what's up?

la van dulce

busy week and i’m tired. standing at a table in the middle of the oc fair. last weekend and had a free ticket. traffic sucks anyway. started getting dizzy so found a shady spot.

i’d rather be all alone in a crowd with my better half. early here but plenty of people. and i’m already bored.

contemplating which show to go to in the morning and/or pomona on sunday. guess i’ll see where the car goes. i think it needs a sevice soon.

one more week then i head to vegas for five days. hate that place, and it’s more hellish in summer heat. at least i’ll be staying in a hotel i’ve never been in that i can remember.

guess i’ll keep an eye on traffic and waste another hour here.

———

shot through the window for this shot of every cliché you can think of in a lowrider van. fairly unimpressive white on the outside, save for some pinstriped messages, such as the name of the van. guessing “asshole” in it’s delicate paint refers to the owner and not the reader.

hangin’ out

i don’t have much to say. wanted to go out to an evening show, when it was cooler, but instead stayed home with an upset stomach.

last time i was home, just chatted all evening with my better half. never turned on my computer for one minute. only here a couple of days a week, and it’s like i never get to just hang out with him. and he needs a fresh face to give him a mental break. taking care of older parents is not the easiest thing in the world.

too hot outside all day, and i just want to sleep. got a lot going on in my head.

better half is going to try and get out of the house for a few hours tonight. we’ll see if his mother will be ok long enough for him to enjoy it.

did see an old gray chevy drive by. a little bit of happiness in the sputtering of the engine. doubt he stopped uptown; they mostly just drive on through to cruise down whittier boulevard or something.

you must be bored of sunrise shots, but here’s another. i’m usually at shows early to miss the heat and the stark shadows. and i look for where the sun is hitting cars just right.

i think this car was a bit lighter in color, but the sun is warming it up a bit.

early morning

flipped a coin, and ended up in anaheim saturday morning. arrived before the club again, and vendors, even. was almost convinced there was no show, as there was zero activity, no roping off the lot, nothing on the marquee, and no one except a random guy pedaling around on a bike. was already warm, and the sun had barely come up. at least there was a small breeze.

then i saw this one drive by, and soon another. and another. good good.

got my gear out and got to work. the day was going to be hot, and i knew i wouldn’t stay long. and i hadn’t had breakfast yet. saw raynbow, who always welcomes me.

the viejitos cars park along this fence, at the entrance. they were hanging up framed t-shirts from past years’ shows and events. as a designer, i found that interesting.

i don’t recall seeing this dodge anywhere. almost as if it had rolled off the line brand new, save for some chipped paint here and there..

past years, the lot would have been packed by eight. i do not understand the machinations of where the cars go, but i do know when several big shows are on the same day, you take your chances.

no matter, plenty for me to shoot before the sun got me.

when it looked like the incoming cars had slowed, and my skin was starting to turn pink in spite of the suntan lotion, i packed it in, and headed to breakfast.

historical reference

going to shoot cars tomorrow. which show, i’m not sure. i’ll probably just flip a coin.

really tired. i’ll catch up on sleep some other day. got things to do, places to go, and it’s going to be a hot weekend. i miss winter.

———

liked this chevy parked up next to one of the many murals at chicano park. this mural is along the street, and is quite frequently seen in pictures on the internet. a plethora of mexican historical figures. a plethora.

on a cloudy day

hiding in the house today. except for the couple of hours i went to the mall to buy a few things that i’ve been talking about buying for months. i really hate shopping that much. and traffic near the mall…let’s just say some people don’t drive very well.

took a turn around the mall, might as well make use of the nice air conditioning to get some exercise. not to mention it smelled like the cinnabon in the middle of the place…no worries…i resisted. though i really wanted one.

got home and didn’t feel very good, so going to just sit here on my ass and play with my pictures for a bit.

i’ve seen this lincoln several times in the past, and just recently at mooneyes. maybe i’ll even post that one some time. but it really looks like the same shot some of the other photographers have posted, so it isn’t really that important to post it.

i am partial to a cloudy sky. reminds me of growing up back east, with a thunderstorm rolling in. this one was from the street coverage bbq in montebello park in 2018.

got the blues

missed the imperials’ show this year. dug up this pic from a couple of years ago for tonight. i remember there was a pair of impalas up at the front, but irritatingly roped off, so you couldn’t get a shot without the blockade there. more of a keep off / don’t touch the cars move, and i don’t blame them – they were pretty nice cars.

liked that they used blue lights on a blue car.

no idea where i might end up this weekend; all depends on how hot it is and what time i wake up…it’s been a tough week at work so i’m kind of burned out. gotta listen to my bod. probably will stay close to home.

would have been my dad’s birthday today. missing him extra.

sad and tired, so i guess i’ll go to bed.

got it

knew it was going to be hot today. almost just stayed in bed and rolled over, but the quality of the light coming through the blinds refused to let me sleep. so i got up and dressed. figured i’d drive over to mooneyes open house, since it was close enough even though i’d gotten out later than i should.

really wasn’t a lot there initially, not like there used to be. i suppose i should have gone to one of the other shows to find the cars i really like, but i didn’t.

that’s fine. still enough cars to shoot, and more slowly turned up.

even that one a-hole who picked up his friend on the corner as i was about to cross the street, then turned the corner and did a few circles in the empty lanes and burnouts. probably the people waiting for the red light on the other side didn’t enjoy how close he came to hitting them. you’re aren’t that good buddy. he drove by again later, minus the friend and the spins. still revved his engine. compensating much?

went down one side of the street shooting, back up the other, then crossed the road and started again with anything i might have missed.

i’d seen this truck earlier, but the owner was pulling drinks or something out of the back and had skipped it. second time around, he came over to ask if i’d taken a picture of it. hadn’t, but i did right after that, now that no one was in the way. ;)

not today

imperials show was today. intended to go. better half says when i wake up arguing with myself about going to a show, he already knows i’m not going, and goes back to sleep, no need to walk me out to the car. so, ya, one of those days.

stayed in town. went back to sleep after breakfast, instead of driving away. decided to go for a walk when i woke up. unfortunately, it would have been an ideal day at the show, as it stayed overcast until about one p.m., at least in whittier. walking uptown, i noticed some sort of thing going on a block up philadelphia, tents and vendors selling stuff. took a detour from my walk to check it out. whatever it was, they’re terrible at advertising it.

going with casita del pueblo running it, as it was all latin culture sort of stuff for sale, t-shirts with skulls and aztec symbols, paper mache art, jewelry and food trucks.

at least, i wasn’t the only one who missed the imperials’ show – lo and behold, the “mayor” was there, with his fifty-six.

he said he was invited, but was unable to go. i guess i just wasn’t up to hoping they’d let me in early.

pretty buick from the other day in cypress. nevada plates, but a boyle heights flag or whatever you call those metal things. so confused.

mine eyes have seen the glory

felt bad, but went out to the latin gents’ monthly car show last night. whatever aches and pains i did have managed to disappear almost the whole time i was taking pictures. don’t worry, if i shook your hand, it’s not a cold.

was a pretty sparse turnout, but the heat dissipated, and a cool breeze came up. my hair, in spite of a headband, insisted on blowing in my face as i tried to focus, but i stood far enough back, so as to not have it in my shots. not ready to chop it off yet, but sometimes, i’m close to calling it for this reason.

anyway, mostly enough space and freedom to take as many shots of each car that i wanted. i was waiting for the sun to head down, and had already been around once, before just standing and watching what the light was doing to the cars. didn’t see anything really spectacular, but there were a few i liked well enough.

here is the back end of mr blvd’s fleetline. better half thought this was a better shot than the one from the front. i think this is the second time i’ve posted this point of view of this car. it just has a nice ass, i guess.

i should have stayed until the sun actually hit the ground, but my insides started to hurt, so i packed it in. had fun anyway. thanks everyone!

hay chihuahua

sometimes i think my better half’s height is a detriment. his eyeballs looking out from six and a half feet from the ground, often give him huge blind spots of things i can see, but he can’t. something gets in the way, and he can’t see it without bending over.

i imagine it as sort of like sitting up in the mezzanine at the play “wicked,” able to see the decorative mechanical dragon set motif above the stage, but unable to see the backdrops and other action going on too far in on the stage. can hear the dialogue and songs, but just don’t see what’s going on in front of you.

he used to wonder how i would get pictures of things when we used to go out shooting together, that he never saw. i’d always say, “didn’t you see it?” oh, he can say the same for me, from his lofty height.

then again, i can be so focused on getting a shot, that i will literally not see the people walking around it. not being rude; just have them tuned out on my radar. i am a weird creature.

be very, very quiet…i’m hunting wabbit. ha ha ha ha ha.
— elmer fudd

today, the blind spot was at the back of a refrigerator shelf. he’d chopped up some fresh green onions to add to his mom’s meal, and what i later used for guacamole.

he hadn’t noticed the two containers of previously chopped green or yellow onions, from last week. pretty sure onions don’t grow hair that pretty normally, fine as silk, and growing from several dark spots, nor is it useful as penicillin.

whatever it was, didn’t want to let go of the container even after i dumped the food out. had to soak it with some lysol, followed up with antibacterial soap. i won in the end.

this lincoln looked familiar as it drove into the small lot at the fairgrounds. looking back through my posted images, at the show i thought i’d seen it at so long ago, i instead found another one, same year, but not a convertible, and green not black.

well, otherwise, i’m not finding it in this year’s photos.

i had gotten one clear shot, with no one in it. for this one, i’d changed the height of my tripod and framed it up, when the owner and his friends came back from whichever vendor they’d gotten drinks from, and proceeded to clink glasses, in a cheers maneuver, behind it. oh well. you can see them just above the car’s front window, if you look closely. it’s their car, so i’m not going to make a big deal about it. i had other places to be, so didn’t have time to wait them out.

i liked the big inflatable dog in the background. wished they had set out some brown and black bean bags near it, and then all i’d have seen would be a much relieved pup, had that been the case. people could have “shat” down on the soft lumps with their drinks. lol.