Vintage Cadillac Hood Ornament

Canon 7D, Raw, EF-S17-55mm, 54mm, f/8.0, 1/200, 320 ISO, SilverEfex

I was lucky enough yesterday to take photos of a completely restored 1949 Cadillac. This one is my favorite. I absolutely love this hood ornament. I did some work in camera raw and Photoshop, then I took it into OnOne Software’s ColorEfex program to maybe convert to black and white. I decided to go with their pinhole choice. I liked the way it makes the face stand out. I then went back into Photoshop and did some dodging on the face and also to get the eyes to stand out more. I hope you like it. Let me know!

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Surf City Garage Car Show

Canon 7D, Raw, EF-S17-55mm, 17mm, f/7.1, 1/60, ISO 2000

I was at a car show on Sunday at Surf City Garage here in Huntington Beach. I took this photo inside their museum. I really liked all the color in the photos. The car show had a lot of corvettes and “muscle cars.” The rest of the photos are here. It is a challenge taking the outdoor photos in the middle of the day with a bright sun and very reflective car paint. Then when taking inside, I did not want to use the flash on my camera so I raised the ISO very high. Then I have “noise” to deal with. Noise looks like small grains in your image. I was able to get rid of it with some special software in Photoshop. I did a levels adjustment (which I do on almost every image). I wanted all the neon colors in this image to pop and I think I succeeded. Let me know what you think!

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Austin Healey Association

 

Canon 7D, Raw, f/8.0, 1/250, 21mm, ISO 200

I was out at the race track in Fontana last Saturday to take photos of the Austin Healey Association members and their cars. The turnout was low because of the rain and cold weather. But as you can tell from this photo, the ones who were there had a lot of fun! They were lined up on the grid getting ready to go out on the track for the first time. How exciting! The rest of the photos and more can be seen on my gallery. It was great using my Canon 7D. The next time though, I will rent a longer telephoto lens. I think that will make it more fun. I just needed to do a white balance adjustment on all the images. I need to work on that so my images will have the proper balance when taken.

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An Older MG

When we were at the shop on Friday, this 1950ish MG was there being worked on. Isn’t it a good looking vehicle? I remember when I was learning to drive, my father almost bought one for me.  Maybe that is why I bought my own years later!  There are always great cars there to photograph. I had to increase the ISO to 400 to get enough light on my sensor to shoot inside. I also had to use different shutter speeds to compensate.

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A Rough and Tumble Cowboy!

This is my nephew Geoff at Blue Skeye Ranch. I believe this was his first time on a horse and he was such a good sport. This is the second photo of Geoff this month! He is a champion race car driver competing in the VARA  (Vintage Auto Racing Assoc.) circuit around Southern California. I have shown other photos of him in his MG Midget at Fontana Raceway. He is a great young man along with his girlfriend Randi. We all laughed so much – it was a very fun day!

Remind you of Gene Autry or Rhinestone Cowboy?…

Another great day today here in Huntington Beach. The weather was a little warmer. I was looking at the school schedules at GWC and CCC for the Fall to see what I can take. I cannot decide if I want to take Flash again or try Illustrator again but with a different teacher. I took Illustrator several years ago so I could use a refresher. Larry wants me work on a family crest so that could be my project. I am going to lunch on Thursday with my friend Carol. We have a lot in common (photography, school, the dogs, etc.) which gives us a lot to talk about! I love spending time with her!

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From the Peterson Automotive Museum

I took this photo a while ago at the Peterson Automotive Museum in downtown Los Angeles. It was a fun place to visit with many, many vintage automobiles and motorcycles. They even have a big display of Matchbox Cars! It was a very fun afternoon. We topped it off with a burger at Bob’s Big Boy! I cannot take any credit for the art work of this neon sign, of course. I was just glad I was able to get this photograph.

Zoom, zoom zoom…

I spoke with my computer guy Steve Dalton extensively this evening about building us a new computer. This one I use is about 6 years old now and I think we are due. It is so slow! Especially when using Photoshop and Bridge. We will talk more in a few days. There were a lot of fireworks going on tonight, I do not know why, and both dogs are shaking and panting. I don’t know why they are afraid of a little noise. We are ignoring them so as not to encourage this behavior. Donnan was under my table here and at one point turned everything off. Luckily I was not in the middle of something important!

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A Cool Triumph Sedan

This is such a cool car and it could even make an MGB lover like me convert to Triumph! Isn’t this a great looking car? It was at the shop last week at the Southern California Triumph Club. I did a little Google search and it looks like this is probably a very early 1960’s automobile. I tried to call my brother but he did not answer his phone. I played around with a couple of filters and this is what I came up with. Look at where the side mirror is located!

Have you ever seen one of these before…?

I do not believe I have ever seen one of these before, but since I have been to car races and car shows since I was a very little girl, there is a good chance that I have and I just do not remember! We were at the shop today and they had a 1960 Mini Morris there which was still owned by the original family, purchased in Hawaii. I will take a picture of it in a few days when we go back there. It must be so much fun to see all of these older English sports cars and to contribute to the restoration of them. I am rather envious of my brother and my nephews! At least I can go take photographs of them!

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A Great Looking Couple!

I was going through the 1,200 photos from the wedding of almost two weeks ago, and came across this photo of my nephew Geoff with his girlfriend Randi. You have seen him before in his MG Midget racing around the tracks at Fontana Speedway. Both of them were in the video I posted from the VARA races. Aren’t they a sweet looking couple? They are both so cute! Randi is a grammar school teacher and her students are very lucky to have her! Hopefully she will not become a victim of our “Terminator” Governor’s budget cuts!

Randi Clark and Geoff Monise…

I have some great pictures of them at Blue Skeye Ranch riding the horses. Geoff had never been on a horse before and he was a great sport! My brother Frankie has two great sons – he is very lucky! Geoff and Randi have been together for several years and Willie had the audacity to ask them when they are getting married. They replied in two years. Well, hopefully that will happen and there will be another new member of our family, even though she already feels like  a member of the family. I guess that is enough family stuff for a Friday! Have a good week-end and please come back tomorrow!

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Southern California Triumph Car Club

We went up to Pasadena today to the shop where they sponsored the Southern California Triumph Club car show and tech meeting, where they discussed restoration of the old English automobiles. There were some beautiful and all very well cared for cars there. Willie walked the dogs around while I took some photos. I liked this TR3 model from sometime in the 1960’s. I will try to find out the exact year and will pass it on to you. It was a good morning and all the people were very nice. Update:  Gregg says this is a ’58 or ’59!

Great looking Triumph TR3….

One thing you should know about me by now is that I am an MGB person. I got to see mine today and it is coming along slowly. But that is ok. They have been busy at the shop so that is good for them. They have been “swamped” as Greg told me. It has been cold and overcast all day today – even a little misty. We watched the Dodger’s lose when we got home today and had some lunch. Did a few errands and I downloaded the images from today so I could pick one for you to see. I believe I made a good choice. Have a good week-end!

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On the Campus at Cal Tech

Back in Pasadena today. I took this photo at Cal Tech. They are making a lot of changes to the campus and are even adding some new buildings! This unusual fountain is towards the middle of the campus and the “arms” or whatever they officially are called, move around from the water pressure. Sometimes the water gets going pretty high! Must have been designed by one of those Cal Tech students. It is a beautiful place to visit. Wouldn’t you love to be sitting on that bench in the background just taking all the activity in?

Beautiful campus at Cal Tech…

It is fun watching Numbers  on TV because they film here a lot and in other parts of Pasadena. I think they call the campus Cal Sci.  Anyway, I like going up there! I took a few photos of the MG today at the shop. They are starting to put it back together after being painted. The paint job looks real good. I am adding a little thumbnail of it here because I said on my Tweet for today that I would put a photo on my blog. You can’t tell by this photo but it is coming along real good. Probably be ready in a couple of weeks. We will get new tires on the newly painted wheels next week. Have a fun Friday night and a great week-end!

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A Dodge Truck at Heritage House

I spent this afternoon at the Heritage House Museum today walking around and taking a lot of photos with my friend Annette. We had a good time after going out to lunch. We were there for about two hours. The only problem was it got very humid and oh so hot! This is one of the last photos of the day that I took of an old Dodge truck sitting on the grounds. The main house was built by the Kellogg family (not the cereal family but the garden supplies family) in the late 1880’s. Actually, it was before they were the garden supply family (a son started that business). The father (who built the house) was a surveyor and considered one of the first families of Orange County. They do beautiful weddings and there will be one tomorrow.  I hope the weather stays good for them!

I guess that this is from somewhere around 1939 to 1942… 

There was a lot to see there and it was a fun afternoon. I took almost 100 photos and this is the one I decided to show to you. They had a beautiful rose garden and of course I took many photos of that. Willie just took Kyla and Donnan over to Larry’s to help him find an opossum in their garage. I don’t know what he expects them to do. I don’t want them to get bitten or anything!  I have a busy week-end ahead of me and school work to finish up. I hope you have a good and productive week-end too!

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VARA Route 66 Races Slideshow

This post for today is a little different from my normal posts. I finally finished my slide show and uploaded it to You Tube so you can view it here. However, they took my audio out so I had to replace it. It was Route 66 by the Rolling Stones. I can use that song for my class slide show and to email to people, I just can’t use it on the web. I understand but I don’t have to like it! I did not do this for profit, just for a class project! Oh, well!

It plays and sounds much better with the Rolling Stones…

It was fun putting this together and I hope you like it. I hope class is good tonight. I look forward to seeing the other student’s videos and what they are about. I don’t know what our next assignment is. My instructor’s wife had their first baby last week so I think his mind has been somewhere else. I understand how that can happen. I have some errands to do today before class. I am sure it will be a late night and hopefully a very productive one! Please enjoy the video and leave a comment so I know what you think of it.

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Buick Special

Someone drove this car out to the racetrack last week-end in Fontana. A lot of people drove their classic and vintage cars out there. I would guess this Buick is probably from the 1920’s, but I really do not know. It was a very pretty car and fun to look at. Maybe one day soon we will be able to drive our 1969 MGB to a race and maybe I will even join the VARA! 

A two seater Buick Special…

I started the second five week course of the travel photography class this morning. My friend Annette is going too. I had a busy day today with a lot to do. Tomorrow I will be busy also and that is good. We were invited to my brother’s out in Corona today for a corned beef and cabbage dinner. Unfortunately we were unable to go. I needed to go to a memorial service at a pub today for a fellow student at Golden West College. I met many nice people. So that is why my post is late today!

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Back at Fontana

I took a one day reprieve from racing photos, but they are back! This is my nephew, Greg Monise, driving through the chicane at the end of the back straightaway. He looks great, doesn’t he? You can see all the markings from the cars that were not able to make it as smoothly or successfully as he is doing it. I am sorry he was unable to finish the week-end because of the problem with his crankshaft.

Gliding through the back chicane…

I had a very, very busy day today and I am now finishing this in class. The instructor should be here in about 20 minutes. It is my advanced web design class. I sold a book through Amazon so I had to take care of that, then I went to a new clients house to pick up some candles he wants photographed for his website. Then I just had to make some cookies to bring to class. I got everything done but I know tomorrow is going to be just as busy if not more so!

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Back at Fontana Race Track

This is a photograph I really like.  Unfortunately, I do not know who the driver is or what car he is in (except the number). If someone sees this who knows him, please let me know.  I took a few other photos from this angle of some drivers, but I like this one the best. I would have liked one like this of my nephews, but we were watching from another location at that time. I have started to work on my gallery/slideshow. I took all of these images in raw so there is an extra step I need to do. So far I have been very happy with the outcome.

Gentlemen, start you engines…

Willie and I were going to go out to dinner last night but we ended up staying home bar-b-q-ing and it was great. I think we will go out Thursday evening instead. Daylight savings time seems so early this year – this must be the earliest ever! Is it? Larry and Shelley came by yesterday afternoon and I was still in my robe (how embarrassing). They were doing week-end errands and stuff. We needed some wood chips for the backyard and they picked them up for us. Pretty exciting, huh?

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Leaving the Grid at Fontana Racetrack

Here are some production cars leaving the grid to go onto the track for their second practice of the day. We were at a great location to view and photograph all of this action. The VARA (Vintage Auto Racing Association) is a great organization. All the people are very friendly and out to have a good time. They share a lot and care about each other and the cars. I have so many photos to go through, but I do hope to have a slide show up by the end of the week. I will put a link here when I have it ready. I want to thank my brother Frankie and my nephews for a great day.

Corvettes, Porches, Datsuns, etc. taking off from the grid…

I grew up in a racing family, my father and one brother raced cars and my other brother raced motorcycles. Now they do restoration and this is a great group of people for them to know.  They had a barbecue yesterday for any and everyone and it was very good. Check out their website when you get a chance at Frank Monise Motors. There is a link at the sidebar here. Anyway, I saw some people I have not seen in a long time yesterday and it was great. I will post more photos from yesterday, but I will try not to bore you with them!

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