can, can

so another busy week at work. quick overnight in san fran for a business meeting. kinda fun going to the other offices once in a while, but two within a couple of weeks of each other is a rare treat. but the travel and long hours do keep me away from shows and posting, so that part is sucking a bit. shout out to my coworker adrian in the sf office, proud new dad of a sweet baby boy.

here's another from last weekend's show in riverside. the owner was kind enough to close the trunk for me. he said photographers are always shooting those tail lights. i guess i agree —here's another one from the broiler in downey.

he wanted to point out that this was a rare 4-speed model, but said you can only really tell from the dials and stuff on the inside, which i didn't take the time to shoot. i did kinda do a commando run through this show as it was (not that kind of commando). if i remember the story of how he got the car, i believe he said he was the second owner of the car, and obviously the original owner had taken good care of it. but now i can't remember the specifics of the who and the how he got it; gotta take more notes or post these sooner/quicker.

no, the owner wasn't wolfman jack jr there on the left...and i could've removed that drink in photoshop, but i kinda like the random junk people leave around. it's not a perfect world, though some of the cars get pretty near perfect.

mercules

ok, this one is definitely a mercury. says so on the back bumper.

i'd been at the fuddrucker's show for maybe about 10 minutes. there were plenty of cars – an additional row had been made available. problem for me was that, either i'd already shot the car before, a good number of them were muscle cars (yawn) and/or the hood was up. i try to at least shoot one car, to make it worth the stop at the show.

i'd settled on an old ford, and rattled off several sets of shots. wandered around again, nothing interesting. i approached a very rusty 1928 ford of some sort. mostly original rickety bits. i was going to shoot it, when the owner popped up and opened the engine compartment to show it off to some other dude. oh well.

so i proceeded to my car, capped the lenses, packed it up, and got into the drivers seat. i sat for several minutes, checking phone messages, email, etc., all the while keeping an eye on what was driving in. more muscle cars. (yawn), newer corvette. (eh), chevys i'd already shot.

i was about to leave, when this baby drives in. always happens...just when you're about to leave, a good one shows.

since i'd been watched packing it up by some guy in a van nearby, i decided to move my car to another lot, and pretended to leave. i didn't feel like hauling all my bag and stuff out, so i just grabbed my wide angle set up, and the tripod. i felt a bit nekked without the whole bag of fun, but it was much quicker.

walked back to the lot, hoping he'd been forced to park on an edge because of all the muscle cars. happily, it was parked along the curb on the edge, so i had a bit more access. of course, because it was so different, it had attracted a crowd. i had to wait a bit for people to move, and then just ended up shooting anyway. the sun was getting ready to set, and it was casting long shadows, so that limited what angle i could shoot from as well.

different days, draw different crowds. sometimes the regulars are friendly, sometimes indifferent, and other times, they might as well be on the rag. grumpy old men. young teenage posers. frumpy women. overdone girls. lol. just kidding. but not really. can never tell if people will be polite or not. and this particular show, they seemed to be a bit more pushy, and in the way. haven't really had a day that their cumulative attitudes turned me off from a show yet, but one or two, almost.

i'

mercury rising

i've seen more than a few flamey mercurys (mercuries?) lately. why is that? i suppose because they're awesome that way.

it was hot and extremely windy when i took this shot a few weeks ago in riverside. it was the glitter painted flames that stopped me first, and that it had a hood ornament – bonus. almost gave up trying to get a shot of it, there were too many people around.

i am at the point where, i figure, screw the people milling about if they're not in focus, just get the car. otherwise, the best cars just can't be captured. i hate the ones that i let get away in the past because people wouldn't move. fortunately, the majority of the time, if you whip out a tripod, people will move, same way i try to stay out of someone else's shots. i have some patience, and i can wait.

anyway, i think i'll hit you all up with a short series of mercs. why the hell not. i keep seeing them, so why shouldn't you?

m

had enough of the showlows cars? ok, this is the last one of the bunch i have. did i miss any ronnie? such a nice collection. a nice bunch of guys.

wish there were more sunsets like the one there was this night. such pretty colors and i don't use that word too often. and i liked how it reflected on the cars, especially the lighter colored ones.

just realized i've posted over 250 cars up here...whew! time flies when you're having fun. :)

pita green

found this merc ford (is this a shoebox?) out in riverside yesterday. fremont elementary school was having their 2nd annual car show. not sure what they were doing with the proceeds, but there were quite a few cars in spite of the overcast and scattered showers.

this was right up at the entrance. so shiny, so clean. it's actually a deep, dark green, with ghosted green flames on it. a real pain in the ass... just can not seem to get it the way i remember it because of the blue sky reflecting on it so brightly, which is making it go turquoise, and also killing the hint of the flames on the hood. i do like the shiny reflection, but it does make it difficult to have any chance of remembering that there are flames on the hood.

the owner was sitting inside too, but i'm mostly low enough all you can see of him is the top of his baseball hat.

karate choppy

double-posty tonight: if i'm not working overtime (it's tradeshow season...again), i'm hoping to be out shooting at one of the two shows running tomorrow.

i've seen this awesome custom mercury (though one of the other regulars said it was a chevy) at fuddrucker's pretty often over the past year. the color is so deep, you almost fall into it when he's got it buffed up like this. hard to capture without the light hitting it just so. got the sunset highlighting it here, and i usually can't get the back end of it either, due to his parking choices, and the crowds. was a bit colder this night, so fewer people.

wish that tree reflected on the trunk wasn't in that spot...there's a very nice pinstripe job going on, but it's being masked by the tree branches. it's chopped and dropped pretty low, must be interesting to get in and out of, but still pretty sweet.

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short rant:

i ran into someone at a show the other day, whom i'd met at a car show several months ago. at the time i'd shown him my book of photos, and he'd asked me to take a picture of his car. fine. he even closed the hood for me. i would have taken it anyway, it was that nice of a car. i worked up my favorite and posted it, but then never heard from him. had a lot of people comment on it, liked it quite a bit.

anyway, i finally went ahead and bought a print for my book, since i liked it well enough myself. so when i spotted his car at another show recently, i figured i'd at least show him the print...they look even better than they do here. i think he saw me before i remembered which one was him, and he avoided me for a while. eventually i found him sitting in the car, and approached him.

asked if he wanted to see the picture, and he said sure. then he proceeded to tell me that he'd seen it posted, but he really wasn't interested, wanted more of a photograph. i shrugged and said this type of photography wasn't for everyone.

if i show you my book, you know the type of pictures i take, so i figure you should know what to expect...why waste my time asking me to take a shot?

it doesn't bother me in the least if you don't like what i do, i've heard the photo purist arguements before, and to each his own. but if you specifically ask me to do a picture of your car, and i bother to take the time to work on it and post it, at least be polite and say hi or something. even say i don't like it, but take the time to let me know you saw the thing.

not doing a full-on rip you a new one here (richard (no it wasn't him either)), but no, i'm not going to tell you which car it was; i assume he's still lurking here and will recognize himself anyway. whatever. if you change your mind about buying the print, the price just doubled, just for you. :)

end rant.

scuse me while i whip this out

i'll be out and about tomorrow, so here's another merc for tonight. found it at marina del rey last sunday. very extraordinarily nice, but left before i could get a few more shots of it. well, i did get a few more, but meant to get an additional couple from behind. wait, i did get a couple, but not enough. i'll shut up in a couple...

a big one

just feel like posting a big image tonight. nothing particular spectacular about this car, except to the owner. he was there with his small son, probably for the first time at this show. both this father/son combo and the duo at fuddrucker's vaguely remind me of my ex and my son, when he was little. why do they have to grow up so fast? i'm rambling...and bordering on sentimentality, which is wells up once in a while. i'll get over it soon enough.

i've never seen them or this type of car before. he was nice enough to wait for me to finish my shots before he took off, so thank you, kind sir. i let him look at my prints while i did, so he wouldn't notice how long my shots were taking.

i think a shot from the back end would have been much more distinctive, as far as defining this type of car from any other, with the way the roof cuts in, but i didn't like the images as much. wasn't the best angle/location/lighting from back there. probably because of the curb, and having to stand in the dirt ditch, but i like this one anyway.

____

kinda wish i was at the broiler tonight...there's still time to get out there, it's relatively warm out, but i haven't eaten and i'm kinda tired. definitely will be there next week, at least for an hour or two.

thinking of maybe going back to angelo's tomorrow night, though i've been kind of disappointed by the turnout the last couple of times. at least it's close enough to disneyland, i can always go get that dinner i missed out on last friday. :)

lead sled

this merc custom, also from the whittier uptown show, is seemingly the companion piece to this one. this was the second of three similar vehicles parked on this corner. maybe it was just a coinkydink that they were clustered in the same area. i don't think i bothered with the other, as i remember it was just painted in primer gray and not too dazzling or remarkable.

i remember this being a spectacular, deep blue, but i think maybe i've made it too dark here. the time of day made for an uncontrasty, flat shot, so i had to jack it up a bit. but that's the point of my tweaking, now isn't it?

flamed trifecta

well i might as well make it a complete triumvirate of flamed vehicles with this motorcycle. i don't often bother with them, but i do make exceptions when i'm bored, or the opportunity arises for a decent shot of them.

found this one back in april at the foothill ranch show. parked near the raffle booth, and probably belonging to one of the people running it. i think it was the red glitter paint with the sun hitting it that made me take this shot. if i remember correctly, the owner even moved another bike out of the way.