will be having a baby girl at some point today. so now he's a gruncle. twice in twenty-four hours.

sharper image

let me start this tale by mentioning how my mom sometimes comes to me with her point and shoot camera, asking me to fix whatever my dad had done to it. i've probably told this one before, but it's more relevant this time.

my dad used to buy a lot of cameras in japan, when he was in the military. mostly nikon. as a kid, i only really remember him using a camera when we'd drive out to d.c., to the washington monument or lincoln memorial. of course, he must have taken more, because we have a zillion boxes of those old slide carousels full of them.

my point is, he can talk camera talk with my better half, and understand what we're doing with our shots and tripods. but put the point and shoot in his hand, and he's lost. he fiddles with modern cameras and all the menus, and basically fucks it up.

mostly my mom just needs to know how to turn the flash back on. she just can't remember how. every time. she's kinda afraid of technology, so she just wants to be able to push a button and get a picture. doesn't everyone?

on with the story...

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we arrived at the show in southgate just about six am. beat the sunrise. beat most of the cars. they were just starting to let cars into the parking lot to stage them before the gates opened on the golf course.

we like to get the early light, as well as a reasonable parking space. finally decide to get out of the car and go shoot the sitting ducks in the parking lot.

oh, i'm finding some really nice cars, in good locations. light hitting them just right. having a fun time already. then they start letting cars onto the golf course about sevenish. we couldn't get in quite yet, so we both sat on a wall and shot them as they drove past us. fun.

got my better half to ask the ladies at the gate when or if we could get in to take pictures. they weren't quite sure about how that was going to work and kind of just let us come in with the cars. thanks for that.

better half hadn't eaten at home, so went off to get something to eat off the food trucks. i decided to start around the perimeter and was getting some really good shots, without lots of people in the way, sky overcast.

fifty cars later, on the other side of the show, i took a look at a car on the little screen zoomed in. looks blurry. i know i've mentioned that i'm not too keen on this lens, but it seems more blurry than usual. i slap on my older lens, and shoot a few. it was ok, but i couldn't push in close enough and put the other back on.

i spot my better half a couple rows away, and go ask him wtf? now i wished i'd gone to the smaller car show the day before...

my better half had said for a while that we should do a microadjustment on the camera for the lens to see if it would help. well, i had been reminding him about it for a couple of weeks, with the bigger shows coming up, and he finally did the night before. while he set up the resolution target, i made some basic settings changes for the tests. he got to work, i went to my computer to play with pictures.

later i asked him if he wanted to go uptown for dinner. then there was a thing going on at the lowdown in uptown. old cars, some sort of sale inside. a pinstriper.

he's talked about pinstripping his lens hood for some time now. after chatting with the guy, he thought it was time to try it. we went home, he grabbed his camera gear and headed back. it was late, so i stayed and took a shower, got ready for bed. put my camera away. charged batteries.

and that was it. i put my camera away. he hadn't made the final adjustment or programmed it in or whatever.

the thing of it was, he forgot too.

he remembered to tell me to put the settings back that i had made back to what i needed to shoot. which didn't include whatever menu he had been using.

turns out i had been shooting all morning with a -20 adjustment, when it should have been +5, or maybe higher, since i apparently i interrupted him in the middle the range test for dinner.

so what i'm saying, they look like i used some dreamy romance filter on them, a soft blur. so fuck. my better half took off quickly to the other side of the show after realizing what it was and fixing it, thinking he'd be safer there.

so ya, kinda sucked. i am my mom when the camera isn't acting right. he's the tech geek i go to to fix it.

the sun was winking in and out, alternating with the overcast. i had to go back around and reshoot all the cars i really liked. the light was different. there were more people around. so out of having about a couple hundred wonderful shots of cars, i end up with ninety-seven. and then whatever i shot with my other camera. happy hood ornaments and details.

but they are sharper. maybe after he finishes adjusting the camera, i may really start to like the damn lens.

so there you go. i should have just stayed in bed...same difference for my effort.

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shot this chevy over with the originals cars. one of the guys wanted to take a picture of me taking a picture, and asked first. cameras don't like me, but i said i guess so. i'd like to see it, but they always forget to forward it on.

i'm showing you mine; why don't you show me yours?

i was impressed by his young friend, i think he said he was third generation in a family of guys who work on and chop cars. owns his own chop shop, and apparently does excellent work. i guess most people don't believe he can be that good at his age, as he kept reiterating the quality of his work. i believed him. an artist is an artist, especially if you grow up around them. if he remembers to send me an email, i'll put the name of his business here.

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congrats if you made it through my blather.it's over now...go home...