Light Show

About a month ago, one of my nephews mentioned that he was going to attend the Pomona Auto Swap Meet to be held on a Sunday in early April. I told him I intended to go as well so we made a plan to meet up. Generally speaking, he travels to Pomona from central California to look for car parts while I go to take photos of the classic cars. I let him know I intended to arrive at 5:00AM and that he would find me near the drag strip grandstands where the lowrider and Chevy bombs usually park. 

The day before the event, Kathy and I got our cameras and gear together, I cleaned my camera sensors and made sure the camera batteries I intended to use were fully charged. I was also going to be using a new 10” external monitor for the first time so I made sure the batteries for that were charged and also ensured I put any required cables in my rolling camera bag.

The day of the event, I got up at 3:00AM to take a shower before we left. Kathy was going to get up at 4:00AM and was already on the move when I walked downstairs. She wasn’t feeling well however and was vacillating on whether she should go or not. She ultimately decided to stay home and go back to bed. Once I was sure she would be OK, I left about 4:15AM. It was still very dark as I walked to my car, loaded up my camera gear and jacket. I didn’t see the sun until well after I arrived in Pomona about 36 miles away. While it didn’t rain during the event like it did last month, it was a foggy drive and when I arrived, there was enough moisture in the air to create the light beams from the headlights of the Chevy Fleetline pictured below. This is the same car I admired and photographed last month. I chatted with the owner who once again was kind enough to turn on his headlights for my photos. 

I had been taking photos for about 30 minutes when my nephew and his wife walked up to me. They were primarily dressed in black and seemed to materialize suddenly out of the darkness that surrounded me. As always, it was great to see them and we chatted for about 45 minutes before they departed to walk around the swap meet and look for stuff to buy. I got back to shooting more photos and had a great time.  

A6 Intruder - Classic Design, Might Need Some Work

This is not the first time I have seen this Navy A6 Intruder aircraft. About 15 years ago, I was wandering around the Yanks Air Museum's "boneyard" in Chino California and came across two A6's . I photographed them then and posted them to my blog and my flickr photo stream.  This past March, I visited again and was somewhat surprised to find these same two aircraft still sitting there waiting their turn to be restored. My uninformed guess is that they will still be there 15 years from now. Aircraft restoration is a long process once it gets started and these aircraft show no signs that any restoration is in their near future…

Low Slung Fun

At the same Montebello car show, we also saw this stunning beauty. Can anyone identify a modern car that is this stylish and beautiful? Sure the owner has modified this car extensively but if a single person can realize this vision why can't the big car companies? Probably because most people these days are only interested in boring, boxy SUV's. The world is a less interesting place because of this.

Earn Your Wings

Just a few posts ago, I was talking about style when it comes to cars. I really do feel that today's cars are sorely lacking in style probably because every design today is the result of a focus group and not the realization of a group of visionaries. I may be wrong but check out this 1959 impala! If this is considered bad design, well sign me up! I'm ready to earn my wings. 

I Got a Right to Sing the Blues

The first time I saw the US Navy's flight demonstration team, the Blue Angels, I was 5 years old. At the time the team was flying the powerful McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II fighter aircraft which were aptly nicknamed the Rhino. These huge twin-engine jets were unbelievably loud especially when all 6 of them fired up their engines simultaneously. The ground actually started shaking. All of this visual and aural stimulation was way too intense for a 5-year-old so after very little thought, I decided screaming and crying my eyes out would be an appropriate response. On the day this photo was taken at the Yanks air museum in Chino, California I was quite surprised to find this FA-18 aircraft wearing the Blue Angel livery. Unbidden, my mind flashed back to my first encounter with the blues. However, this time I was able to maintain my composure and just framed up my shot. I'm glad my response was a calm one. My wife would never have been able to scoop me up and walk me outside. It had probably been a decade since I had visited this museum and many things have changed including the fact that their aircraft collection has grown significantly.

More than Zero

The photo below is of the world’s only authentic flying A6M5 Zero fighter.

Designed and built by Mitsubishi in Japan during World War II, it dominated the skies anywhere it flew. It dispatched most American built fighters it encountered in battle brutally and quickly. So much so, that the United States began a deliberate effort to develop aircraft and tactics that could blunt this highly effective weapon. At the start of the war, the American P-39 was one of the best aircraft it had to deal with the threat, and it was no match. Japanese Zero pilots quickly learned that the P-39 could not climb with them and used their aircraft’s superior high-altitude performance to their advantage in defeating the P-39 on many occasions.

The secret of the Zero's stellar performance was due in part to its well trained and battle proven pilots as well as it’s lightweight construction. Unlike other fighters of the period, it completely lacked armor protection for the pilot and the fuel tanks. a fact that US fighter pilots found out when they fired incendiary bullets at the zero causing it to quicky catch fire and blow up in midair. 

Many years ago, as a volunteer docent at the Planes of Fame Museum in Chino, California, I had the great honor of showing a group of former Japanese Zero pilots this very aircraft. I would guess most of them were in their 80’s at the time and had traveled to the museum specifically to see the aircraft. It was my understanding that for most of them, this was their first opportunity to see a Zero since the end of the war. Upon entering the hanger which housed the aircraft, without exception they all began to cry and tried to hide their emotional response from one another by wandering off between the other aircraft in the hanger until they could compose themselves. It was a very emotional day. I always find it heartbreaking to see an old person cry. I admit I had to compose myself as well. After a few minutes they all gathered around the aircraft once more and suddenly began shouting a salute to the aircraft in unison. When they were informed that the aircraft would be flown for them that day there were more tears and many more during the Zero's triumphant return to the skies overhead.

I would imagine with so many years now having gone by since that emotional day, most if not all these men have passed away and most probably there are no longer any living memories of flying the Zero during World War II.

This specific aircraft was captured by the US Marines on June 18, 1944. It was returned to San Diego where it was evaluated, and test flown by many pilots including Charles A Lindberg. Eventually it was declared surplus after the war and was scheduled to be destroyed but the Museum acquired it in 1950 and restored it to flight status in 1978.

It has made several good will tours of Japan where it was displayed and flew for huge crowds all over the country, becoming the first Zero to do so since the end of the war.

Splendor in the Grass

We often hear it's not a good idea to park your car on the grass while the engine is hot. Your catalytic converter could start a fire. I think this slammed 1930's car is safe as it predates catalytic converters by at least 40 years. The incredibly stylish body and mirror like finish on this car is what stopped me in my tracks at the San Diego, Chicano Park car show on this day in 2023. I just love the exuberant styling common to cars of the late 1930’s. Maybe after the trials of the great depression, exuberance was needed. Things would not be the same after World War II concluded. To poorly quote William Wordsworth:

Though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass, glory in the flower.
We will grieve not; rather find strength in what remains behind.

Taking a New Lens for a Swirl

The Petzval lens design has been around since the 1840's and is best known for creating a crisp center area of focus while rendering the surrounding area with an out-of-focus swirly bokeh. Almost like the bokeh has decided to do a little pirouette. While the pursuit of perfect optics in modern lens design would seemingly have made this type of lens obsolete, I find it quite compelling even with it’s tendency to generate chromatic aberration and heavy vignetting. For this reason, when Lensbaby decided to release their own take on the Petzval lens, the Twist 60, I bought it the first time they offered it at a significant discount. While I'm still learning to this manual focus lens, if I continue to get good results, I’ll be posting more from this little lightweight optical wonder soon!

Ready for your closeup?

The Pontiac vehicle that was fortunate enough to have this beautiful ornament attached to it's hood was a beauty. I certainly took more than couple of sets of photos of the car, but as regular readers of this blog will know, I am just crazy for the classic Pontiac hood ornaments, and I was not about to pass up the chance to switch cameras to take this close up image. I'll admit that all the specular highlights I could see on the car right next to it, increased my interest. I expected those specular highlights to resolve themselves into round bokeh dots in the blurred background which they did so I was quite pleased with this shot.

One of the things that I really appreciate being able to do after decades of being a photographer is the ability to look at a scene and quickly identify an opportunity for a memorable photo. I guess I have developed the ability pre-visualize what I might be able to capture when certain individual elements exist that MIGHT result in something good.

Gathering of Fleetlines

The Blvd Bombs Car Club held a fundraiser car show at the Bobs Big Boy Broiler in Downey CA. We arrived in time for the spectacular sunset and found quite a few 1940's Chevrolet Fleetmasters and Fleetlines like these pictured here. The red convertible fleetmaster was particularly stunning. Convertable fleetlines are a comparatively rare sight at car shows so I try to photograph them whenever I see them.