oh, that shine

1959 chevrolet impala

always see people obsessively polishing their cars at shows. almost as soon as they park, they have a towel and bottle of liquid wax in hand. get the dust from the drive there off, i guess.

rub it and rub it, ahhhhwwww...

this car was already parked when i found it. middle of an aisle, gave up waiting for a space. didn't see the polishing. you'd think at a nighttime car show, there would be no reason, right? honestly, he probably didn't, and it is just several layers of clear coat, but damn, could almost imagine seeing other worlds in that paint.

i love these impalas, with their curves, and i was hopeful that the camera would be able to capture what i saw. i think this is pretty close. and i'm completely suprised that there weren't more cars and/or people moving as blurs through the exposure.

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.

flat top, four door

i was told that this is a rare impala; that it was engineered to be a convertible, by just removing the roof; that somehow this one was ordered, and then no one picked it up, so the roof was never removed. and rarer still, that it has four doors.

i like the back window that curves around to be the side windows. and the fins. always the fins.

under the rainbow

another from this past weekend. i've had a request for more, so i'll put them up as i can. took me more than an hour and half to get home today, and i had to get some other stuff taken care of before sitting at my computer.

got a few shots of cars lined up parallel to the sidewalk early, before they started moving them into the final locations, crammed in together. just another reason to be there early. and usually, the guys are out and about chatting with others they haven't seen for a while, so the cars are all mine. they watch, but mostly are out of the shot.

this impala is beautiful. i'd drive it. love the back of these.

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the sideview above was selected to show at the twenty sixteen orange county fair.

og cruzn

i haven't pulled my cameras out of the bag in a few weeks. been resting my side, like the doctor said. still hurts, so waiting on results of xrays. maybe monday.

got the batteries charged, getting up early for a show tomorrow. always somewhat nervous about going out after not shooting in a while. shouldn't be; it is sort of like riding a bike, and it doesn't take long to get back into a groove.

at least it will be cooler than the last few shows i went to, now that winter is moving in. weather people keep flip flopping on whether it will rain or not. now they've settled on a ten percent chance, so very doubtful.

so, old memories, we will be there early early. hoping for a decent parking place again.

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saw this impala at the uptown show back in august. i like the back ends, with the wingspan out to there. didn't care much for the color and glitter, but it isn't my car to stare at all day, every day. 

shot early, still in the staging area...can tell because of location and how they are not parked in the spaces; just sitting in the middle of the street.

milestone

look what ronnie has been hiding in his garage. said he'd had it there for five years, and finally got it fixed up and running. so he brought it out to the whittier uptown show. he was helping with the early morning setup of the show, so he got this choice spot on the street. just one of the advantages of getting there early.

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check it out. this is my thousandth rambling post here. who knew? nobody. who cares? nobody.

wondering if it's worth continuing with this website. i like it, but really, i'm running out of things to say, or maybe it was the need to say things. maybe i'm just going through a period of climbing back in my shell, migrating south for the winter, i don't know. i'm blaming the blood moon tonight.

most people just come looking for the pictures anyway. got flickr for that. and this doesn't satisfy the instant gratification most people are seeking, looking for that photo dump from that day's show.

i think i'll kill of the other site for ordering pictures, since so few people ever used it. ya, i'll start with that. not renewing it.

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skipped the dead sled show yesterday. figured i'd spend some time with my better half, and give my side a rest. i don't understand. if it's one particular rib with a crack in it, why it hurts randomly in different spots on that side, and not relating to any rib.

stalking

i mentioned a car i was looking for in a prior post, that i saw after breakfast, but had to go uptown several times to find it. took a while, went the other way down the street; had to take a few breaks from the heat, but i finally found it. 

isn't always the way it is, the thing you want is always in the last place you look, or you find it when you aren't even looking for it at all. here was this olds, parked way up the street, by itself. aside from being a funky purple color, it was the tail lights that caught my eye in the first place.

when we had seen it earlier, all the cameras were packed in the bag, not tripod ready. so we whipped out the newer, smaller cameras and shot some hand-held brackets. i got the shot of the dad and the kid waiting to move out of staging.

the kid seemed really nice and polite. he's just at that age, where he's happy to hang out with his dad all day looking at cars, and still polite to others. i hope he stays that way. i really do.

when i shot it later in the day, a bunch of kids kept getting in the shot, looking inside the car. turns out they were checking out the speedometer. they thought that since it said one-twenty or more, that that is how fast it can go. there was one boy in particular, that was overly enthusiastic about it. then he wanted to push the shutter button on my camera too. uh. no thanks. he was so hyped up, i figured he'd manage to knock the tripod over too.

mary poppins

been another busy week. my son graduated law school. has been sort of lost since he took his last final, with nothing to do. not a problem. now for two months of studying for the bar. then the waiting begins.

work busy again too. i have deadlines that are forcing me to work a day or two over this holiday weekend. better half, same story. oh well.

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posting these, only because the owner chatted and seemed interested in seeing pics of his car.

these cars are almost twins; same year, same paint, same details. turns out the owner of the car on the left built both of them. the only difference i'm seeing is that the car on the left has a chrome spare wheel cover and the other matches the car.

they're practically perfect in every way. just close the hood and slam down the trunk next time.

eight-track

went to the wingfest this past weekend, hoping for a lot full of impalas. got there close to nine, not too early, but before official start time, hoping for fewer people in the shots too.

ran into a fellow flickr friend, rudy, who knew me by name, and after getting his name, recognized him again. last saw him a couple of years ago at the majestics new year's show.

met another photographer, who said he had driven in from indio. he admired my rollie bag, and i marveled at all the camera gear he was carrying around, slung about his shoulders and waist.

and also victor, who i'd seen the day before at the la mirada show. he gave me a heads up on the show, and also mentioned one out at santa anita, if i needed more cars to round out my weekend.

there were only a few cars there. fine. i'll shoot them. more cars trickled in. gave them the benefit of the doubt, that people were at church or nursing hangovers. 

hoods and trunks started being popped open. <sigh> ignoring my usual dislike of shooting them that way, i just shrugged and rolled with it. 

before i left, there was a reasonable number of cars, but with lots of space for more. wished the cars that were there had moved to allow for more space between cars, since it seemed available. oh well, shoot ‘em as you find ‘em.

this car was over toward the back corner. i was looking at it, wishing the trunk was closed. few people were around it at the time, and i liked the trees, clouds, and the broiler sign framing it out.

owner was sitting there with his better half. he said i should look inside...check out the eight-track player...asked if i knew what one was. said a lot of people don't know what they are anymore, and hoped i didn't take the fact that i knew what it was in the wrong way. no worries. we're all getting older.

haven't seen one since my dad sold off his old cadillac...in the eighties...and his crap music collection came and went with the car. 

told me about how he had found it online, and also had some recorder, if i understood, that he could make his own cartridges of music.

well, it made him happy. rock on.

en pointe

saw this out in the cars for sale section, as i was on my way out. nothing remarkable up front. party in the back. wonder if the drink comes with the car...