reflecting

last day of vacation. i walked around uptown. thought i'd try to find a red dress. my better half has been commenting on all the red dresses in the shop windows. trying to remind him, i am no longer the same size as the mannequins, but he doesn't care; he likes my curves.

i looked in every clothes store in town. i did not like any of the dresses i saw. probably just me. i hate clothes shopping, and i haven't had to shop for girl clothes in a long time. good old casual dress code at work, only really need to wear a sort of business casual shirt, i.e., polo, and then jeans are now ok, so no reason to shop anymore.

back home, playing with my pictures again. thought about going to a car show, followed by a few hours at disneyland. there's an elvis impersonator performing tonight and tomorrow...young, bad ass elvis, not chunky butt elvis. but meh, i was tired. maybe tomorrow night.

my mom's bday is on sunday. there's also a car show at legg lake on sunday. i can pull off both.

then back to work on monday. not looking forward to the work that waited for me, and more new jobs. already getting a headache, so i'll push that thought out of my head until then.

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one more tonight. i like the back end of cadillacs. this one is like an xmas present—the colors, the pattern, the glitter and shine.

got to the show early early, and managed to wade through all the waiting cars, and found this one stuck in the frozen river of cars.

candy

lifestyle cars are all extraordinary. i think its a requirement. meticulous, fantasmic airbrush, pinstriping and details. candy colors and multiple layers of clear coat paint. 

they're also usually surrounded by admirers, and i can't get a clean shot edgewise, so i mostly have to pass them by. unfortunate.

caught this one from the back, where one can often find some pretty spectacular airbrush portraits. ok, this one is more fantasy-like. dream on, big boy.

effected

there's a chevy under there: glitter, chrome, airbrush, pinstripe, reverse doily/lace, glass etching...i dunno...a bit much? interesting, but i don't know where to look first. sorry.

long day, so i'll bite my tongue and stop now.

 

keeping to the other side

one of my favorite cars, since i started playing with the camera again several years ago. don't see it very often. aside from the fact that i haven't been going out to as many shows, he tells me that he's mostly keeping this one on the other side of the 605 freeway now.

just happen to know his club goes to this particular show, so was happy to run in to it there. jammed between his other club cars, but still worth a shot, or two. always trying to get a good shot of the freakin' ghost flames. i think the overcast sky helps a lot, cuts back the reflective glare. someday, i'll get a ladder. just one more thing to drag around, right?

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been busy at work, and taking care of some medical stuff. i really don't like needles at all. really, really hate them. anyway, got to get stuck a couple more times in the next couple of weeks. so, i'm going to not think about that right now.

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so how about a couple more shots of the car?

family affair

i've seen this wagon at a couple of shows now. i liked where it was parked here at the broiler, in a sea of chevys. was hard to get a clean shot of it, as there seemed to constantly be people ogling it. just had to wait patiently, and shoot quick to get it. 

need a ladder to get the glitter/airbrushed roof i suppose. i do like the pinstripe curlies on it.

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better half's birthday today. he doesn't want cake; pretty sure he wants pie... >:)

flowers in your hair...

this is halloween, halloween...skipped it this year. worked from home. then hid in the back bedroom, and watched game of thrones reruns. just didn't feel like dealing with the kiddos. busy street, lots of peeps usually.

we have a giant basket of candy. fortunately, most of it is stuff i don't like. my better half and his mom mostly love passing the stuff out, throwing handfulls into trick or treat bags.

unusually, they turned off the light way early, and he went to bed. 

out front, there's a practically untouched basket of candy. i guess i'll find out tomorrow what happened. [my mother-in-law just told me it's our stupid neighbor's fault. dressed in black with a white mask and a dagger at the bottom of the stairs. basically scaring the kids away. college frat boy / fat boy ass. he's a douche; doesn't everybody have a neighbor like that? only, he isn't in college anymore, so go figure.]

anyway, it just suddenly started to pour rain outside. about damn time. i love when it rains.

i don't love that i have to get up way early in the morning to take my car in for servicing. supposed to be cold. and still raining.

thinking about doing a little rework on the website this weekend, so it may go down for a bit. hopefully, i won't eff it all up.

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saw this motorcycle at the dia de los muertos art and car show earlier in the month. quick shot. he left soon after, so glad i shot it.

black widow

i saw this car up on philadelphia, with it's club, lo nuestro, and thought i recognized it. went back behind it to check out the altar set up and found this:

i took a bunch of shots before the owner asked the usual questions. lots of details on this car. hard to decide where to look first.

i asked her if she had been at the chicano park show back in april. yep. that's where it was. i remembered exactly where it was parked—right here on the grass, in the middle of the park:

 

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on another note...i had been on call to do some work today for the office. waited at home all day, until about four. decided it wasn't going to happen today, and decided i was going to drive out to covina to check out the real classics car show. i've had their card sitting on a shelf for several months now; one of many that have been handed to my better half to be passed on to me. supposedly their halloween show.

i got about half way there, when they sent me a message that the file was ready to work on, so i had to drive all the way back home to do ten minutes worth of work. then wait for the ok. so, by the time they approved it, i figured if i got back in the car and drove up there, i'd have about fifteen minutes before the sun went down. decided to wait until next month. they'll be having a food drive then...

thinking of going to the pomona swap meet tomorrow, before it gets too hot out. hoping the morning clouds that have been out for several days, are still around. they make the sky more interesting, and reflect so well on the polished cars.

and i also have a flyer for a groupe ela car show...maybe could swing by there on the way home...

along comes mary

so another photographer, who i think actually does work for a magazine, print or otherwise, had this guy move his car over here by the fountain. bunch of guys on the wall said so, and seemed to be in a particularly fine mood for this time of day. not sure if they'd been partaking of the red solo cups or just feeling giggly.

i don't ask people to move their cars; just shoot'em as i find them, hopefully without too many poles and wires in the background. hey, its a great composition, so i shot it too. all the while wondering how he got it wedged in here without bumping anything or the other cars that were parked in the spaces behind me. must have used the airbags to get it up and over the curbs.

and what's up with mary? she' tied up with wonder woman's lasso. nah, just a rosary, oddly draped on her. somebody must have low fived her too hard, since she's also missing a hand.

muy bueno

i've seen the famous bueno family impala several times now. another car that i just can't get enough of. so many details. airbrushing, etched chrome and pinstripes all over. can never get up high enough to shoot the roof of these kinds of things.

there's stephanie waiting patiently. i don't know her well enough to know what she's thinking, so i won't presume to guess. we pass each other at shows, and don't say much more than hello. i'm shy. she doesn't seem shy. so it's just me.

other people we ran into at this show expressed happiness that she was there, and getting out, making the effort to be out with people. i imagine it can't be easy.

saw her around the show later in the day, without a camera in her hand. that was unusual.

hawg

got off my butt for a little while this past weekend, and headed over to the latin gents show. i was tired and it was somewhat hot, but i did it anyway. was heading to the oc to see my mom and pick up some mail, so why not?

lots of cars, though i arrived a couple hours after it started. talked to several people that i'm familiar with, and haven't seen in a while.

i know ernie and his wife will be looking for pics of his new ride...just haven't gotten around to it, and deciding which one is best.

after shooting a few viejitos cars that were there (their annual show coming up in a week and a half), i came back around and saw a few cycles sitting near the dj booth. this one looked familiar, and after checking out the plaque on the back, knew exactly where i'd seen it before...at last year's annual viejitos show.

as i was done and packing up, the owner came over and said hello. he remembered me from last year, and sheepishly admitted he'd lost my card. mmm hmmm. handed him another. he said he'd be at the show again this year, but first was going to the torres empire show. i've never been, and he said a little bit of everything shows up and i should really check it out. maybe, but i doubt i will. too many people.