looking back

i've been out for a few walks this weekend, but otherwise, have stayed in the house. worked on stuff for the office most of the day yesterday, except for a couple of hours spent watching game of thrones and walking uptown for dinner with my better half.

being that i use my old computer when i have to connect to the office, i left it hooked up after finishing work last night. figured today, i'd have a look around on the hard drive for any interesting old shots stored there, before getting back to work again.

found this old ford made new again. it's an ok shot. the car is damn near too perfectly polished that it's almost boring. but i liked the lens flares catching the light of the sunset, and bouncing it around on the camera sensor. photography purists may say this is a throw away, but some of my favorite shots are sprinkled in flares.

now, off to work toward a deadline...

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.

eighty-eight

there's a number of "interesting" definitions for the term "eighty-eight." i'm not really referring to any of them here; just the innocent model number for this car.

nice, round back-end here. duke's car. always get a hug from the old guy.

pulled it up on an old computer. this is from last year. haven't seen it in a while. wonder if it's still rollin'? guess i'd have to go over to buena park to check it out.

caught a raynbow

ya, i posted earlier. i ran too late for the viejitos show. drove over there only to find them cleaning up the lot, maybe a dozen cars sitting around, according to my better half, who urged me to stop anyway. told him i didn't want to get in the way now that it was over.

instead drove up to a show in lakewood, intending to stop at the costco there anyway. that one was as he expected it to be, not that busy, really only one or two cars i'd bother to shoot. i didn't feel like breaking out the camera for that. i think probably because i hadn't really eaten all day, and maybe was a little loopy. i didn't feel hungry, but figured i might as well get something.

so we went over to the mall behind the costco, found where they hide the food and was satisfied with a salad. by then my better half started feeling dizzy, probably because he waited too long to eat, so after all that, we didn't go shopping either.

so, broke my own rule to at least take one picture to make it worth the trip. two car shows, no pictures. no groceries. and i'm ok with that.

here's raynbow's pretty pontiac from the show last friday. saw it today, right at the front, but since we didn't stop, didn't get it. kinda like this better anyway. mid afternoon light would have just made it average.

not so sure i'm digging the painted hood ornament. but it's his car, so he can do what he wants, right?

feeling super

i'd hoped for a more interesting sunset when i stopped at the elks' lodge last week. had also hoped for more cars like the previous time. lot was only half full by the time i got there, even with friday traffic, so i didn't stay very long. of course, about the time i was done and heading to my car, the viejitos began to arrive. that's ok, i'd shot the couple that drove in here previously, and didn't feel like walking back to shoot them this night.

as usual, a lot of cars had their hoods up, so natural selection was already thinning the herd for me...

thought this buick was kinda nice, with its xmas color paint scheme. really good condition too. big chrome bumpers do tend to catch my reflection, which isn't my favorite part of shooting cars, but i hope my pictures reflect well on me...

one more

i'm trying to work from home today. so far, it's great...nothing to do, and no one responding to my emails. everyone here is asleep, and in spite of working at a desk near the visiting college kids, i think i could march around like daffy duck banging trash can lids and stuff around the guy trying to get some sleep in a hotel, and they wouldn't hear it.

anyway, this picture was ready last night, so just thought i'd put it up here quickly. last post of the year. will be my 526th car in my virtual garage here. that's what you get for persistence. and haunting car shows too often. thanks for letting me take pictures of your babies. we'll see how much longer i can afford to keep showing them to you here.

i liked the reflected clouds on the hood. and this shot kind of shows you how full the lot was this day. don't think i've ever seen it so full, but then, i hardly ever stop by this show, so what do i know?

don't drink and drive tonight...at least not in the nice cars...my pictures show all the dents.

sun kissed

i am still wrestling with space issues on my hard drive. thinking i'll burn off  stuff back to earlier than 2009, stuff i hardly ever look at. just makes sense.

meanwhile, i was bad and attempted to hit up three car shows today. apparently a mistake, as it being veteran's day, they were mostly canceled. drove out to torrance. cadillac show at the dealership there. they had them parked in the service tunnel, and didn't seem to be much parking nearby, so i didn't stop. i know, i know. probably were more hiding on the inside, but if i don't go looking for other pics online, i won't miss them.

then tried another show that should have also been out there, but nothin was there at all. i did pass a park that seemed to have an informal muscle car show going on, but you know those don't really get me going much, so i drove on by it. fortunately, my backup planned worked out...my little bro lives nearby, so i hung out over there for a few hours.

on the way home, i took a quick swoop by the fuddrucker's in lakewood. must have been cancelled for the day, but there were still a couple of diehards sitting there polishing their cars. didn't stop there either.

so nothing for today, but long overdue family time. so win anyway.

i've been pondering which version of a temptations truck i should post. still haven't decided, so i'll put up this lovely viejitos chevy. probably should have waited until the sun had gone down a bit more, but still nice.

was that your club i saw cruising down whittier blvd today?

miss the light? uhh, no.

i went to a couple of shows on friday, which i have not been to in at least a year. because frankly, they were sucking donkey balls. i'll give a show a couple of trys before i decide it ain't worth the drive for either the number or variety of cars, or else just the people and/or vibe. and with the price of gas spiking thirty cents in a day, i guess i should get more picky.

on fridays, there are at least three shows i used to hit up when i got started. and all are basically on my way home, so it worked out. the one in garden grove used to be pretty huge for a main street show, until the local businesses, the show organizers and cops squeezed out the bad boys, and then pissed off a lot of the car owners.

that was the first one i stopped at. not much has changed in a year. pretty much the same diehards there. not as many cars as before. the latin gents were there, and i did take time to shoot their cars, because they're pretty sweet. i'll post some of them eventually.

then, for whatever reason, i decided to give the elks club in buena park another shot. i'd been there a couple of times a year ago. where i found quite a few of the deserters from garden grove. i also shared the story, here somewhere, of my parking in one of the grand poobah's spaces, getting told to move it, and how that wasn't very welcoming at the time. that, and the fact that there warnt much there.

forward to yesterday: the lot was packed, lots of hoods down, no one really bothered me, and surprise, surprise, several of the viejitos were parked out in the back along the wall. mind you, i had just spent the previous sunday at their show in fullerton, but i'm always happy to see the cars in new locations, at a different time of day.

ok, it's getting late, almost midnight, so i gotta wrap this up.

i took a bunch of shots of their cars, then went off to take others up by the entrance. as it was getting later, and closer to raffle time, everyone gathers in the middle of the lot. so i went back over to the best cars, as the sun was starting to go down. it was awesome, because, no one was around to get in the shots, and i could pretty much do what i wanted.

there was one old guy (it's an elks lodge after all) who walked slowly by, who remarked on how i was losing the light. i told him, i certainly wasn't, and i was going to be getting my best shots right about now. wonder if he'll see them when i post them.

thinking i should have stayed a bit later, but this will do. and i came thisclose to going to ruby's as well, but i had to eat, and figured they'd be about done when i got there. so now i probably won't make it there until their last show of the season at the end of this month.

this car was/is for sale. i know how to get hold of him, if you're interested.

one little indian boy

i saw this hot rod several times at the pep boys show before they put an end to it. it was always parked too close to other cars and often the owners were all sitting around in front of it, so i never really got a shot i liked of it. i did get an ok shot of the hood ornament once.

found it this time over at the buena park elks lodge. i think the show only started a few weeks ago. i'd never been there, so i pulled into the lot and parked near the entrance in an unmarked spot. there were the typical reserved spots at an elks lodge, like one for "knights" and such.

i got out of my car, opened the trunk and started getting my camera set up. loading batteries and cards, cleaning the lenses. finally pulled my bag and tripod out, closed the trunk and was ready to go.

then from across the lot, one of the grand poobahs asked, "are you an elk?" took all that i had not to come back with a "do i look like an elk?" type answer. i told him no, and then he advised that the parking lot was for elks only, i'd have to move to the street. would help if they'd put up a sign at the driveway. way to roll out the welcome mat, oh holy moly one. might as well have told me to piss off.

so, i heaved all my gear back into my trunk and moved the car. almost considered giving this show the finger, but figured i'd already wasted time and gas finding it, so i might as well take a quick turn around the lot. fortunately, i got there early enough, there was plenty of space right across the street. unfortunately, i got there early enough, there wasn't much to see. kinda disappointing. several cars that used to go to the garden grove main street show, a couple i see at cypress, and only a few i've never seen. one guy i spoke to did say they usually get about 60 or 70 cars. i've heard that before, and i'll believe it when i see it.

i didn't stay long, as i was heading to ruby's halloween show right after.

wtf is an elk anyway, and why would anyone want to be one? do they wear the big hats with horns like fred flinstone and barney rubble? secret handshakes? what's with the silly names for the exulted leaders? guess i'm not old enough to want to be part of that club anyway. i'll stop now before i get into trouble.