eagle has landed

all right, i'll show you this one. not because i am starting to love cars with their hoods open, but because it's just a spectacular car, and the owner is so very nice.

the finish on it is smooth as silk. the guy told my better half at a regular monthly viejitos show a few months earlier, that it was a family project and that all had taken turns sanding the surface so fine, using flour to show the high spots, before they got it all painted up. i've posted it before. i like my better half's versions:here and here

this was in what should have been a pretty good spot for a typical car, on an end spot, under a tree. but with the hood(s) up, with background foot traffic, it was just difficult to frame up a decent shot. from the other side, the doors were open, and there was a car next to it, and next to that, a pop up tent, that really kinda ruined it. took a couple of angles from this side, and i guess i like this one better.

and by this shot, he'd moved the car polish bottles and rags out of the frame. :)

i get misty

perfect weather for pictures early in the morning. fog and mist rolling off the water and through the park kept the harsh shadows away, but it sure did wonders for my hair. getting longer, and being baby fine, it just goes all limp, so i don't even bother to do much with it now. i'll chop it short eventually, but now is the time to see how long it will grow, which i suspect won't be much past my shoulder blades. at least i can tie it up now, when i get too warm and absolutely don't give a damn how i look, as long as i can get a good shot.

this chevy was parked with the bridge town oldies club, but i'm not particulary sure it belongs to them. not perfect, but slightly less chipped paint from this side, i think it was the color that stopped me for a shot.

my better half must have handed one of my cards to the owner, as he sent an email to me asking to see any pictures of it. i knew full well that i hadn't passed out any cards this early in the day. i forward those requests to him, and i know he sent off what he had taken.

well, i happened to have shot it too. always fun to compare our shots, but i don't think he posted his for all to see.

anyway, i see that i've posted a bunch of chevys. i think next time i'll post something else for a change. should really look back through the shows i went to last month when i couldn't post, and show them some love.

found it

i was back on the far side of the lighthouse in san pedro, taking pictures of a big cadillac and big truck, when a guy walks by and asks if i can take a picture of his car. expecting it somewhere nearby, i ask which one is it. 

he proceeds to tell me it's up by the entrance, with whatever car club, brown primer, black top. hmm. ya, i'll go look for it, i told him.

i vaguely remembered seeing his club's banner earlier when i'd walked through that section. so i headed over there, before i forgot about it. so easy to get distracted in the sea of cars by the sea.

i'm pretty sure this is the one. a work in progress. still nice in it's own way. booyah!

more than i could catch

finally made it over to the car show by the sea in san pedro. i've known about it for a couple of years, but have just never been able to get to it.

my better half had expected to be called in to work today, but volunteered to go along, since i was going to get there very early. i figured if he did get called, there were several other shows i'd been given flyers on i could hit closer to home.

but they never did call him, so we kept on shooting cars. and wow, we could not believe how many cars could be packed into the little park area. and better still, mostly the kind i really love—old chevy bombs, pontiacs, fords, cadillacs—you name it, it was probably there.

it is hosted each year by the legends car club. i'd been there previously for their xmas show, but hadn't stayed long. they were a extremely friendly and outgoing group of guys, and many came over to introduce themselves and make me welcome.

they stop letting cars in when they hit about six hundred, someone told me. i saw a lot of oldies driving down the street after they arrived late. i had to pass by many cars that i would have ordinarily gone ape shit over at a regular, local show, there were just so many and so little time.

very few people stopped to chat with me, and i'm finding out, that many prefer to seek out my better half. fine with me, he's much better spoken regarding the cameras, and more comfortable, in general, chatting people up. although, that does allow me to keep on being my shy old self. its only people that have never seen me before, who really come over and inquire. i don't mind one bit taking a break from shooting your car, to answer your question, if i can, or to hear your story about it. i am pretty socially retarded the first few times i talk to you, but keep trying, i'll get the hang of it eventually.

if i can remember your story, i'll write about it. if you see your car, and want to share, please do comment or send me an email and i'll add to my post.

this car belonged to one of the first guys that ventured over to speak with me for a few minutes. not exactly the first, but those guys didn't stay long enough to ask what i do with the pictures, and didn't get a card.

i don't remember having one of these in my files, and particularly not in green if i do. it caught my eye, and that was that. i wanna say this one is a member of the harbor knights car club, but i'm not sure.

beautiful cars, a great day, perfect weather and location. i'll definitely plan to be there next year.

i apologize to the other clubs that sent over flyers to me for their shows, that i couldn't get to today. some days, i just can't move fast enough.

mr. sandwich

after going to the unidos show last week, and having one of my cameras temporarily wig out on me there, i finally broke down and bought a new camera body. i've treated my cameras pretty well, and they are way past the expected shutter activations, so i thought i should go ahead before i show up at a show and have them both crap out on me and then have nothing to shoot with. so yay for credit cards.

figured the whittier uptown car show would be just as good as any to break it in and run it through its paces. just a newer version of my old camera, but the buttons are sort of different, and it can even shoot video, so its going to take some getting used to. my opinion so far is i like some things about it, and i don't like some things about it. guess i'll have to shoot it some more. was too busy today to hit the shows, so maybe tuesday after work. got a flyer (thanks to whoever handed it to my better half) for a show next weekend, so i'll go if there's nothing else i have to do at home.

my bro and his son joined us very early for the show, and we were all uptown by six a.m., trying to catch the morning light. his son has taken up interest in photography, so we thought it would be a fun day to go out. he really has a good eye for his age. i'll have to go check out what he posts on flickr over the next few days.

each year there's something the city bungles: this year's organizers weren't completely organized and had all the boys waiting down the street in staging to come in until almost eight-thirty, and the show was advertised to start at nine. they had some very agitated guys waiting too long, but at least they were mostly in the shade. 

pretty sure the competing car show hosted by the pharaohs ran a lot smoother, but i skipped that one for this one. waiting for some contacts to post their shots from that one, so i can go whine about what i missed.

gave me the opportunity to scoot around in between all the parked cars anyway. saw a lot of cars and clubs that i've shot in the past, and many remembered me and said hello. lots of the usual joking with certain clubs, but it is all in good fun.

took a lot of shots through the day, and in general the camera did ok. the file sizes are bigger, and use a different memory card, so i'm sure i'll have to get another hard drive at some point. gotta get a faster memory card too. the little sixteen gig cards are too slow.

found this chevy on my last loop around before i was done for the day. was getting too warm out in the sun to care anymore, which is always the problem in the summer. hence getting up so early. shoot 'em and run.

a guy who was a friend of the owner came out and asked the usual questions, and was curious to see how my pics turned out. i think he was saying that this one gets rented a lot for weddings, and i can see why, such a nice car. and you just never know where they'll make you park at some of these shows, but this one was more fortunate in location than others. still. at least i had something to call this shot.

nubby

you should really see this one in person. its pretty phenomenal, especially the paint job. the body paint is reminiscent of those marblized bowling balls at the newer alleys.

this is from the viejitos oc annual show, but i did see it previously, down at chicano park, under a bright, hot sun.

viejitos shows get a good turn out, lots of variety in cars, and are meant to be family friendly. even their rap performers use no profanity at all. contrast that to the show in san fernando...save that for another day.

and there's a pretty interesting airbrush job on the trunk. car club members as skeletons.

underwear or bikinis?

eleven more days | forty-four walks around the neighborhood | forty-four baglettes of shit. that's how i'm counting down until my kid gets home and can have his puppy back. i'm tired. better shape, but tired every day in a good way. i want to get back to playing with my pictures on a more regular basis. just to get time to myself tonight, i've had to bribe the dog with another bone to keep him occupied. i've taken too long and he's finished and is already trying to sleep, but my typing is keeping him from totally going under.

anyway, not soon enough.

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here's another from san fernando. i suppose i really should be working on a few from the viejitos show, if i wanted to be all chronological about it, but i tend to jump around to any show from any year, depending on my mood, or if i feel like showing a particular car.

truth be told, i should have worked on the car that was sitting next to this one, since the owner practically invited me to have my way with his car, inside, outside, upside down. what was it, a '39 chevy? ya, the kind that the hood opens up like bird wings. he didn't know i don't usually shoot cars with their hoods up. i like the car, but usually, i'll pass them by. but i did take some. maybe i'll even post one when i get more time.

i liked the angle on this one better.

getting tired, so i'll leave you all with this question to ponder: are these chicks wearing underwear or bikinis? so much i could say about this picture, but i'll button my lip, as i've already said too much tonight.

i think its beautiful

made it out to the oldies san fernando car show today. been waiting all year, since attending the last one, when we'd driven out there and were happily satisfied by how many cars were there. unfortunately, my better half, who has been getting over pneumonia, had to bail on accompanying me at the last minute, after a particularly bad coughing bout. thinks he strained a muscle or had a back spasm, and didn't think he'd do very well hauling his camera around in the heat, but not hurt enough that i should stay home and take him to a doctor.

i arrived about an hour before the official opening time. parked around the corner, and walked past the line of cars still pouring in to the show. i wasn't sure if they'd let me in so early, and was resigned to having to sit for an hour watching the cars go through the gate, but the guy letting the cars in noticed me standing there, and said i could go on in, as long as i paid the entrance fee. the show is for the benefit of the school and the football team, so i don't have a problem with it, and had expected to pay anyway. promised the guy i'd stay out of the way, so thank you to the guy at the gate for letting me get an earlier start.

was still overcast for about an hour, so i hurried to shoot what i could. thought it would be best to get to the cars parked on the asphalt earlier, to avoid getting too baked later. glad i brought my hat with me, as i'd forgotten my sunscreen. didn't get too fried, and it was lovely in the shade, with a cool breeze most of the time.

i will say this is an awesome show. well attended, and well organized. people came with good attitudes, and for the most part, quite friendly. they'd even opened an additional lot for cars to park under the solar panels for shade, which had been under construction last year. i made it through the back lots, which i'd had to skip last year because we'd brought the nephew, who can't take the heat even more than i can't. i'll definitely try to make it there again next year.

so many cars to choose from. so i'll start as usual, with one belonging to someone who bothered to chat with me for a few minutes.

the owner of this dodge, told me it was the only one of that year there, and of course, i forgot to type it in my phone, so let's just call it a '36, until he drops me an email to correct me. i want to say he was wearing an oldies car club shirt, but this other dude is photo bombing my shot advertising his car club. actually, i've shot pictures of one of their cars before, come to think of it.

anyway, the owner seemed kind of ashamed of its condition, but said it was all original. he'd bought it from the daughter of the original owner. i think it is just as wonderful as any of the other cars out there, imperfections and all.

***the dog is asleep, in case you were wondering. i'll be paying for it later, when it's my turn to sleep.***

mojito

so, i've been able to sneak away from the dog for a few hours at a time on weekends to attend a few car shows. problem is, he doesn't let me spend a lot of time at the computer actually going through what i shot, before he wants attention. he's more work than a toddler.

so i figure, i'll have plenty of pictures to work on when my son gets back from his trip and i get back to my regular routine. and plenty for rainy days, should cali get any of those this year.

did manage to scare that coyote away long enough to get away from him this early morning. it really wanted to come over and say hello. forgot to bring a stick or something, as i wasn't planning on going on such a long walk. hadn't expected to be in his way this weekend, but the dog got me out of bed so early. probably thought i was going to be late for work.

i spent this morning at the viejitos orange county annual car and bike show. i'm downloading those pictures while i blather on here. had to be over a hundred cars and bikes there. i really wanted to get there earlier to miss the heat, and even though i could only manage to get there close to start at 10, it was overcast and cool until at least 11. 

circled around about three times, probably have at least seventy shots of cars, and about sixty ornaments and detail shots to show for the two or three hours i was there. 

saw and spoke with several people i see around a lot. shook hands with raynbow, the head of the viejitos club and the guy running the show. always very welcoming when i see him. he's got a shiny new pontiac he just finished building. too bad there were too many admirers around it when he showed it to me, and when i got back around to it, the hood was up... i'll have to get it at one of their regular monthly shows sometime. really beautiful work though.

handed out my card to the couple of guys that inquired about my photography. i'll warn you, it will be at least a couple more weeks before i can really get to them. and then, i'll only post them if i think the shot or angle or whatever was good.

excellent show. thanks to whichever one of you guys handed me the flyer, or i'd have never known about it.

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oh, the above car has taken me about a week to get up here, worked on it a few minutes at a time that i could get the dog to go play with a toy. he's staring at me now, because he knows i'm about to go get my dinner out of the oven.

must be a sale on this neon green paint, because i'm starting to see it more often in the last year. saw this one at the old memories harbor club show from last month. the color definitely gets your attention when it drives through the lot. it calls, i follow...

always a bridesmaid...

made it to the fair yesterday for a couple of hours. good deal on the weekends if you get there the first hour, its only $3 to get in. no lines. didn't feel like riding anything by myself. found my pictures in the visual arts building. yep, got another honorable mention. there was also this one and this one. you can find this one in the flower section. (happy now, gary?) oh well, nice enough to see them up there with all the other great images.

other than that, it's taken me three hours to try and get fifteen minutes to post this picture because of this beast. he's not getting any more tired, and i've taken him out on long walks twice already. now he just wants to play. even threw him a giant beef knuckle bone, which kept him busy for a couple of hours last time, but he's bounced from toy to toy tonight.

anyway, only four more weeks to go...

here's an old memories car from the show at tweedy mile golf course. happy as can be in the clover.