chatty kathy

1937 plymouth

made it out to the los angeles bombs' car show at the speed zone on friday. good thing we got there early...parking was hard to come by later on in the evening.

good thing we got a lot of shots in before too many people showed up. the more crowded it got, the more time it took to shoot between the crowds of people, or the people that don't notice and walk between the camera and the car. it happens. have to go zen, or just count to ten, before giving up and moving on to another car.

i was shooting this plymouth soon after we arrived. then the owner and his friend came over, the friend saying my name. he had remembered me from the unidos show the previous year—they had both chatted me up there. i remembered him instantly, when he mentioned the high school—i'd taken a picture of the friend's car. 

spent a long time talking with them again. learned about a couple of car shows coming up, that the friend's son had somehow broken a braket on his car with a garage door, so didn't have it at the show. talked photography, of course, and all sorts of other things. a really rambling convo, but fun and interesting.

better half happened to walk up about that time and joined in. the more the merrier.

told the plymouth owner i'd post a shot of his car, if i got one i liked. problem with the earlier shots was that they both kept walking into the frame, the owner getting stuff from the car, the friend directing the owner on how to turn the wheel just so, so it would look good from the angle i was shooting at that particular moment.

i did manage to get a shot or two without them in it, but i like this one from later, when they were no where in sight. it's all good. i just have to chuckle sometimes.

if laughter is the best medicine, then my better half and myself are the healthiest people around.

into the dark

i liked this car. owner and his friend were standing in front of it for a while, so i spent time wandering nearby and further away, shooting other cars. finally ran out of interesting cars for a while...it was very early...and went back over to it. just asked them if i could take a picture of their car, and voilà, they said sure, and moved out of the way.

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hell of a week. a few 12+ hour days will do you in. taking a break right now. going to a memorial service this evening, followed by a funeral tomorrow. then more work to do.

house full of relatives. i may head to the office tomorrow, afterwards. it's just easier.

speaking of, got to watch a crime scene unfold the other day, down in irvine. they found a body on a bike trail. saw it from my office window, soon after they found it, just after the sun came up. didn't have my camera with me, just a cell phone. so, the pic i took before they covered the guy up, just looks like a cow laying across the path.

interesting to see how the cops dealt with the scene, a lot of cops milling around for a couple of hours before the forensic types showed up, failing miserably at hiding the body from view...seriously, it is right next to the freeway, and hanging blankets over the fence didn't cut it.

they say he was killed. my theory, until they say how it happened, is that the coyotes ganged up on him. his bike was parked nearby. i say, he got off the bike, thinking they were dogs, and the pack jumped him. i saw them yesterday from the window, on the same path. just a thought.

or it could be homeless guys under the freeway overpass. it's creepy down there as it is...i've walked over there before. might be a while before i think about walking by myself over there again.

taco town

i was on my way back to my car, from the mooneyes open house, when i saw this car sitting in a parking lot. i find it difficult to just keep walking past such a car, with all it's rusty business, particularly when i had my camera gear in hand this time. otherwise, i'm just as likely to whip out my phone and take a snap.

not sure if it was completely the car that caught my eye, or just the play of the colors of the cars against the building.

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been away from my pictures for several days now. home for the weekend. very busy at work. people will start visiting this house soon; a funeral is only a week away; and one person has two additional of her own to attend...this year has started on a very sad note indeed.

hoping to be sitting in line at pomona this sunday, before the sun comes up. thar be cars to shoot...

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.

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.

golden slumbers

got there relatively late this time. had to stop at the market to have breakfast, since we pretty much skipped dinner, and i was just gonna faint if i didn't eat.

we decided to start at the back of the park this year, then move to the street, before the crowds showed up.

i liked this plymouth, just sitting there glowing in the middle of the lawn. stupidly, i didn't take any shots of the hood ornament, and i love hood ornaments. oh well. next time.

i suspect there's some custom stuff on the car, since i don't think plymouths sat like this back in the day.

rain, rain, go away

so i had to get my taxes done friday afternoon. weather reports kept saying it was going to rain all weekend, but it hadn't started yet. so i took my camera bag with me to the appointment. it was close enough to the elks club show, figured i'd drive by and see if anything was happening.

hadn't been there in several months. as expected, they lot wasn't as full as it should have been. rain, rain, go away. i guess i thought that too much, since it still hasn't rained all weekend.

stuff i wanted to shoot really didn't show up, at least while i was there. made the best of it, and enjoyed myself before heading back home to finish my work day. chatted for a few minutes with another photographer, i hadn't seen before. you get to know the regulars. we should have a secret handshake or something.

anyway, work was waiting, so i packed my bag, and took about ten steps toward the car, when this plymouth drove up. and drove to the back of the lot. so yes, i walked all the way back there, and pulled everything out again.

turns out i saw it earlier in the month, though not with the additional side and roof paint. i recognize the pinstriping on the front.

so i got a few shots to keep me happy.

betty boop

hard to pass this plymouth by, it being so red and all. i stopped. i saw. i took a picture. well, actually a few.

i liked this one best. shows the sky, the car, the bridge, the mural...what the show is all about...and the location. or maybe just because it makes me laugh because the guy in the painting looks like he's about to write all over the car. furiously.

ragtop

i shot this fury very early in the day. parked on one of the main paths of the park, i knew it would probably be surrounded by people later in the day.

the owner was still polishing it when i started to frame up the shot from the other side, but when some passerby asked him a question, he parked the rag on the roof, and went around to the other side.

so i moved to this corner and try to keep it low enough to not get so much extraneous crap in the shot. still managed to get the passerby, and the lovely rag the owner was using and dropped mid-wax-on – wax-off. mr. miyagi would be so proud.

he told me later, when i passed by with the rest of the crowds surrounding it, that it was mostly original. i thought it was pretty striking, at this location, with the paint combo, and the fact that there probably wasn't another one to found at the park that day.

sedan, i am

this is bob's pontiac. i'd seen it parked off the street in this side lot for the last couple of years that i'd been to this show. finally had the time and inclination to go over and have a look. initially, there was another car parked on this side, and i was just shooting the hood ornament. he came over and apologized that it wasn't a better ornament—said there was more to it, but someone had snapped the other pieces off at some point in the past.

then, the car next to him took off, so i had space to shoot the car. happily, he moved the dust mop thing off the hood. 

the car is showing its age, but that's fine with me. imperfections just make it that much more interesting, so don't apologize when you're car is less than perfect.