Jesus Has My Back - El Patron

Jesus Has My Back - El Patron, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

Kathy, Manny and I decided to go to the San Fernando High School car show on a hot Sunday afternoon. It was a big show and wow, was it worth the drive. We saw some of the most amazing cars. I don't think Kathy had ever seen any of them before, even though she goes to lots of car shows. The only problem that day was the heat. It was over 100 degrees for most of the time we were there so we didn't end up staying as long as we might have wanted to.

Anyway, before entering, we all had to pass through a mandatory security screening. We had to endure a bag search, pat down and wanding but no body cavity search thank goodness. I think they were looking for items such as weapons, drugs and alcohol and not camera equipment and tripods because we had no problems passing through.

Once inside the show, Kathy of course went her own way while Manny and I stuck together, alternating between making images and taking video clips. After wandering around for a while, we decided to walk to the far off corner of the show where in addition to some shade, we found this stunning 1959 Chevrolet Impala.

We stood in front of it and just stared. The body work and paint job was just perfect. It was so glossy and deep looking. If that wasn't enough, when we walked around the back of the car, I found Jesus. I mean when we saw the continental kit and spare tire cover mural on the back of the car, Jesus appeared to me. I mean Jesus appeared to me on the spare tire cover, or rather appeared to be on the spare tire cover. I wasn't the only person who saw Jesus. Manny saw him too. I remember distinctly saying unto Manny "Jesus, Manny, there's Jesus". Once we beheld that, I personally felt blessed and I knew in my heart I was going to make several images from the rear drivers side of the car. I would have taken some shots from the front side, but the hood was open which in my opinion ruins the lines of the car, so I decided to stay on the Jesus side, back side. Not the back side of Jesus, I mean the back side of the car where Jesus first appeared to us.

Oh and check out the engraved detail on the chrome wheel cover. Just spectacular!

Silver Chevy Tail Dragger

Silver Chevy Tail Dragger, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

Kathy and I decided to go to sleep early yesterday since the annual uptown Whittier car show was being held today. It's been really hot in Southern California lately and this car show draws thousands of visitors so we wanted to arrive well before the show officially opened to beat the heat and crowds. The great early morning light was a bonus. The show is walking distance from our house so we arrived around 6 am and there were already around 15 cars that had shown up even earlier to claim primo parking spots.

This silver Chevy convertible drove by us as we were walking down Greenleaf avenue. The cool factor on this one was cranked way up and I was immediately taken with its clean lines and amazing paint job. I think the owner scored the best parking place at the show. The building you see behind it is the historic Whittier Village Cinemas which has been a landmark in the city since 1931.

You can see how empty the street was that early. Later it was nearly impossible to move, not to mention setup a tripod to make an image.

Kathy and I ended up taking a early break, had some breakfast at the Rocky Cola Cafe and then made some more images. We ended up walking home and returning to the show a few times. As the day progressed, it was just too hot to stay out for long.

The Phantom of the Midway

The Phantom of the Midway, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

I decided to take my neice Alexandra and her boyfriend Josh to San Diego for the weekend. We had a great time on the USS Midway aircraft carrier museum in San Diego harbor. I have been to the Midway a few times before, but this time we explored parts of the ship I had never seen including Pri-Fly and the Bridge.

I was sorry to hear the fireworks display in the bay went so badly this year. Nobody hurt but I understand all of the fireworks went off at once and the show was over in 12 seconds. Apparently about a thousand people had paid for viewing spots on the Midway's flight deck.

Pictured behind us in this fisheye / facebook style shot is an F4 Phantom II fighter / bomber which like all of the aircraft on the Midway has been wonderfully restored. A great day and a lot of fun.

Gotham City Blues

Gotham City Blues, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

This is the First Church of Christ - Scientist in Boston again. This shot was taken during the blue hour just before darkness fell. Rain was falling intermittently, the security guards were keeping a close eye on me. They were just out of the shot on the left during this sequence. Two different guards asked me what I was doing there. I told them I was enjoying the fine Boston weather and waiting for the bat signal to appear in the forboding clouds above.

Our flag's unfurled to every breeze from dawn to setting sun

Our flag's unfurled to every breeze from dawn to setting sun, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

Marine Corps Memorial - Washington DC

Reign On Me

Reign On Me, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

I had just bailed out of a session at the "HOW Design Live" conference because the instructor began spouting his liberal political views. Not just the odd comment either. He started preaching his particular view of how things should be and seemingly forgot the topic of the class. This actually happened to me twice during HOW.

Anyway, upon entering the hallway at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, I immediately noticed that the lighting outside looked baleful. As I approached the floor to ceiling windows in front of me, I could see more and more of a huge storm cloud that was advancing on the building I was in. I could clearly see it was dumping rain in the area of Fenway Park about 3/4 of a mile away. I saw several bolts of lightning flash from somewhere within this towering and churning mass. I began shooting hand held HDR sequences when a brilliant flash momentarily blinded me followed just a second later with the loudest thunderclap I had ever heard. A split-second later It seemed that every car alarm in the area was wailing in unison. The streets were suddenly flooded with water and convention center security began moving everyone away from the windows. Less than 10 minutes later, the worst of this storm had moved on leaving the buildings, trees, and streets completely drenched and full of reflections. It was time for dinner and I was ready to walk around and make a few more images.

Will you call my name?

Will you call my name?, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

This is Boston again. I was told this is the largest Apple store in the U.S. I guess Apple has found it neccessary to post a night guard because the store was already closed. I wonder if he stands out there all night?

A couple of funny things happened while I was trying to make this image. First, the girl you see standing with the night guard kept asking him "Why don't you ever call me?" and he kept saying "I've been pretty busy." Then she said "Let me give you my phone number again, we should go out and do something, give me a call." He took her number and said in a very non-committal manner that he would try. For any women who read this, here's some advice. If a man doesn't call you after you've given him your number several times and made it clear you're interested, he's never going to call. Furthermore, you probably don't want this guy in your life. Move on to someone else.

Second funny thing: I was about half way through a 30 second exposure when this strange guy walks up to my camera which was mounted on my tripod, and put his head directly in front of the lens, looked into it from about 6" away and asked "Whatcha doin', taking pictures?"

Shit...

Don't you forget about me

Don't you forget about me, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

I had spotted this cool old fire house from the windows of the Hynes Convention Center during my first day in Boston. Later that evening my work colleague Mike and I walked over so I could make a few HDR sequences of it. It turned out we were just in time for the end of the blue hour. Fifteen minutes later I was taking photographs of the Apple Store down the street and all color had left the sky. The firehouse was massive and once housed a police station. It was opened on February 20, 1888. If this had been built in Los Angeles, the city council would have long since declared it an eye sore, had it torn down and replaced with a parking lot.

Think of the tender things that we were working on

Think of the tender things that we were working on, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

I was in Boston last week for the HOW Design conference. The weather was often humid, stormy and rainy. In other words perfect for HDR photography. Boston is in no way lacking in wonderful architecture, so when I could, I tried to make some images. This is the first church of Christ - Scientist which was built in 1894 and expanded in 1906. I really loved this huge reflecting pond located in the Plaza. I wish it had been more glassy but the wind was blowing and rain was intermittently falling. The clouds were very dramatic and in fact not long after taking this sequence it rained really hard. The church asks that photographs taken from the plaza (as this image was) not be sold or used commercially. So no sales of this image. Sorry.

Silverplate

Silverplate, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

I have read that even with the accute raw material shortages and rationing that went on during WWII, anything needed for the Manhattan project was was delivered on a silver platter. It was understood that if the United States failed to create a working atomic bomb before the Germans or the Japanese we would likely lose the war. Within the Manhattan project, nothing was given a higher priority than the special modifications that were needed to be made to standard B-29 bombers which would enable them to drop atomic weapons. For that reason these modifications were code named "Silverplate". Pictured here and preserved for history is the Enola Gay which dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima Japan, the effects of which probably killed between 90,000 and 166,000 people while helping to end WWII and probably saving 1 million American lives.