what's up?

after eight

1936 packard eight

went uptown for dinner. traffic was slightly lighter today, even in spite of passing a rear-ender with ambulance on scene on the freeway—there was no backup of lookyloos for a change, everyone just kept on moving on. people must already be staying home and/or traveling for the holiday.

spent the evening with my better half, talking about his day, my day, this, that, and nothing.

back home, it's almost nine, and i haven't started playing with pictures yet, and not sure i want to stay up to work on one. i am waiting on some laundry, so maybe...


i've shot this packard most everytime i see it. i think this one is my favorite so far. probably just that sun flare that's doing it for me this time.

wings and a prayer

1959 chevrolet impala

came across this impala in the midst of things. i just love the back of these cars, and usually don't pass up the opportunity to take a shot.

usually, i pull in close, up and under those fins. i did that with this one too, but just didn't get an angle i liked. this picture, pulled back a bit, still showed the curves that i want, and gives it a sense of it's place in the world, the variety of makes and years represented at the show.

is it my eyes, or does it still look a little dark? maybe it's my monitor.

early bird

most shows we go to have a posted drive in time and start time. but the host club is usually there beforehand to set things up, traffic, trophies, organizing stuff. 

that means, to us, anyway, that there is always a guarantee of something to shoot if you get there early.

start time this morning was seven. my better half looked at the time stamp from last year's photos, which said about six-thirty, and it was already getting busy. 

so this time, we figured the sun rises by six now, we'll get there before that. we did. about five-thirty. still dark. stores closed. laundry mat didn't even open until six. supposed to rain, but not until afternoon.

drove down the street, just to make sure the no parking signs were up, and that the thing hadn't been cancelled. they were, so we went back around and parked in the parking lot. we chatted about nothing, watched the sun come up, the lady open the laundry, and several women arrive with loads of wash with their choice of machines.

probably about six-thirty we heard the first sputtering engines in the area, and then a few cars arrived. finally. so we got out, unpacked and shot the few that were there.

then the clubs started to show up slowly. originals got there first. clouds came and went, and came back again. we had missed the sunrise, but the skies were making up for it.

weather was the way, i wish it would be all summer. not too hot, not too cold.

saw many people and many cars we've seen before. took time to chat with people, since the light was interesting, and not quickly changing to full sun.

i don't remember seeing this car ever. nice to be suprised once in a while. really beautiful. i caught it before they moved it. and then, only moved it to face the opposite direction, to mirror another packard behind me.

i liked this shot, with the sky, and from this direction, with few other cars, and definitely not the lightpost in the way.

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.

----

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.

chicken

i've shot this car before. and i see it often parked out in front of his business, when i pass by on the way home. sometimes think about stopping and shooting it up against the brick background, but then chicken out and/or don't have the camera with me. something about invading their personal space, when they're not at a show.

his buddy armando said i should just go ahead and stop...he'd love it. i guess that'd be the case of most owners—to have more pictures of their cars and people that admire their pride and joy, right?

everyone, except richard, of course.

stylin’

packard

the week at work is going as i thought, very busy, even if very short. hoping to get to leave early like everyone else tomorrow, but its kinda up in the air now. traffic will be hell, so i'll be going to my parents' house. fortunately they are about fifteen minutes from the office if i stay off the freeway.

relatives will be taking the room i usually stay in, as well as the spare. thinking about inviting myself over to my own house with my kid, to avoid sleeping on the couch. or maybe a hotel...that sounds nice too.

gotta spend time this weekend backing up files. maybe a show or two or three.

this one was from the viejitos show back in july. never have really taken the time to post a lot of pics from this show. that was the month i was dog sitting the beast, so i was otherwise occupied. and there have been so many other shows since then.

don't shoot a lot of packards, but the lighting on this one was intriguing.

tally my bananas

1956 packard carribean

i thought this ’56 packard carribean was different. hadn't seen one before, and i thought the color combo was nice, with a creamy off-white, a turquoise stripe and black on the bottom. i liked the way the sun was hitting it. unfortunately, had to crop out a bit on the left and right — people moving through the image too much on the left, and i didn't want to bother nuking them out of the picture. also cropped the owner in her chair out on the right, but now it's ready for an 8x10 anyway.

mandalay bay frogs

i was out of town for the past week, in las vegas, on business. this is the third year in a row i've gone there, and will probably end up there again next year. so over it.

need i say that as one who doesn't bother to gamble, doesn't drink or smoke, i find it a very unglamorous place to be.

always entertaining is seeing what the cat dragged in to the casinos very early in the morning: shit-faced women, who tried to keep up with the boys and didn't, hopefully being escorted to their own rooms by men who know them; men and women who didn't get lucky at all, but were all dressed up with no where to go; very large people in town to have fun for a few days, looking far too serious and planted at one slot machine for hours on end; a man on a gurney with a bucket in his lap, being rolled away by casino security; chicks in underwear dancing on a stage, while drunk guys howl, as if they had a chance; people on the bridges selling water for "juan dolor"; people slapping decks of cards and trying to hand you pictures of naked women that you can "call any time for a good time," who jump if you snap your fingers back at them; the unmarked planes that take off for area 51...oh i could go on and on.

there is beauty if you look for it. the patterns, textures, and colors are all around, day and night, changing with the light. if you were up before the sun, after the riff raff has gone back to their rat holes, and just wait for it, the sunrise coming up over the mountain range is spectacular to watch. especially from a jacuzzi tub. 

one twenty

1941 packard 120

i look forward to days like this. overcast skies, which add more drama to a picture, as well as softening the light. only trouble is, it keeps a lot of cars away from the shows. either the threat of rain ruining a perfect wash and buff job or it's just too cold to stand around outside for a period of time.

i'd seen this packard several months earlier, but had shot it from down low. just a big shot of a grill topped with a hood ornament. interesting to me, but not enough to bother with here. and here it was, not too crammed in with other cars because of the weather. the owner was nice enough to chat and move his chairs away from the front of it for my shots.

i suppose he's long since given up seeing it here...i warned him it could be a while. well, really has been only a week or so. so many pictures to choose from, and i remembered him. thank you for moving your chair. now if i could only have gotten the next car over to move somewhere else.

founder's day find

1936 packard

so we were walking around in uptown whittier on saturday, and came across the whittier founder's day celebration going on at a local park. <yawn> but hey my eyes spotted an old car driving by and realized they had one of the streets along the park blocked off and maybe about 20 old cars just sitting there. i think the oldest was a 1916 buick, a few chevys, a pair of terraplanes, and some other interesting cars. also a good selection from the whittier model a club...or was it model t?

anyway this beauty of a 1936 packard was sitting in the shade, the owner and friends sitting in lawn chairs in front of it. i can't recall the exact model, but maybe the owner or his friends will let me know. i let them look at my book of proofs while i took pictures of this one and a couple of other cars down the line. they seemed really impressed, so yay for me. :) i must be doing something right.

he closed the hood for me to get several good shots from various angles. i like this one best, though i have another from a lower angle that hides the apartments behind it and shows off the hood ornament pretty good. maybe i'll post that another day.

was all in the family

packard 120

this packard one-twenty (i think the owner said this was a 1936), at the santa ana elk's pal joey dream car revue, had been in a family for three generations. this owner recently acquired it from the grandson of the original owner, not sure if it was financial necessity, or just that the guy was just more interested in restoring old model t's. anyway, he said it was all original parts, and hadn't been restored yet...he's only had it a few months.

and while shooting this one, finally met the famous dave lindsay, of http://www.socalcarculture.com who introduced himself. nice guy. talked camera tech talk with my husband for a long time.