what's up?

early bird gets the...

got to san fernando so early, that i parked on the curb near the entrance, and could have parked even closer, but held back a few car lengths. years' past there had been a line of cars down the street and around the corner. not entirely sure why it wasn't the case this time, but i needn't have worried--so many showed up later. must have been hungover, or, egads, they went to church?

i get to shows early, just for opportunities like these. no people in the shot, that glowing morning light, always chasing the light. gotta setup and shoot quickly, or you miss it. no gold reflectors needed. still, i got there too late for the transition from dark blue to purple to orange. oh well.

can't remember which club these two belong to...don't remember any club insignia, though they were later surrounded by a zillion pachuco club cars. i just know that i saw them across the field first thing, with that golden light, and went as quickly as i could to them.

loved the light hitting the hood ornament on the plymouth, and that it showed it's age, hadn't been replaced with a shiny new piece.

camera bags don't roll too good on grass. maybe they should make them with bigger wheels. that glow with fiber optic light. nah, wouldn't really blend into the background that way.

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crazy busy weekend/week ahead. day off on friday, mother-in-law's birthday; a graduation saturday, followed by a drive to vegas. a week there (any local shows besides cars and coffee?). car shows when i get back. thoughts: uptown whittier car show or bridal shower for future daughter-in-law??? hmmm hmmm hmmm.

gotta figure out how/when to take 100+ hours of vacation time before the end of the year. my mom just changed her mind and said she'd be willing to do a road trip. interesting. wait a few days...she'll change her mind.

special

life is speeding up lately. yes, i know i missed the gatos show yesterday. rare day that my better half could get a few hours out of the house, and he wanted to go to the fair to see my pictures hanging on the wall. matter of priorities sometimes.

we had fun, almost like a date. spent a lot of time talking about nothing and everything. walked through the buildings of schlocky stuff for sale, looked at the crafts, watched the mariachi and pacific islanders dance shows. weather was mostly good, so we stayed later than we had intended. his mom was fine—he called her twice—and told him to stop worrying and enjoy the time out.

next, going to speed through the week at work, even when a work week feels like it drags on forever. next weekend, a college graduation to attend, followed by a drive out to vegas. whittier car show coming up when i get back, then something else i can't even remember right now, then pick up the pictures from the fair... blah blah blah. stop thinking about things, and just do them. life happens. just one big check list...

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went to the sultans show this morning. perfect weather for pictures, got my favorite parking space, very close by. got there about six-thirty, and there were some cars, stuff rolling in. watched yet another ballet of parking the cars. it's a sort of choreography between the club members on what cars should go where. some are more organized, with walkie talkies, others just yell across the field, over the revving engines.

park isn't huge, so these guys just yell. but they do pack them in well. the park was filled, except for fire lanes. i made the outer circuit to start with, to stay out of the way of the moving cars, and to keep them out of my shots.

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starting with this car. belongs to a retired gentleman, who i think said he'd owned it for thirty-eight years. i've seen it around before, shot it before, but had never talked to the owner. i liked the paint combination, and the back windows are kind of different. the hood had been up, so i had decided to just shoot the back end. he offered to close the hood, so i offered to take a picture or two. so here's a few shots for him.

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briefly considered going to mariachi plaza, and decided i didn't have the energy. looking forward to seeing everyone else's pictures of all the cars i wished i'd been there to shoot.


field of "dreams"


this stunning pontiac was parked on the baseball field. almost walked past the entrance to the field, since the majority of cars parked toward the front, where you could see them, were the big, loud, overdone newer type cars. i wanna say the guys with the teeny peenies, that need to compensate, but maybe they just really like those types of cars. not my cup of tea.

anyway, saw this on the same field out the corner of my eye. sitting next to an old chevy. that one is nice too. so i hiked across the infield, remembering when my kid played ball, and then it hit me. the sweet stench. a recently "fertilized" field on a hot, hot day. oh, how i felt sorry for these poor bastards, having to hang out on that field all day with their cars.

i suppose you eventually don't notice it, but later, when they get back in the car, what about the "dirt" on the bottom of the shoes? lots of air freshener will be needed.

as i was saying, really nice car. really nice owner. chatted a bit. happy, happy guy. i liked the pinstriping, and of course, the hood ornament.

damnit

another from the viejitos/pistoleros show. had it queued up, and apparently forgot to post it here.

i liked this car. the paint was dark and shiny enough to gather the reflections and make you want to fall into it at the same time.

really wishing that modern truck wasn't back-assed up against it and into my picture. but that's they way i found it, so there you go.

rusty crusty

so we've been busy dealing with a family emergency since sunday. i've been working from home, and making daily visits to the hospital. not sure what will happen when they get out, and how we will work around that, but will worry about it, when we have to worry about it.

pretty tired, so i'm not going to write a lot tonight. i put a crap iphone shot of this car up on my instagram, and people seemed pretty interested in it, so put this one up tonight. i like this shot from my camera better.

not the first time i've posted it...put it up last year, but nobody really noticed. that was a bright, sunny, hot day versus this shot, early, overcast and cool.

valspar

woke up early and headed to original mike's for the pistolero's / viejitos show. was wonderfully overcast the whole time i was there, so i'm hoping the pictures will be good.

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was a bit confusing, because when i got there, the lot was full of porsches, with the cars i was looking for sitting on the street. guys were saying they had double-booked shows.

perhaps it was just their regular saturday morning coffee meeting. if not, it was the weirdest show i've seen...none of them were out looking at each other's cars...they were all inside eating/meeting. it was like a damn porsche dealer lot; full of carreras. all the same, all different colors, all packed together.

i spent the time shooting what cars there were on the street. got some good pictures, up against the buildings, and the fire station.

whatever. my guys started moving into the lot about nine, more as the porsche party broke up and started to leave, one by one. i followed them in. shot them again...different location, different light. 

more cars showed up, plenty to keep me happy. cars reshuffled several times as spots opened up, and clubs parked together. shot them again.

only a couple of guys inquired about my pictures. so i'll start with them.

don't think i've seen this plymouth before. i liked it up against this paint building, the colors matching the car almost like they'd matched paint chips. what is that...PMS 188 or 201?

on my way out, this freaky monkey thing was at the entrance/exit, a bizzare greeting to all those that enter. certainly was creeping out a little girl, who did not want to pose with it for her mother.


hamster

there's a speaker thingy from ye olde tymey drive-in theatres hanging on this perfectly fine packard. would there really have been a packard sitting at a drive-in with a speaker thingy hanging on the door? not even of the same era are they? hell, where's the food tray? i want popcorn.

i like the hood ornament and the coon tail.

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i've been letting my hair grow out for the last year, just to see how long it might get. it's getting a bit shaggy looking, so i was going to have the ends trimmed a bit. last time i wanted a cut and a color, it had been several months since i'd gone in, and the stylist i liked was no longer there. didn't even let me know. maybe she doesn't do hair anymore.

so this time, i was going to see my back up stylist, one that i'd gone to off and on for over a decade. called the salon, and the guy says she hasn't worked there for months. wtf. so now, i don't know where to go.

sure seeing another stylist besides your usual stylist is sort of like cheating, being double-dumped sucks. fine. i hate going in for a hair cut anyway. hate having to fake small talk with a practical stranger. it's like repeatedly going on awkward dates every once in a while.

and as long as i'm bitching about girl stuff. i hate shopping. i hate clothes shopping specifically. not a teeny bopper anymore, not that i ever was, and i'm not old enough for those polyester pants for the double-wide, though i'm starting to look like my mom more every day. can't stand any of the clothes in my closet, but can't seem to pick out anything at the store that fits or that i like, and doesn't feel like a cheap dishrag.

i guess i'm just in a mood. maybe i'll just try to sleep. hell of a week at work, and more coming. hamster on a wheel, man. hamster on a wheel.

flight of fancy


awesome. work server is down, might as well post a picture. and i got a rush job to do, so extra special awesome.

worked over the memorial day weekend, so now i gotta pick another day to take off. better half's mom has a cold, and he needs to take a business trip, aside from being busy himself, so i guess a long weekend escape is off the table. guess i'll just stay home and take care of stuff i like to put off vs going to a car show.

found this hood ornament on a car from last year's whittier area church show. making me think about traveling. need to decide where to take our anniversary trip this year. already know it will either be a month early or a month late, because his coworker's spouse will be popping a kid around that time, so my better half has to be there to support east and west coast offices.

haven't been to san fran for a while. east coast weather has been a bit dicey the last few years, but maybe dc or florida.

i know for sure it will be somewhere. maybe just throw a dart at a map?

classy

went over to central park yesterday. founder's day celebration in whittier—history, local kid dance classes doing their thing, booths featuring local clubs and museums. and a half street of old cars, mainly the model t club, and a few odds and ends.

most the same cars every year. but it was overcast, and as always, i shoot the same cars again; different spot, different light, different picture. never know when you'll get it right. and then think next time, will "the one."

even ran into one of my flickr followers. always nice when that happens. i suppose it's the tripod that gives me away. i'm waiting to see his pictures.

he was letting his son shoot with his camera a bit...that's why i passed by and asked him if he was getting any good shots. then to hear him quietly say, "kathy?" after i had walked past. then introduced himself. so hi there.

i took a break early to go get some breakfast, but saw this cadillac drive by as i was packed up and walking away. came back around afterwards, just to get a shot of it. by this time, a lot of the people had already checked out the cars, and were more toward the booths and watching the performers. yay, not so many people to get in the shot.

i liked this one, with an old house behind it, that somehow looks good with this car.

i think i might be catching a cold. you know when you don't quite feel right? scratchy throat, overheating? but i did get some pictures selected and entered for the oc fair. now it's just wait and see time.

©2024 kathy gonzalez