what's up?

down, boy

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owner of this car asked me to take a picture of it. i took a few. 

being that it was wedged in pretty tight between the others, i like this view best. maybe i'll put up another angle when i have time. family in town, things to do, going to be away from my computer for a couple of days...the usual excuse for not posting.

i really don't like the hoods up, hence the pinstriping on my hat, but since the guy asked, and it was a nice car otherwise...

boo

1948 chevy fleetmaster

1948 chevy fleetmaster

got home from work late yesterday. didn't sit down, which made all the difference in me staying put versus heading over to frisco's trunk n treat show. really wanted to sleep.

traffic getting over there was a bit challenging, but it ended up being worth the drive. the lot filled quickly, cops showed up, but i hear everyone behaved, so it didn't get shut down. i was there for about two hours, until costume judging and trunk n treating.

lots of cars decorated with lights, spiders, cob webs, and skeletons. not this one. i've seen it elsewhere, but never really met the owner until after this shot.

i suspect those are just lens flares above the car, but who knows...maybe they're ghosts...

new day

1948 chevy fleetline

1948 chevy fleetline

sitting in the dark, waiting for my workday to start. contemplating the next few days.

my daughter is coming down to visit for the next couple of weeks, with her boy toy and one of her dobermans.  she's leaving the albino one back at home. trying to find a new home for it...if you're interested in an untrained, unhousebroken sweet rescue dog, let me know.

i have a few doctor appointments coming up, so hoping to figure out whatever my issues are. hoping it will be just a take this pill and you'll be just fine, but that's probably too easy a fix. 

at least it's relatively quiet at work. rare couple of weeks that i'm not busting my ass juggling projects. it won't last, so trying to enjoy that. have had to shoot several portrait/headshots, which mostly have turned out ok. will need to get a roll of gray background paper on the xmas list, and a dedicated room to set up some lighting...just making do for the time being.

people just don't sit still looking pretty, like a car, so it's been a bit challenging for me. different camera settings, with a camera i'm not completely familiar with. it's all good. keep learning, i guess. 

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last few shows i've been to. have chosen different times of day, just for the challenge of pushing the camera to see what i see. mostly i get sunrise shots, like this one, because i'm out trying to get the pictures before the sun brings the heat.  

slightly easier than the evening shots, where the camera settings just have to get dialed up to where i can still get an image and not have it too noisy without a flash, or the exposure so long, that people tend to just walk through the shot thinking you're not doing anything. 

this picture kind of has an african plain feeling, but those porta-potties kind of ruin for me. 

not all those who wander are lost

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my alarm went off before four am today. had hoped to go to pomona, but my body disagreed with me, so i went back to bed.

when i woke up again, i decided to drive over to santa fe springs, to see what might be at the rotary club show. not too far away, and could turn around if i started feeling hinky. either way, was going to leave when it got too hot. my eyes seem to be sensitive to the bright light lately. i just hate to shoot with sunglasses on; makes it hard to focus, and i end up lifting them or looking over them anyway.

well, the rotary show was pretty small. not a very big parking lot. a mix of everything. lots of hoods up, so that made my stay a bit shorter than it would have been otherwise.

i saw this car last week, uptown at the dia de los muertos show, but it was tight between other cars. 

here, it was on the end of the row, a little more room to see it better. has some interesting little details, as well as some painted on messages. the title of this post was painted over the rear driver side wheel; "don't fuckin' die" was painted above the steering wheel.

dark side of town

1939 chevy master deluxe

1939 chevy master deluxe

felt like crap all day. slept a lot. missed a car show. getting closer to halloween, so evening shows will start happening. this is a good thing, being how i hate the heat of the day, so the end of the day will do just as well.

woke up around four pm, and decided to head over to the latin gents show. this one is just monthly, i think, but i'd never been to this location. figured, i'd either feel better moving around, or i'd turn around and go home.

i didn't arrive until after six-thirty, so the sun was already heading down. not very many cars, but enough to shoot, since i was there. i decided that most people were probably home watching the dodger game.

saw my friend ernie, who came over to say hello. hadn't seen him in a while. he wondered which shows were coming up. told him the ones i could remember, that i'd need to check my calendar. really it all depends on how i'm feeling on any given day, in spite of my best intentions to get to a show. hoping to find out soon what the hell is going on with my insides.

owner of this master deluxe turned on his lights while i was shooting the car next to it. of course, that makes it more interesting to me, in spite of the open hood. ;) 

he handed me a card for their toy drive next month. thank you very much, i'll add it to my list.

he asked me to

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i remember you. you're that guy from the viejito's show in anaheim. ran into you today uptown at the dia de los muertos art and car show.

whole lot more cars than other years...more every year, with a few vendors thrown in between selling skelly stuff. 

better half walked me to the show just after the sun came up. figured he'd go back home quickly, but nope, he hung out the whole time i was there. not bad for him, running on about an hour or two of sleep. he pulled my bag around the whole time, which was nice, since my knee was twanging me a bit.

anyway, two car shows this weekend, and pictures promised, and so many others i love. hopefully, there will be lots of rainy days this winter.

anyway, this guy, iou a print. you sure you want one with you in it? i do have a shot without you...maybe i should post it?

gotta get to sleep...

alex

1966 pontiac

1966 pontiac

out to st hilary's very early this morning, before the sun came up. watched a few cars head in before i got outta the car. so by the time i was shooting my first car, the sun was peaking out already.

got through two batteries before i got to this car. either they're going bad or i haven't been using them enough. more like the latter.

told him i'd post a picture of his car. he said he'd painted it himself, and knew it wasn't quite perfect. so it is good enough, your car doesn't have to be pristine to get a picture.

i used to help my dad sand his car every year when i was a kid. he always painted it some sort of steel blue, using some giant compressor he got from the navy scrapyard or something. not shiny, but did the trick.

owner of this car apparently has seen my pictures before, and probably reads this here blog, as he offered me a water pretty quickly. it was a hot day, and i was about ready to go find one and/or head out to eat. that helped a lot, i was getting pretty shaky about then.

so thanks for the water, alex. nice to meet you.

piece by piece

chevy master deluxe

chevy master deluxe

so i went out to this show last weekend, after not having been out anywhere for a month. it was good, i had fun. i also did something to my knee.

don't think it's a sprain, more of a strain. i felt it when it happened...not a snap, more like a slip of something, when i was standing back up from a crouch on a low shot. i can still walk and stuff, but if i bend it too far, or have to get on the floor to look in a low cabinet or what have you, oh that does not feel good.

hoping to get to two local shows this weekend, one being just up the street. perhaps it means no low angles, but as long as it doesn't get in the way of pulling my gear. not even going to think about my arms and their inexplicable soreness. maybe i'm getting arthritis, but happening suddenly, over the last few weeks, i doubt it.


saw this car, just as the sun was trying to burn through the clouds. no idea if it was found this way, or was 'aged' for advertising purposes. still sort of cool as it is.

stylish

1948 chevrolet stylemaster

1948 chevrolet stylemaster

this car has an interesting color combo; it really stands out. hope the judges came round to the back lot to inspect all of the cars hiding back here.


i really have nothing to say just now. or rather, i could, but you don't want to hear it.

took a quick walk uptown with my better half and his mother...she actually wanted to get out of the house today. so uptown in her wheelchair she goes, with us tagging along behind her. 

stopped in the little old bookstore, or whatever they call it now—they're moving out of town in a week, books are on sale; they both spent half an hour looking through the books. i got tired and sat down.

then they kept rolling further uptown, but didn't get very far. she wanted to go into the not ninety-nine cent store to look around. i was feeling a bit off and knew that was going to take a while...she has to look at every little thing...so took my better half's keys and went home. he'll call when they need to get in the house.

they're still not back. my head hurts, so i'm glad i left. i'm happy she's out and about though, and her back is currently not hurting. weather is perfect, and life is short. enjoy it.

got out

1938 chevy master deluxe

1938 chevy master deluxe

went out to the old memories show this morning. close enough, so that if i didn't feel good, i could get home quickly. on my own, i waited until the sun was already coming up, as it was overcast and there wasn't going to be any dramatic lighting happening.

this one was down the street on the corner, and i wasn't sure if it was going to be moved later, so i walked over and shot it first. love me a master deluxe. this one is a beauty.

i did manage to stay and shoot pictures for about three hours, with a break after a couple. the sun came out, and i started to overheat. sat in the auditorium to cool off. really wanted a water, but didn't want to buy a ticket, i assumed for the entire breakfast, which i didn't want.

the front lot got too packed, and so many people in the way, so i made my way to the back parking lot. veteranos parked back there, and no people in the way after they all went off to eat.

i was done after that, and packed it up and called it a day. went home and took a nap.