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.

If ever a truck was designed with the driver in mind...

"With scores of new time saving features, the new Ford Trucks are made-to-order for economical operations in today's traffic stream. New "DRIVERIZED" Cabs provide living room comfort and cut driver fatigue. They help save time by making driving easier. Both the Standard and Deluxe Cab have a new curved one-piece windshield, 55% bigger for more visibility."

I met the owner of this cool Ford truck at Bob Big Boy Broiler in Downey tonight. It was supposed to be the Broiler's Christmas show but only a few cars showed up. Anyway the owner of this truck came up and we chatted a bit about my photography and what I did with the photos I took. I mentioned I almost never photographed cars (or trucks for that matter) that have their hoods up. He said he would lower his hood and turned on the driving lights which looked cool in the glow of all the drive-in's neon. I had to re-shoot a few of the bracketed shots when people walked through my shot to look over the truck during some long exposures. Well I can't blame them for being impressed. It is a very cool vehicle.

Low Down on a '48 Fleetline

Kathy and I met at the Broiler for a Halloween car show. After a beautiful sunset the sky turned purple before fading to black. To try to get this 1948 Fleetline and that beautiful sky into the same shot, I collapsed my tripod down so my camera was no more than 6" above the pavement. To shoot at F11 I ended up not using my camera's Auto Exposure Bracketing (AEB) function and instead manually adjusted the exposure compensation value for each shot. AEB supports a maximum exposure time of 30 seconds which wasn't enough to capture the range of light I wanted for this image.

Fleeting Fleetline Sunset

Kathy reminded me that there was a Halloween car show being held at the Bob's Big Boy Broiler in Downey tonight. I had to work a little late so traffic was pretty heavy by the time I headed over to the show. I had just parked my van when Kathy arrived. The sun was getting ready to make its departure for the day and the light was already looking nice so we got right to shooting some of the classic ars that had already arrived. It was a good sized show with lots of cars and people. I was talking to a nice guy with an Australian accent who was also taking photos, and was telling him how I like to shoot during sunset at car shows. Just then the sky lit up with the most amazing orange color. I stopped talking and took a bunch of HDR sequences in the fading light. The sky went from what you see in this photo  to completely black in about 10 minutes. This Chevy Fleetline looked to be completely stock. The paint was very reflective and nicely done. Hope I see this car again soon.

Twilight Time

Twilight Time, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

We were rapidly running out of daylight when these great looking cars rumbled into Bob's Big Boy Broiler and parked all the way in the back of the parking lot next to the fence. Kathy and I looked at one another as they went by and we walked over to try and get some shots before the sun vanished beneath the horizon.

Just to the right of this view was a killer red and black truck that Kathy shot. Her image was amazing. So good in fact when she decided to submit seven photos to be considered for entry in the photography exhibit at the 2012 Orange County Fair, the truck was one of the images she chose to enter. Four of her images were selected for display and the truck won honorable mention. We were really stoked when we went to the fair and saw them on display. Kathy as always kept her cool, showing very little emotion but Manny, Dot and I were really happy and excited. I even made her pose for pictures with her images. Now they are all hanging in our living room and they look great!

Not Fade Away

Not Fade Away, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

The setting sun's golden light creates bokeh highlights and casts long shadows across these classic Chevy's at Bob's Big Boy Broiler in Downey.

One Clean 1954 Chevy Truck

One Clean 1954 Chevy Truck, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

Via Flickr:
This is a really nice 1954 Chevy Truck. I saw it at Bob's Big Boy Broiler and since then I've seen it a few other times. Always spotless and a joy to shoot.

'48 Gumby

'48 Gumby, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

the Bob's Big Boy Broiler this Saturday. Kathy and I walked around and didn't see much we wanted to shoot. I put my camera away and just then 3 or 4 really nice Bombs drove in. Works every time. Whenever I put my camera away great cars show up. Anyway, this is a really nice 1948 Chevy. I think Kathy said she had seen it before.

Make Mine a '59

Make Mine a '59, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

Even in the dark parking lot at the Bob's Big Boy Broiler, this amazing 1959 Cadillac shines brightly. This was another tough one to photograph. Lots of people walking right through my shot. Either people are unaware that I am photographing the entire vehicle or they're getting pretty rude. As a result I had to combine the tone mapped image with several of the individual exposures, masking away images of the people who walked through my long exposures. Oh well, I like the end result so that's cool.

'57 Twin Fin

'57 Twin Fin, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

It always seems that when the sky gets cloudy, classic car owners put their cars in the garage. Not a single rain drop is going to fall on their custom paint job. The bummer with that is that HDR makes cloudy skies look amazing. I got lucky with this shot. The clouds rolled in after the car show got started so I had a chance to catch this amazing '57 out of its element. You can see the owner reflected in the trunk. He kept a close eye on my big tripod and camera which was just about a foot away from his cars tail fin. Viva la wide angle lens baby!