The Car Culture: Sunday Morning in LA**

Beginning Sunday at 7:00 a.m. in the affluent suburbs of L.A., the

Mercedes, Hummers, and other expensive and exotic cars begin their

parade to the car wash, where their owners watch over Mexican

laborers who shine them to a sheen -- this one in Sherman Oaks, on

flat land beneath multi-milliondollar hillside and hilltop homes.

It is not for nothing that women in LA are reputed to question a man

about his 'car' as well as his 'job', before they'll date him (true

story, realted to me by an actor. Your ratings and comments are

invited and most appreciated. If you rate harshly or very

critically, please submit a helpful and constructive comment/please

share your superior photographic knowledge to help me improve my

photography. Thanks! Enjoy! John

I like this shot, John. First of all, it includes one of my very favorite objects - an automobile. Although I'll probably never own a Mercedes, I like looking at the pictures. I also like the pictires when they get old and rusty.

The towels provide a nice splash of color in disarray.

I remember that when I lived in Baltimore, back in the early 70's, this same phenomenon occurred on Sunday mornings. We passed a car wash on our way to church, and the line stretched for about two miles down Loch Raven Boulevard. By afternoon, you could drive right up without a wait. Of course, those cars were not Mercedes and Hummers. They were the run-of-the-mill Fords and Pontiacs. But people still liked them shiny. Waiting in line must represent some kind of status symbol. I hate lines - thus my lack of status.

Nice shot.

Best Regards,

Barry

This is the same story, but with a Los Angeles -- Hollywood twist. You have to have a very expensive car to use this particular car wash -- get up very early and stand around to watch your car washed and shine . . . and maybe gloat a little about it . . . and compare your status to the other monied types around you.

People have remarked that many of my photos tell a story . . . and maybe it's true; I can't deny it. I was struck by the red and blue towels on the black exterior, from a photographic point of view plus the worker in the rear as an accent, and thought this stood on its own as a photograph (and it looks like a somewhat evocative one for some).

Thanks for your comment; it appears it had greater appeal than I imagined.

John (Crosley)

Hello John, this is quite a striking image, with the bright colours on the black. In my ignorance, I thought it may have been the owner washing it. I remember a previous car culture shot you posted, this one is even better.

I used to be a research scientist, a very high prestige job, but not very well paid. Eventually I met another research scientist, I married her.

Best wishes Pete

This was not posted just for its photographic merit, but for that and its social commentary -- it has a 'point of view' though I'm not necessarily taking sides -- having your car washed is not necessarily bad -- it's just interesting to me, and the colored clothes on the black car were very inviting from a photographic standpoint. I took this the same day as the other photo you refer to, which also struck me and also features a Mercedes; I was struck by the dominance of the automobile (high status Mercedes especially) in the Los Angeles culture.

I once owned a Lexus (LS400), and it was much higher quality than a Mercedes built at the same time, but you won't find many Lexuses in Los Angeles because they are not 'high status cars' (there are more than a few in Seattle among the nouveau techno-riche Microsoft multijillionaires, however). I live in Northern California (sometimes), and Mercedes have some cachet, but not really all that much -- we're worlds apart. In fact, any well-built car seems good enough for just about everybody, with the well-build 'Japanese cars' having cachet because they're well-engineered, and engineering reigns here.

I'm glad you have a happy union (and envy that).

John (Crosley)

It may or not be 'tilted', because this is a super-wide angle digital lense -- 12-24 mm set at 12 mm (equivalent to 18 mm film setting), which distorts horizons and horizontal lines, so any 'horizontal' line will appear to be 'tilted'. It's impossible to create (without special manipulation) a landscape with such a lens, without doing a special Photoshop CS2 or later intervention (sounds like something you'd do to a coke addict, doesn't it?), to straighten out that line.

So, while the 'horizontal' line may curve, is it truly 'tilted' or just a factor of the lense curvature?

I'm satisfied with this image, and I've viewed it quite a lot, but I'll have another look and have others look at it; criticism (honest stuff) is taken seriously here, as the goal is to get better, not get bristly when someone offers a helpful observation in a helpful way.

Thank you so much for your observation.

With regards,

John (Crosley)