what's up?

xmas is almost over

it's happening. it's finally happening. the xmas tree is coming down, and all the whimsical holiday stuff is going back into the garage.

better half would leave the tree up year round if he had his druthers, but his mom wants it down now, so sir, yes, sir, may i have another?

still half a tree to denude of lights. maybe i'll help tomorrow, just to make it go away. fake needles really do beat your hands to hell though.

i have a whole lot of cars parked in draft mode, waiting to be posted here. sad, really. haven't had much to say, or that i want to share now.

i figure the cars got posted on instagram fairly quickly after their respective shows, so if i take my sweet time posting them up here, it doesn't really matter. except maybe if they wanted to see them a bit bigger. want to see it optimally? buy a print. seriously. i'm down another camera already, with the other starting to show the same error message, and don't know when i'll take the time to ship it in for fixing vs just buying another body.

i do have chuck e cheese points in the reward program at work, which i was saving up to buy a full frame body, but i could get two crop bodies with the points i have now. i dunno what to do. haven't gotten any more points lately. i could pay the difference, but i don't wanna.

better half's sister is back at her home for the weekend, and his mom mostly sits in her room watching tv all day. hoping to just sit around the house at least topless all weekend, so my stitches can get some air. lol. it's been hot all week, so the house is overly warm anyway.

better half has to work all weekend at his desk. ya, i won't be distracting.

in fact, he's in the kitchen doorway smiling right now.

spinner

hi there. just fiddling around, and thought this was interesting, even if it is slightly out of focus.

i spent an hour or so making some edits to it, but of course, i did something wrong, and it wouldn't export properly, so feck it, here's the thing straight from the camera.

always interesting to see how bikes are displayed. i try to determine what the owner is communicating about himself by what is included in the setup--sort of a forensic science. i can make up a story to go with this diorama. or just enjoy the bike—its kinda cool, even without the booze bottles, which don't impress me...and they're already empty, so what fun is that?

at the bar

no car shows for me today. our family member is in the hospital again. i will have to go tag out my better half, so he can go home, shower and get a few hours of sleep.

this is a crap picture. i know it is a crap picture, but it is how i feel at just this moment...so close, but can't go. it was a different kind of shot though, through the bars, at cars driving into the show.

they didn't stop long enough for me to get a clean shot, but the idea is there.

hoping everyone at the shows today keep cool...going to be in the nineties by noon. hate summer, really do.

two weeks until the whittier uptown show...just down the street...that i can go to...

terminal

after a lot of time wasted plotting a trip to london and france with my bro, his wife shot that idea down at the last minute, citing his kids' spring break and family time. i secretly think she didn't want him to go to europe without her. maybe he's a little pw, but we changed plans and are staying in the states.

i should have just gone by myself, what with the british pound being eighty cents to our dollar...was really a bargain, even with last minute booking.

so here i am, sitting in lax way too early in the morning, heading out to the east coast. i think i've gotten about six hours of sleep the last couple of nights, and i'm tired. burned out and ready to just be away from work.

going roadtrippin' with hotels booked tonight and the last, and no idea where in between. spending more money i don't have, just to relax ese.

what i'm saying is, i'll be away from my computer, so those few people i talked to at the last show about their cars, well, you'll just have to keep waiting to see the pictures. sorry, ran out of time.

i'll be gone for a week and a half, back in the office for three days, then back to the east coast on a business trip.

busy month, and going to miss a few of my favorite shows 😞 east coast shows are mostly muscle cars, so <yawn>.

better half staying home with his mom, so if you happen to see him moping around uptown, say hi.

i have a couple of older shots i can post, but nothing new, besides this beauty. shot it earlier this year, at the dia de los muertos in whittier, and here it was at walnut high school. owner came right up and said hi, but had to remind me about where i'd met him before. as soon as he said it, i knew exactly where it was...better at remembering the cars than faces and/or names, until i meet you a few times.

nothing better than to hear the kid say, "i used to follow you, but..." ya other stuff gets your attention. no big. not writing anything worth reading anyway. just drivel. gave him another card.

shot a bunch of different angles, but this is the only one i had time to fiddle with...still sorting through the two hundred car shots i did take that day.

was a pretty good day for a show. usually a hot and sweaty day in walnut at this annual show, but the chance of rain this particular day, with the clouds blowing through, kept it a mostly comfortable temp, with a cool breeze.

appreciated a slightly inebriated guy, in different part of the parking lot, manplaining how the noisy chevy deluxe driving away on the street, just on the other side of the fence, was all original and therefore more valuable. keep 'em noisy is all i could say, as i watched it driving away. then he proceeded to talk me around an old thirty-six chevy, pointing out the skirts and chrome bits that add several thou to the value. then he just wandered away. ok then.

-----

guess i'll go wander around the terminal and watch planes take off. better half would have liked that part. ttfn.

cry baby

1948 chevrolet fleetline

pretty little fleetline. passed it by early on, because these kids were busy posing in front of it. waited a bit, but they took too long, and there were plenty of other cars to shoot.

right after the mom finished with her picture, the kid on the right started to cry. not sure why. didn't see the older kids pick on him or anything. he sucked it in pretty quick, but i saw it. tough times when you're young.

came back around to shoot it on the way out. there was some dude passed out asleep inside, mouth hanging open, head up against the side. some other dude was taking a picture of that, but it seemed a little rude to me, so i settled for just the car.

party time

harley davidson

niece is having her first birthday party behind me. so i guess it's time to go eat cake.

posting this quickly from last sunday's unidos show at walnut high school. i'll write more tomorrow.

hope it was a good friday for everyone.

Update

on 2016-03-27 00:21 by kathy

we bailed out of the azalea festival show, just after noon, just before the sun came out. better half wanted to get lunch and maybe check on his mom. he worries when we leave her alone, before the sun comes up, and she's still asleep.

i offered to drop him off, that i was going to stop briefly over at the unidos show in walnut. he compromised by giving his mom a phone call, and we stopped for lunch first, at the subway near the show, where we usually go after.

i think this was the fourth year i'd been to this show. not sure my better half went last year.

sun was out in full force, and it had really heated up. really sucks, being that this show is on the pavement in the high school parking lot. i was not prepared, no hat, no sunblock.

better half wandered through the cars at the front, i headed to the back lot, and worked my way back. i did end up skipping a few rows...just didn't see anything i wanted to shoot, and i was in a race with myself...how long i could stand the heat.

finally packed it in, when i started feeling my skin tingle with that feeling like bacon frying in a hot pan. i was only slightly pink, but it felt worse.

shot a few bicycles, lots of the old chevys and buicks, but only this one motorcycle at this show. i think the color and the light just caught my eye.

for all i know

another busy week, though unusually, not so much at work. as in enough to keep me busy for a full day, but not work overload with multiple deadlines. i actually caught up with everything before the end of the day, which happens about three times a year. then i don't know what to do with the time.

nothing has come to pass with taking executive portraits since they asked a couple of months ago, so i guess everything i've read up on it will fade from my noggin. i could practice shooting family members, but aside from my better half, around here, no one likes to be in front of the glass. i think i'll stick with cars, and call it a day.

looking forward to a veterans day car show this weekend, but for all i know, it will rain. it's been sprinkling around work and in random cities on my commute, but it seems to be missing whittier and los angeles for the most part. does seem to follow a pattern of warming up the weekend then getting overcast for back to work monday.

i do love the overcast and clouds for pictures, though. this chevy pic turned out ok. even managed to get an angle that hides most of the other cars around it, and in between all the people admiring the cars.

maybe

only shot i took of this chevy at this show. was just too crammed in between the other cars. but i told the owner i'd post something.

the owner, if i remember the right car, wandered over to inquire who i was shooting for; usual response, for fun. if it's the right guy and right car, he was also asking about getting a picture of his wife with the car, to hang in the garage. hmmm. people. i will once in a while, take a shot with someone and their car, but that does push my comfort zone a bit. but i can understand a guy wanting a picture of the things he loves. and it is good to get uncomfortable once in a while, out of my shell.

"sure, where is she," i asked. she wasn't there...at home, sleeping in late. just down the street a bit. oh well. what fun is that? maybe some other time. maybe next year.

stealthy

saw this pontiac out at the unidos show in walnut. can't remember seeing one before, so i had to take a few shots of it. i otherwise might have walked on by, since the back end was open, and you know how i am about hoods up; same for the trunk. or shoot real low and try to keep it out of the frame.

i think i like this one best, as there are no people in the shot and there are clouds in the sky.

the owner watched me for a little while then came over to ask if i sell pictures, answer is: sometimes. he's looking for something big, though he wasn't specific. 16x20? billboard? on metal? guess we'll see. he seemed sincerely interested, and had never even seen my work, so i hope he likes this one.

i liked the hood ornament: inspiration for, or inspired by the stealth bomber?

blue skies

told you the weather guys can't predict nuthin. no rain last night, no rain today.

i got up late, or i would have gone to three or four shows. so starts baseball, so starts the car show season. pretty much it never really stops in so cal, just not so many in the winter, if you can call it that.

when i went to the unidos show here at walnut high school last year, there wasn't much there, due to the coinciding swap meet at pomona. tends to suck the local shows dry. this one was busy, the lot was full, and i was happy. probably a fifty-fifty mix of 60s low riders and the bombs that i like.

right at the front were the host members' cars. i saw this one before, but i didn't like the shots i got of it. i like impalas, with their wings on the back. my preference is the fifty-nine, but this is ok too. i like the airbrush work on the wheel cover.

funny thing happening the last couple of shows i've been to. usually, its my better half telling me guys are asking where i am, if i am there; these shows, they've been asking where he is. someone even gave me a flyer to give to him for a change. he's finding that a funny twist.