Here are some of the pictures.
Thanks for looking,
Yvon Bourque
I found a new Photography Community site in Singapore, in English. The site also has forums for all brands of cameras and of course, you can discuss and make new friends that also own Pentax equipment. It has over 55,000 members and that’s pretty big by any standards. Check it out. It has a lot of information and it’s easy to join.
Special Blog site: OK1000 Pentax
This site is not a new site, but I encourage you to visit it. It is the site that actually inspired me to start this blog. It is owned and maintained by Michael Gaudet. Michael finds stuff about Pentax Equipment that is always unique. I have no idea where he gets his material, but he must have good connections and know a lot of people in the business. He once interviewed Herb Keppler, vice-president and publishing director of Popular Photography Magazine, who has recently passed away.
The site really caught my attention with the posts about green photography. Check it out, it's very inspiring. Michael lives in New York City, and what a great City if you are in photography. I would love to be able to shop directly at B & H or Adorama. If it exists, it's in New York.
Michael is a very nice guy and goes out of his way to follow up on the many comments he receives. Many thanks for the inspiration you gave me and keep writing, you have a gift.
Thank you all for reading,
Yvon Bourque
I encourage you to leave comments below by simply clicking on "Comments" or you can send me emails directly at yvon@k10dbook.com Your comments and feedbacks help us posting what you like.
* If you don’t like the fact that the K20D is backward compatible with around twenty-four millions lenses sold by Pentax since the beginning of their first single lens reflex camera, then you don’t want the K20D.
* If you don’t need or will never need a flash sync for studio photography, don’t get the K20D.
Thank you for reading.
Note that PENTAXDSLRS.com will have new K20D and K200D Books on each of the new cameras as soon as March 2008.
I encourage you to leave comments below by simply clicking on "Comments" or you can send me emails directly at yvon@k10dbook.com Your comments and feedbacks help us posting what you like.
You can certainly see how much work had to be done to restore the Model A to what it looks like today.
‘This is a model A Ford 5 window coupe. It was restored by my brother over a period of several years in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. It was given to him by his wife as a hobby project when he retired from his job. It was restored in his garage in Custer Park, Illinois and painted by a good friend who I had the pleasure of working for after school when I was 14 years old”.
“The model A is known as a “ginny” meaning it has been restored to nearly it’s original condition. The engine, running gear, suspension and all systems are as near as possible to the way Henry Ford made it when new”.
“I received the car upon the passing of my brother in 2006. I try to honor his memory every time I drive the car and thank him for allowing me to have it. Some of the pictures with this note show how much effort he put in restoring this car. I have only had to do minor repairs to bring it to its’ present condition. The car runs extremely well with a top speed of nearly 50 miles an hour”.
“I had to have the car certified by the California Highway Patrol before registering it to my name and the officer checked the engine number and told me it was an original 1930 engine and not to replace it”.
“Since the car was in Illinois and I was in California; that presented a slight problem. I purchased a car hauling trailer and my nephew towed the car to Flagstaff, Arizona as he has a business in Tucson, and I picked it up there.”
“My brother wanted the car to be used and shown so others could see how it was in the early years. I have had the car in several shows this past year, including the San Bernardino County Fair “Show and Shine” spearheaded by Richard “Tex” Navarro and the Route 66 car show sponsored by the Route 66 museum in Victorville, California., as well as a car show sponsored by the Sterling Inn, Victorville, California. I routinely drive the car to an off-the-cuff car show at a coffee shop called “The Grind” where a group of hot rod custom car owners meet on Saturday mornings. I also drive the car to a restaurant called “Goody’s” in Victorville and have had several interesting conversations about the car usually from older people who relate to having one like it or similar to it during their younger years. One lady told me that she and her boyfriend, later her husband, had their first date in one just like it. I can only imagine what was going through her memory at that time. So it’s not only me that enjoys this car, it touches many people in many ways. Another gentleman told me that he worked at the River Rouge Plant and remembered working on the assembly line in 1930 and helped build them. (He really must be old)”
“I wish to thank Yvon for putting my story on his website and I hope everyone enjoys the pictures and the story.”.
Connie Trimby
This car saw America in an uncomplicated time, when there were no computers, no cell phones, no iPods and certainly no digital cameras. The highways were uncluttered and the gasoline was cheap and abundant. We will probably never see such simple life in our future, but it’s nice to see some relics from the long gone era. The cameras of the 1930’s couldn’t have taken the pictures herein with such color rendition and clarity. Progress is a two sided sword.
It doesn't have sleek lines like the current cars, but it certainly had character.
A lot of love went into rebuilding this car.
The stereo system is missing! Actually, instead of auto-everything like today's cars, it had manual everything.
I would be smiling too if I owned a beautiful piece of american history.
Yep...we were zipping through at an astonishing speed.
This is what a 1930 engine looks like without all of the polution devices.
I want to thank Connie for his wonderful story. It was a privilege for me to have the opportunity to take pictures of this beautifully restored 1930 Model A Ford, and to meet Connie. As a bonus, I even got to take a ride in it.
Thank you for reading,
Yvon Bourque
Taxi anyone? Here is a replica of a replica of an old Taxi pedal car.
I did find a nice case for all my filters and a mini tripod perfect for keeping in the car just in case. I always bring my K10D and the DA 16-45mm lens everywhere I go. By the way, many of you are hesitating to bring such camera in your car for fear of theft. I have an old cooler that I leave in the car with the camera inside. Nobody wants to break in a car with only an old cooler inside. It also keeps the camera from getting too hot.
One more important point, the Rose Bowl Flea Market is always the Second Sunday of every Month which often coincides with the Pasadena Camera Show on Colorado Boulevard. Now there is a great place to purchase all kind of camera gear. If you ever are in the Pasadena area, find out about this camera show.
This is Scott Corbett. Scott and his family have been selling at the Rose Bowl for more than 30 years. They specialize in antique wind-up phonographs.
They carry beautiful phonographs. sdcorbett@earthlink.net
This is my kind of dog. I like big dogs, and this one apparently doesn't bark and is house broken.
After our late lunch, we went to Sammy’s camera, downtown Pasadena. I have to be frank with you all; I was very disappointed with the attitude of the sales people behind the counter. They were rude with all customers, and there is absolutely no reason for that. Still, I waited for my turn to get insulted. I had my K10D with me and I asked if I could try a DA 10-17mm and a DA 12-24mm. He was quick to tell me that they didn’t stock them. He said he could try to order one for me but the market for Pentax is not big enough, hence the reason they do not stock them. They mostly sell to Professional Photographers and stock mostly Nikon and Canon. I guess if you don’t carry but a few Pentax lenses, it would be pretty hard to be successful at selling Pentax lenses. I cannot imagine B & H Photo treating their customers that way. Yes, I could have ordered a lens from them, but I can do that through a friendlier place and for less at: B & H Photo . If all of those sales people are so good and professional, they wouldn’t be working at a camera store, they would be out in the world making money from photography. If they don’t want my business, someone else will.
I love all makes of cameras, but a camera store like Sammy’s makes me wish that Pentax would get real big again…and they might!
Thank you for reading. Keep taking pictures,
Yvon Bourque
This old towing likely rescued many stalled vehicles and from its size, other big rigs as well. I assume that this is going to be is final location, except if the owner is thinking of restoring it to its former glory. That would be a great project. I have never seen an old towing like this one before. In the early years, towing trucks were usually much smaller.
If you happen to drive to the park, the towing was located in the town of Three Rivers, about one mile before the official entrance to the park, on the right side of the road when driving toward the park.
I live in the desert and not only is it sunny most of the time, but like clockwork; it gets windy every afternoon around 1:00 P.M. through the next morning. It rains very seldom, so it should work great in this area. .Once both systems are in place, adding additional Solar Panels will eventually be enough to power my complete Desktop system and maybe more. The wind generator is available right now from Amazon for less than $500.00
This is my future expanded system.My total cost for the current system is about $450.00. It will take a long time to save enough on my electric bill to justify the system monetarily wise, but ecologically wise, I’m doing my small part. Once I add the wind generator, I will reach the $1,000 theshold for my project.
Thanks for reading,
Yvon Bourque