Time Out for Some Bokeh

I found that taking photos of hood ornaments was a nice break from using my tripod to create HDR sequences at the Car Show by the Sea in San Pedro. While having so many cars packed closely together makes creating a nice HDR composition difficult, it makes macro photography of hood ornaments and emblems a joy. The cars surrounding the object being photographed are for the most part very reflective, with fantastic paint and lots of chrome. This means that when shooting with my macro lens using a very shallow depth-of-field, these reflective background objects are rendered out-of-focus very beautifully.

Chief Pontiac

I've photographed a lot of Pontiac Indian head hood ornaments but I've never seen one made of clear material before. This example was very striking and I took several exposures of it from many viewpoints. This one was a favorite.

The Three Muses

This lovely statue stands directly in the center of the rotunda in the Los Angeles Natural History Museum's original building which opened in 1913. The rotunda has been featured in many movies over the years including Spiderman and Born Yesterday.

Temporary Parking

The Space Shuttle Endeavour in repose while awaiting the funding and construction of it's new exhibit space at the California Science Center at Exposition Park in Los Angeles.

Up and Over

We were parked very near the end of one of the runways at LAX waiting for this huge KLM 747 to make its turn on to final for landing. Kevin spotted it first and I was able to use my zoom lens to confirm that the approaching aircraft had 4 engines. This meant it was either the KLM 747 or an A380. It looked like it was going to pass directly overhead so I thought that perhaps switching from my zoom lens to my ultra wide 14mm would be a good idea. The only problem was that the aircraft was rapidly getting bigger and louder. I quickly got out of he car and dug in my backpack for the lens. I could hear the engines howling, blocking out all other sounds. I managed a very fast lens swap and swung my camera skyward just as this behemoth roared overhead. I managed to fire off about 10 frames using my new Sony A99. The focus tracking function worked perfectly! What an amazing experience this was. My ears are still ringing.

It's What's Up Front that Counts

Another cool hood ornament from the Point Fermin Car Show by the Sea in San Pedro. Loving the Bokeh on these shots!

Leaving a Trail for Others to Follow

This huge MD-11 cargo plane leaves impressive vapor trails in the moist early morning air during its landing at Los Angeles International Airport. It was really interesting to see the various aircraft emerge from the fog surrounding the field and touch down while displaying such grace and power. The noise was deafening in some cases.

1947 Chevrolet Fleetline

There were so many great cars at the Point Fermin car show by the sea, Kathy and I didn’t know what to photograph first. We arrived a couple of hours before the show was officially opening but there were already more than 100 cars parked and hundreds more flowing into the large ocean front park that hosted the show.

I walked around trying to sort out which cars I definitely wanted to photograph from those that while amazing, were already well represented in my growing photographic archive. This proved nearly impossible to do because so many cars had custom features that were very interesting and unique.

I just couldn’t pass up this immaculate 1947 Chevrolet Fleetline. I love this model and make a point of photographing them whenever I have the opportunity. I spoke to the owner who explained to me that other than being lowered with air bags, the car was restored to be completely stock. That includes the color of the paint and the material used in the upholstery of the seats and headliner.

There’s just something about these long low slung cars that just capture my interest like few others do. I took several sets of shots from various angles so I’m sure I’ll post the others if they look ok after post processing them.

My Favorite Photographer

See this photo on Flickr

Last April, Kathy and I spent the weekend in San Diego to attend the annual Chicano Park car show. We got there early and found 50+ cars had already arrived with what seemed like 100 more vying for parking places. After the show we walked past a small market with an interesting and very colorful wall mural. I convinced Kathy to pose for just a few shots. She hates being in front of a camera but as usual, she looked lovely. If you'd like to see Kathy's photography head over to www.tweakedpixels.com

Goddess of Speed

Kathy, her brother Kevin, his son David, and I all met very early on a recent Saturday to attend the 2013 Uptown Whittier Car Show. It was really fun and I'm glad we were out early because by 2:00 PM the show was very crowded and the temperature had exceeded 95 degrees. The scene was quite different at just after 6:00 AM that morning. The show wouldn’t officially open until 9:00 AM so there were only a handful of spectators and the organizers kept all of the cars waiting in three long lines at the far end of Greenleaf Avenue. We were able to take some great pictures of the cars there. This Packard hood ornament was taken later that afternoon with my 100mm macro lens.