Elvis and Pink Cadillacs

I love me some Elvis and the kitsch that comes along with fandom. I've got random Elvis stuff around my apartment - beach towel, Christmas ornament, dish towels, and I even used to have an Elvis clock (it broke.) So whenever I'm at a classic car show, I'm immediately drawn to pink Cadillacs; as you may or may not know, in the mid-50's Cadillacs weren't offered with pink paint, but Elvis bought one to drive his band around in, and had it painted pink. It got wrecked, and he bought another, had it painted pink, and gave it to his mother as a gift. She didn't drive, so... well, he drove it. Then he bought another...

Some classic Cadillac owners seem to love Elvis too, and within weeks of each other, I found two Elvis-themed pink Caddies.

This past August at Woodward Dream Cruise, I wandered around Pontiac on the Friday. As I wandered, I blissfully ignored the sign at the entrance to a small group of cars that said "Private Party." I swear, I didn't see that sign! There were some cool cars, but since I didn't see that sign, I tried to stay as unobtrusive (and clueless) as possible. I snapped a few shots of the Elvis details on the pink Cadillac in the private zone.

A few weeks later at Serino's Block Party in Long Island City (my 'hood), there was this pink Caddie. My friend Luci (another Elvis freak fan) and I admired the car and the Elvis memorabilia, then the owner opened the trunk for us - to reveal Graceland. Graceland! In a trunk! How awesome is that!

So there you go, a gushy Elvis post.

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There's another reason for this post. I needed to do something on my Mac tonight. Back in 1999 or 2000, I bought my first Mac so that I could use it to create a website to promote and sell my photography. I know Steve Jobs didn't invent the computer, but the Macs are such intuitive computers for the creative set. So thanks, Steve Jobs, for making my career path infinitely easier.

It's Mid-June already.... Astoria Cars 6.18.11

It's mid-June already. Amazing. I felt pretty stale and burned out after NY Auto Show and Viva Las Vegas. I've been going down to Shore Boulevard pretty regularly to talk with car people, document the car culture, and ultimately take pictures of cool cars - and while there have been cool cars, I just wasn't taking great shots. In May, I got a few more shots of a Corvair that I've photographed before. Here's a cool-ish one of the badge:

I haven't seen my buddies on Shore either, and I've got some prints of the Challenger and Pete's '55 Bel Air that I want to give to each of them. While I've seen Sean in his Challenger drive by, he hasn't parked, and I haven't seen Pete at all. Hey Pete! If you see this, I've got a cool print of your '55 for you!

Last Friday I hopped on the train and met some friends out in New Jersey for Somerville Cruise Night. There were a lot of muscle cars from the 70's and 80's, and even a few current Mustangs, but there were also some pretty cool classics and hot rods. When I went through my shots, I was pretty disappointed, again, in my work. But then I realized that when I shoot at these events, I need to slow down. Just slow down and See... not rush through and dryly document the cars. It's not a press conference, I don't have a deadline, I'm not shooting for a client and having to get the standard car shots for them, so just slow down and photograph for me. There are a few good shots from the night:

On Monday (June 13), I wandered out into Times Square for my lunch break from my on-site temp job. I've always got at least one camera with me, and it paid off big-time! MHN, I suppose in order to lure guys over to their booths to encourage them to get prostate checks and all, had three classic cars roped off. The first was this gorgeous Buick from the 40's. I somehow deleted the photo with the sign containing model and year information - argh!

...and shot this really incredible shot of a 50's Packard ornament (I was shooting RAW and had very little room on the card - so I deleted the pic of the sign again with the model and year information by mistake.) (The other car was a 70's era Porsche 911T.) I'm going to start offering some shots for sale on RedBubble - more on that when I actually do it. This will be one of the shots offered.

I sat on the boardwalk along Shore for awhile yesterday, and saw about three classics drive by, but no one parked - then they all turned down the same street. So eventually, I just got up and started walking down that street. I didn't find where they were all going, and Serino's was closed, so it was only a long walk. However, I saw this beater Cadillac along the way, and the cracked paint, rust, and utter disrepair of the car inspired me to take it's picture.