green with envy

oooohhhhh. this was one spectacular car. really incredible flame job and chromeography. yet another in the land of unwelcome customs and low riders lot at the whittier uptown show. my only question in all the attention to detail, is why they used such a jolly green giant green on the wheels, rather than something from the same range as the hood flames? kinda throws me off a bit.

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question for you: what do you consider a professional photographer? i often get asked if i'm a professional, and am always at a loss as to how to answer. i look at them, they look at me. they blink, look quizzically. "do you work for a magazine?" blink. blink.

i wonder why they bother to ask, most never look like the type that would buy a print, much less pay “professional” rates. i assume they want something for free, to use for their charity, whatever. if i state a price, i sometimes hear that mr. xyz only charges $X. well, then, go buy his/her pictures, it don't bother me none. i don't have the time or interest to peddle my wares or harass the owners.

i think the basic definition, is that if you can sell a print, you're a professional. then, ya, i guess i am, in some fashion. on the other hand, i do this more as a hobby, to do my own thing after a long day at work, without other people telling me what to do. 

i'm a professional graphic designer, since that's what i've got a diploma in and how i make my bread and butter, one who farts around with cameras after work, then tweaks the images on a computer—still in designer mode. so anyway, ya i'm a professional.

back in college i collaborated on a gallery show with a painter. i showed my black and white photography, he put up his paintings. i had cemetery images, close up detail stuff, abstract negative space, etc. the one comment left in my guest book that stuck out in my mind, was that "...the work looked like it was done by a graphic designer." i was never sure if that was meant in a good way or a bad way. i developed the stuff the same as a "photographer," so what is the difference? was it the way i cropped the images? the presentation? was it a snobby photography student? i don't remember. i didn't know anyone well at the school, and it wasn't advertised as photography done by a design major, so how would they even know?

anyway, back to my point; everyone with a camera these days can call themselves a professional photographer. but the old rule still applies: garbage in, garbage out. i think people can judge for themselves. i usually just answer to the blinkers, "no," and they go away to stuff more of their flyers into people's cars.

fly away

i'm pretty sure i didn't see the butterfly on the hood ornament the first time i passed this car. i think it got clipped on later.

my better half was spending a lot of time shooting this hood ornament on the car next to this one. he'd borrowed my macro, which when slapped on his full frame camera apparently kicks ass. anyway, i'd spent long enough just standing around waiting, that the lady who owned this one noticed i/we shoot with sony cameras. she was fascinated and full of questions. mainly because she was looking for what camera she should buy, and noticed i had a minolta lens one of mine.

when she started asking more techical questions, we waited for my better half to finish with the other pontiac. she and her husband said they'd owned more than 100 different cars over the years. this one, she said, drove like a pig, something about the power steering or non-existence of it. she'd made a deal with the proprietor of a car shop, where he spliced in an engine or front end of a car he'd recently finished, and some other parts, so now the thing supposedly really rips up the road.

i think she said it had a t-bird radiator in it too, which my better half joked whether it had an opera window in that as well.

of course, she may have been talking about one of her other cars, and i've just gotten them mixed up, just like the guts of said car.

i liked that the paint wasn't perfect; it was all scarred and pitted—a car that is driven and loved every day.

pug

this was a different truck. don't see too many of these around, though i did find other pics of this one on the web at other shows. apparently its a coe or cab over engine model, hence the shortened front end. but, to me, it reminds me of those purebred dogs or cats that look like they've run into a wall and have no nose. at least in a monster like this, you'd feel safer than driving in one of those "smart" cars; in an accident, i'd place my money on this one and still being able to walk.

the owner was a nice guy too. very happy to let you have a good look around the thing. thanks for moving out of the way, but i don't remember the guy standing next to me, if you can see me in the bumper. i think he owned the red muscle car you see reflected on the side. i didn't take any pictures of his car. psst. dude, close your hood – maybe i'd think about it.

general

i think i've seen this truck over at jae bueno's blog at some point. here it is, hiding on a back pathway of the old world village in huntington beach.

i'm thinking the wheel covers aren't original, but they are kinda cool. wished the hood was down, but figured i better catch it while i could, from the side that was closed.

it was highly polished, like looking into a black hole, were it not for the blue sky above, throwing reflections all about it.

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i'm in tradeshow hell at work again. i've worked a couple hours over for the last three days, and will probably continue doing so for the next month or so. makes it hard to get it up for a car show in the evening. i want to go, i really do, but if i stop at home first, i just don't want to go back out.

i do intend to hit the whittier uptown show this saturday. please do bring all your purrrty cars out for me. i miss you so.

grape ape

these guys were parked off on the end at enderle last week. i think the owners and a couple of other people were chatting about paint and body and other customization, but in the background of my mind it all sounded like charlie brown's teachers: "wha wha wha whaaa wha wha."

it was something different. don't think i've had the pleasure of catching a hudson that looks like this. all the curvy goodness is just fun for my eyes. not too flamboyant, and even in a simple monotone, i like it a lot.

of course that there mercury ain't bad neither. guess i'll have to post the close up of that one sometime too. polished to a shine on the hood of infinite darkness.

gots balls?

getting late, so i won't say much here. i'm always fascinated by these big engines and wonder why the balls in the pipes? so birds don't nest in them?

this one practically has a crown of pipes, at least from this angle. i just want to take those nerf balls out and have a water ball fight...it's been so hot lately. i think those were parking tickets plastered all over the windshield, but i don't know what the point was. maybe if i look at the large size again, i'd see what the joke was. and i love the table full of puckerbutts watching...can practically read what's going through their minds: "what in the world is she doing? why is she doing that? am i in the picture? go away..."

ever have one of those days, when stuff you said got taken all wrong and everyone is pissed at everyone else? well, i just had one; glad it's over, and man, my head hurts from even trying. i'll try harder not to care, and go back to being the wallflower that i naturally am, watching and silent in the background. geez.

nice attitude, babe

i think i saw this one at ruby's last time i was there. here it sits in the parking lot of old world. kinda cool with the wall•e engine thing and weird finish paint job.

my favorite parts, though are the unused hood lock painted to give you the bird – F.U. too; and the metal rooster on the dashboard. wait for it, wait for it...no, i'm not going there, i'll be good for a change, and not say something about how big (or small) it might be. love the pinstriping on the door too.

i think the owner was sitting opposite the car, and would occasionally make the hydraulics squeak a bit. thanks for not bouncing it while i was taking my shots.

dingle balls?

this was unexpected. a fair cadillac; that was typical; but the interior decked out in serapes and dingle balls? seriously? seriously? well...i could only wonder why. maybe i just haven't been to enough car shows. maybe its done all the time. i've just never thought about effing up a caddie with them. come on, the stereotype is a chevy...

and it's for sale. good luck to you.

little lamb

i don't really enjoy taking pics of cars in museums, the lighting sucks, people don't bother to move out of the way, can't get a good angle, ropes and chains and whatever keep away from the car devices in the frame...but when you're on vacation, and can't find a car show in the area, you make do. found this one in the san diego automotive museum in balboa park.

not a lambourghini, but supposedly has a lambourghini engine inside.

i feel sorry for cars stuck in museums. not saying they aren't awesome, just saying they aren't loved. kinda like a discarded teddy bear; nobody plays with them, drives them, feeds them, beats them up, makes them lose a button eye... ya, they're kept clean and shiny, but how boring. so sad for beasts like this and the testarossa behind it, to just sit there day after day.

i'd be happy to play with this one. :)

painted lady

the paint job on this was awesome. wished i had a ladder to show the detail on the hood better. can't remember if there was more to see on the roof. actually, the shots before this, there were some kids standing next to it, that wouldn't get out of the way, so i really didn't get close enough to look.

they finally moved their little asses. no, that isn't their body outlines in chalk on the ground, though i kinda felt like kicking their little butts outta my shot.