The Littleton Car Show spans 2 days (Saturday and Sunday). My friends extend that to 3 days by hosting a party on Friday night. I missed that party, so when I arrived on Saturday afternoon, I had to figure out where to meet everyone. Luckily I had time to wander around and get lost, which always leads to good photography opportunities.
This nearly was my photo of the day for Saturday. It's strange how some trees change color one branch at a time.
Councilor Raymond S. Burton leads the parade. It's election time!
David enters the parade launch area in his '60 Buick Invicta. Dennis is behind him in his '72 Chrysler New Yorker.
The cars are lined up and ready to roll.
I'm on Main Street in downtown Littleton, across from Chutters, the world's longest candy counter. I know this because they announce it prominently on a banner in front of the store. This place is well known. I had someone ask me for directions to it!
John is really enjoying the parade. If I had put on the polarizing filter, you might have been able to see Pat too.
Jim and Scott in da bus.
I've swung around to look the other way. Ray is at the top of the hill. Closer to the center of town, each car is being announced by a guy in the back of a pickup truck.
David asked the owner of the Studebaker whether his license plate was simply "stud" or an abbreviation for Studebaker. He replied that it was the latter.
This was my photo of the day for Saturday.
Behind David's car you can see Chutters and their banner.
Foreign dignitary? Head of state? Nah, just Rich looking regal.
As he was passing by my position, David told me to be sure to photograph the back end of his car. He said I should send it to my mom. (I'd love to watch him spar with her over issues...she's a liberal that the late Paul Wellstone would have been proud of.)
Brian looking dapper in shades. Dennis next to him, and Dave and Steve are in the back.
As the parade wrapped up, I started to move with it to get some crowd shots further downtown.
I took me a while but I finally found the spot where the actual show was being held. Unfortunately, Saturday's portion is short; most of the cars were leaving to do a foliage tour. My friends stayed behind to relax. This orange 1978 Gremlin upset me. I very nearly bought one on eBay, thinking that I'd be the only one in every show I attended. By Sunday though, I was glad this car was here. Much of the fire for this car went out of me. Perhaps I should say it moved to something else...
Headlights were much easier to replace in those days.
Car talk? Politics? I was too far away to hear it.
That parade was exhausting!
Rich will nap for maybe 15 minutes. He'll later say that it was all he needed. I wish I could do this.
This is the Ammonoosuc Inn in Lisbon, NH. Great property, great view, but I won't be going back. The place was permeated by an attitude that I can only describe this way: Golf lodge.
Lounging on the porch before heading over to Ray's for the Saturday party.
I like to isolate cars so that the background doesn't include other cars. That's really hard to do at a show.
Ray and David are plotting out re-election strategy. Ray will say, "I hear a lot of clicking, but I don't see any prints." (Note to self: make prints!)
This is a heavily post-processed image that was originally more than 3 stops underexposed. Photoshop can find an amazing amount of detail in the underexposed areas of raw originals, which is why many pros recommend underexposing digital pictures a little. Since this was vastly underexposed, fixing it required accepting a lot of noise. I don't mind it. I wasn't able to get this detail and retain the colors; they started to explode.
Pumpkin cake on a blue plate. Lovely.
I only barely got to know this couple when they announced that they would probably close on their house two days later. This was the next big step on their journey to Florida. I asked them if this was to be their last Burton party as well, and they said yes. I asked if I could take a farewell shot.
So many new faces and names for me to learn and remember. I got to know Mark (green shirt) better because he likes photography too.
Raymond in front of his beloved New Hampshire. That map is made of cloth and is in tatters.
Sunday morning begins with fog. This is part of the view from the porch at the inn.
A paucity of breakfast. Golf lodge.
I love white ceilings. Bounce flash always works wonders.
Gotcha.
Back to the car show. On Sunday it rained on and off all day. Wayne originally asked for his black umbrella, then saw my rainbow one, then asked for his pink one instead, then posed with it, then noticed the bent metal, then asked for the black one again.
