Tom's '54 Bel Aire

Tom's '54 Bel Aire, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

"What a pleasant surprise to discover that you can run the new 1954 Chevy Belaire with the kind of money that fits a young man's budget." This absolutely clean 1954 Chevy Belair was parked at the Bob's Big Boy Broiler's Wednesday night car show in Downey. I was really struggling to get a good shot of it. First people kept walking through the shot and other cars arriving and leaving swept their headlights over it during the long exposures. I do like how it turned out though. The paint was highly reflective and I'm sure even more spectacular during daylight.

Swell Chevelle

Swell Chevelle, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

I think this is a Chevelle but I'm not sure what year. Kathy and I went to the Broiler on Wednesday and I met several members of the Sultan's Car Club from Long Beach. This was one of the Sultan's cars. This was a tough shot because people kept walking through my long exposures. I had to wave several people away but not everyone heeded my wishes.

Pair of Eights

Pair of Eights, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

So this is Bob's Big Boy Broiler back lot. There was a car show that was sponsored by a Corvette car club so I didn't really expect to see this beauty sitting here. Even though the sky was almost completely covered by clouds, this Olds 88's paint job was still stunningly beautiful, reflecting everything that surrrounded it. I spoke to the owner who was cool and I sent Kathy over to give him her card. She took a much better shot of this car and you can see it on her website here.

So beautiful, you won't believe it's still a low priced car!

So beautiful, you won't believe it's still a low priced car!, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

With new handy control gear shifting, new saftety signal speedometer, high torque engine, auto-mesh transmission, new steel Amola coil springs and longer wheelbase. Now on display at new lower delivered prices. Original price in 1939: $849.00

Jet Age Indian Head

Jet Age Indian Head, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

Now this was interesting. A 1950's era Pontiac with a hood ornament that was shaped like a very stylized jet aircraft with a semi-transparent Indian head nose. The light from the sunset was illuminating it which was cool.

Purely Ornamental

Purely Ornamental, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

Lensbaby macro shot of this cool hood ornament I found in the back lot at the Bob's Big Boy Broiler car show. Very often the show is so busy that a lot of cool cars end up parking out back.

The stars only come out at night

The stars only come out at night, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

Another pretty sunset at the Bob's Big Boy Broiler in Downey. With the weather gettting warmer, the Wednesday night car show is getting busier. Parking was very hard to come by but the selection of cars to shoot was great. This night I forgot my tripod mounting plate so I was limited to using my monopod and just shooting 3 shot HDR's while the light held out. I did boost my ISO as it got darker but that introduces a lot of noise into my images.

La Bandida

La Bandida, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

Kathy, Manny and I all met up at the Bob's Big Boy Broiler for the weekly Wednesday night car show. La Bandida was there too.

Keeping up with Kathy

Keeping up with Kathy, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

Ok so I've noticed when my wife Kathy and I go to car shows together, she gets her camera setup, mounts it on her tripod, attaches her off camera shutter release, gets her expodisc looped around her neck and has finished photographing her first car before I even start opening my backpack. Now, I'm not implying she rushes around taking snapshots. Far from it. Her images are amazing. See for yourself. I just think she's way more efficient than I am when making images. Realizing this, I decided to challenge myself a bit. I took my Lensbaby Composer with me to this car show. It requires that I manually set the focus and exposure before taking the HDR sequence. I think this helped me concentrate a bit more and I ended up shooting more cars than I usually do. Unfortunately due to that concentration I met fewer people which is a bummer. I'll have to learn to strike a balance!

Sundowners

Sundowners, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

Another Wednesday evening at the drive-in. The sun was going down fast by the time I got a chance to make an image of this amazing car. The owner walked up and asked if I was "filming" his car. I said no since I was making images. He jumped in and left almost immediately afterward.