divining rod

i wandered through all the parking lots at the majestics new years' show, and back. new stuff arrived and i'd go back and try to find it. some cars had too many people around them on the first pass, but i got them on the next one.

that seems to be the only way to deal with a bigger show. pretty much why i just don't go to the really major shows people tell me about...just too many people...unless i can be there at the same time cars are rolling in.

this one i probably would have passed by, but there was no one in the way, and the paint on it was pretty well done. but looking at it now, i can't decide if it was the lens, or if that big phallic thing on the trunk was not quite centered. sort of the angle of the dangle...between two girls...boys and their fantasies. lol. at least it's up.

i would just be pissed, or would it be obsessivly crazed, to drop a crap ton of cash on a custom paint job and find it just a tad off.

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been working too much, or should i say, i have too much work. wishing they'd hire another person. trying out a contractor on a couple of simple jobs, but they're located in northern ca, so can't really get a feel for them, and i haven't seen their portfolio. should be interesting.

still, i have another couple of intense weeks coming up at work, so probably will be too fried to post much again. happy to have realized a bit late that it was a holiday weekend, but that just means i gotta work even faster to meet the deadlines. ugh.

take a walk

quick post. how many more from this show should i show now? maybe save others for later, as usual? liked the pinstriping and chrome on this hood.

trying a change of attitude this year. at home and at work. gotta de-stress somehow. starting to take some walks again, get away from my desk. cut way back on my favorite caffeinated beverage, drink more water.

better half gave me a big bag of m&ms and other candy for xmas; ex gave me a bag of swedish fish candy. fish are gone; haven't opened the m&ms. ex is just being nice; i suppose my better half has selfish reasons to keep me fat and happy.

i'm tired. and i want a coke.

unbelted

another pontiac. kinda wish the hood ornament was crackled. it looks too new.

guy on the motorcycle reflected in the paint, was on the phone calling anybody and everybody. the belt on his bike was broken, and laying on the ground nearby. trying to get someone to help him out here. i think he was on his way to vegas, or maybe one of his bros was coming from there.

anyway, in the sea of music, he got off his phone, and cranked up his own tuneage. 

i can only assume someone got him a belt, but i bet it was a long wait.

work in progress

here's the last one i promised to post. friend of the other guy from yesterday's post. real talkers those two.

this guy really wanted a shot of this car. says it looks like hell this year, but he's working on it. promises i won't recognize it next year.

i don't only shoot the pretty cars, mind you. just don't usually shoot these cars. but i don't mind mixing it up once in a while.

so, good enough?

on new year’s day

we got up way early this morning and found ourselves sitting in the mile-long line of cars at the dam by five-fifteen. i don't think anyone really realized the gate didn't open until seven...wasn't really mentioned on the flyer. 

we had a good chat. froze our butts off, ran the car once or twice to warm it up a bit. watched the group of guys ahead of us—club shall remain nameless, but you know who you are—stood around talking, watching their kids run around, toss their coffee cups in the ivy, run across the street and piss in the bushes one, by one.

finally the line started to move after seven. i stopped for a red light, and the goober behind us swooped around and got in front, followed by some other car. i'm in no hurry, and they didn't get much farther ahead, so congrats on that buttwad.

found parking in the same place as last year, and got going.

went through each lot, picking out what we liked. better half used his wagon to plant his tripod and camera on, to run some video.

i think we stayed until two-thirty, and only left cuz our feet hurt, and my better half seems to be starting a cold.

talked to a few people, and promised to post pictures of their cars. so here's the first one. if you happen to own this car, it's a beauty. and you can buy a print here.

imps

haven't posted a nice impala for a while. this one is pretty tasty. even got my better half doing his thang with the car next to it.

i have several shots of it, but for whatever reason, i like this one best, show a sense of the length of the car. another shot is pushed in closer, and makes the car look stubby, like a carnival mirror, and that can't be good.

hail mary, full of grapes

i've been shooting dashboards a lot lately. convertibles, because they're easy. i shoot them if they're interesting.

this one has a dashboard mary instead of the ubiquitous dashboard jesus. makes me think of my better half saying that when he was a kid, and he still went to catholic school or whatever it was, he thought they were saying, "hail mary, full of grapes..." that didn't last very long, after one of the nuns berated him for letting his hair grow long—he never went back—and pretty much has rarely had it cut short since. so there you go, sister. whack you with a ruler.

a day like any other day

spent dead presidents day out and about, running errands, grocery shopping, and doing laundry, which i doubt any of the presidents had to do themselves. ever.

i've got a biography of bruce lee running while i play with my pictures. interesting guy. i remember watching his movies on the weekend when i was a kid. he kicked ass. and what kid never pretended he was flinging nunchuks around?

so, no car show today. maybe i'll go to chik-fil-a tomorrow. probably going to my mom's anyway. gotta get back into a groove before the summer shows start again.

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saw this buick at the majestics new year's show. big car. elegant lines. love the pine trees framing it.

impala heaven

i don't know where my time goes after the drive home from work. my better half just gave up, and has headed off for bed. it's almost ten, so i best be getting there myself.

true, the majestics show was mostly bouncy low riders, but there was a healthy helping of my favorite classics. there were pods of impalas here and there. my favorite pieces of tail, if you know what i mean. tsk tsk, such dirty minds.

enlightening

i spent a lot of time in the car today. drove out to ontario airport to pick up my daughter...yay no more feeding her tarantulas, etc...drove her home to oc. then out to south coast plaza to exchange the last camera i bought because it had a minor defect. then drove back to whittier. 

happened to decide to slap a battery into the new camera to change it to my preferred settings, only to find the "new" camera was more effed up than the one i had taken back. so drove all the way back to get another. took my camera bag with me and tried the next one out in the store with one of my lenses and my battery, to be sure it at least worked correctly.

seems to, but i won't know until i get out to a show.

then my computer was being quirky, and finally shot me a blue screen of death. seems to have booted back up ok, so i don't know what that was about.

i suppose i'll go to sleep now. why push my luck?

this was a beautiful impala from the other day. it happened to have been the first car i shot when we arrived, and i spent quite a bit of time shooting it from the front and back. the back has a big airbrush image of three mostly nekked chicks with bandeleros, and the detail and pinstriping is exquisite all over. but i liked this one, from just before we left, that i liked the most. 

had looped back around to where we started, and retook some of the cars from the morning. the light changes, the cars change moods, a different personality comes out. maybe i have just spent to much time staring at cars in the hot sun.