Power Glide

I saw this cool old Chevy at the Dia Del Los Muertos event in Uptown Whittier. Everything about it seemed to be distressed and in my eyes all the more interesting for it. It still runs. I've seen it parked around town in various places. I really liked the look of this classic emblem.

Red Pinstriped '39 Master Deluxe

Kathy and I decided to go to the Viejitos Halloween car show in Fullerton. We got there a little early in the day. It's pretty rare to find a great looking car at a show without another couple of cars parked closely on either side, which kind of divides the viewer's attention and clutters up the picture. Do I wish those chairs on the right were out of the picture? Sure I do but not enough to spend the time it would take to convincingly clone them out in Photoshop. This 1939 Chevy Master Deluxe was pretty clean. The paint was great and I liked the subtle use of pin-striping. I took a bunch of HDR sequences of it from several viewpoints.

1957 Chevy Hood Rocket

An extremely shallow depth of field captures one hood rocket while blurring the other into a hazy outline and a few bokeh dots.

Low Down on a '48 Fleetline

Kathy and I met at the Broiler for a Halloween car show. After a beautiful sunset the sky turned purple before fading to black. To try to get this 1948 Fleetline and that beautiful sky into the same shot, I collapsed my tripod down so my camera was no more than 6" above the pavement. To shoot at F11 I ended up not using my camera's Auto Exposure Bracketing (AEB) function and instead manually adjusted the exposure compensation value for each shot. AEB supports a maximum exposure time of 30 seconds which wasn't enough to capture the range of light I wanted for this image.

The Taming of the Photons

Kathy had planned to attend the St. Hilary Car Show this year after we stopped by last year on our way to San Diego to start our California coast vacation. On that day she told me she was just going to take a quick look around but wasn't going to take any pictures. Uh huh. While she was looking around, I parked my van in a shady spot in front of the church and started cleaning my windows. Kathy returned after about 5 minutes, slid open the van's side door and grabbed her camera bag and tripod. She told me "I'm gonna take a few pictures, but I'll be back in about 10 minutes". Uh huh. I think she was gone for about 30 minutes before she returned to check on me. I gave her some water and she went back into the show again to shoot even more pictures. By this time my van's windows were spotless. Anyway, based on her experience last year, she knew this show had the potential to be good. We both got up early even though we wanted to sleep in and headed over. We arrived at the car show around 7:30. It wasn't supposed to start until around 10 but there were already 20 cars there and the weather was perfect for outdoor car photography. It was really foggy which means we had the advantage of very even lighting and no harsh shadows or blown highlights. It was as if we had purchased a mile wide softbox and were using it to beat those photons into submission, bending them to our will as we threw our heads back and laughed triumphantly. Revenge of the photo nerds. By the time the fog burned off and the sun came out of hiding, we had each shot more than 1,000 images, had our ear drums blasted by the live band (vocals were ok but distorted - get a sound board and someone to run it) and were trying to decide where to have lunch. I'll be posting some shots from this show in the next few weeks. I already reviewed them and I have some real keepers.

Anthony's Blue '62

This super clean '62 Impala caught my eye immediately when Kathy and I started walking around the Viejitos car show this past weekend. I met Anthony, the owner and he told me a little about the car which was as visually spectacular up close as it was from across the parking lot. The paint job on this car was very reflective and all of the classic Impala/chevy emblems were present and accounted for. I photographed all of them as well as another view of the car from the front. Nice meeting you Anthony, I hope we get to see you and your car again.

Fleeting Fleetline Sunset

Kathy reminded me that there was a Halloween car show being held at the Bob's Big Boy Broiler in Downey tonight. I had to work a little late so traffic was pretty heavy by the time I headed over to the show. I had just parked my van when Kathy arrived. The sun was getting ready to make its departure for the day and the light was already looking nice so we got right to shooting some of the classic ars that had already arrived. It was a good sized show with lots of cars and people. I was talking to a nice guy with an Australian accent who was also taking photos, and was telling him how I like to shoot during sunset at car shows. Just then the sky lit up with the most amazing orange color. I stopped talking and took a bunch of HDR sequences in the fading light. The sky went from what you see in this photo  to completely black in about 10 minutes. This Chevy Fleetline looked to be completely stock. The paint was very reflective and nicely done. Hope I see this car again soon.

All My Friends Drive a Low Rider

I first saw this chopped, slammed Chevy Deluxe one evening in the uptown shopping area of my neighborhood. I didn't have my DSLR or DSLT with me so I shot a few frames with my iPhone. Today at the Dia De Los Muertos celebration, Kathy and I were shooting a row of cars that were there when the very same Chevy Deluxe drove up. Perfect timing! I shot this great looking low rider from all angles. I'll post another view soon.

Getting All Up in Your Grill

Face full of a '39 Chevy Master Deluxe from the Southern California Bomb Club's car show held in Whittier, CA this morning.  They don't build them like this any more boys and girls. You have to see one of these rolling masterpieces to appreciate the exuberant styling Chevy's designers imparted here just as the world was exploding into war.

Bomb Club Bokeh - Plate 1

I went to a car show early this morning. It was hosted by the Southern California Bomb Club. The show didn't officially start until 11:00 AM but roll in for the cars was scheduled for 7:30 AM which is when I arrived. By that time there were already about 100 cars there and while the sun was bright it wasn't really hot yet. I set right to taking as many photos as I could before the sun drove me to take cover. There were a ton of awesome hood ornaments and since the cars were parked side by side, lots of chrome to provide the bokeh dots!