1948 Nash in Early Morning Light

I go to my fair share of car shows and I rarely see Nash automobiles at them so when I saw this beauty I couldn't wait to take make some images of it. In addition to a striking grill this car had a spectacular hood ornament. I spoke to the owners when I returned to the show later that afternoon. I gave them my contact info and told them to give me a few days to process the photos of their cars. Well that was my intention. Life, work etc. got in the way and a few weeks later I'm just starting to work on these Bomb Club car show images.

Fly On Little Wing

Really felt like the end of summer today. As evening closed in the temperature actually felt brisk and then cold for the first time in recent memory. I saw this '59 Chevy parked facing the heavy clouds which were rolling overhead and decided to make this image.

Golden Hour

I had walked by this car earlier in the day and I liked the light then but now the sun was quickly giving way to evening and the light was very difussed and full of color so I decided to walk back to see if the owner had left yet. This is what I saw. So glad I went back.

Step Right Up But Don't Call it a Swan

Two car shows in one weekend. Southern California Bomb Club show in Whittier yesterday and The Cruz'n for the Roses show in South Pasadena today. Kathy would say I wasn't trying very hard. I've known her to visit 3 or 4 shows in a single day! Anyway, this hood ornament was located on the front of a spectacular 1948 Packard Super 8 I found sitting in the sunshine on Mission Street. The owner was very cool and chatted with me for a few minutes letting me know that this was a Cormorant and not a Swan. I think I took 50 shots of this non-Swan alone. Even took a few with my new Lensbaby Edge 80 lens. I was baffled by  a couple of people who, using their cell phone's camera, stepped in front of my camera and tripod telling me "you look like you know what you're doing, let me get this quick shot". I informed them that they were being rude and to ask before stepping in front of me. Glad I look like I know what I'm doing. Mission accomplished I guess.

Lead Sled - Slammed '60 Caddy

I spotted this slammed 1960 purple Cadillac at the Cruz'n for the Roses car show this morning. The owner closed the trunk and removed the entry paperwork from the front window so I could get a cleaner shot. He didn't have to do that so that was pretty nice. Unfortunately it didn't stop people from stepping into my shot of course but that's kind of expected. I was being patient but the owner was saying "tell them to get out of the way!" What great style this car has. Check out the bed-of-nails  grill.

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!

Dream Car

As usual, Kathy and I were very excited that the day of the annual Uptown Whittier Car Show had finally arrived. We were out very early and I quickly decided that the first car I wanted to photograph was this beautiful Chevrolet Bel Aire. The owners son sleeping in the passenger seat seemed to take all of the excitement in stride. Never stirring once even with all the noise my DSLR's shutter and mirror were making right next to the car door.

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.