Serpents in the Garden (LA Arboretum) PICS

[G_Hodgkins]

Well here is a good chunk of those photos I took of day one. If your car did not make it here, it is because the photos were not turning out so great and I will get more later. Just find me tomorrow to take new ones or to take another look. Thanks and enjoy!
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[G_Hodgkins]

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[G_Hodgkins]

I realized I missed some and will get to them later. (a little too tired right now for patience) But I will get to them!

[David Hodgkins]

Outstanding pictures Grant! Yesterday was a ton of fun and I'll be posting a full report after today.

Thanks Dan Zoil for setting this up. The scenery at this show is incredible!

[riptide motorsport]

Nice...very nice.

[mikey likes it!]

It was an Excellent Day "in the garden". Thanks for posting the pictures and capturing the day ! The diversity of people and magnificent weather couldn't of been better .... Thanks to Dan and John for making it happen !!!

[vnmsss]

We had a great time at the Serpents in the Garden event this weekend!! There were three of us Challenge Series car owners attending, and a big "Thank You!" to Dan for staging all three of us together. I took the opportunity to grab my #28 Challenge Series roadster from the Riverside Raceway Museum when she now resides.

The #28 is still in the same trim/condition as it was when I drove it off the track in her last race, after securing the West Coast Championship in November 2010. After five years in the series, and two 25 Hours of Thunderhill events, the car now sports a race patina comprised of dirt, rock chips, tire marks, and other scars etched in the paint. Despite its battle scars, the car was well-received by everyone that stopped by our venue, and most noted an appreciation for the track-proven car. Jeff Ross brought his awesome spec racer (which he and his brother Dave drove in a two hour endurance race earlier this year), and daughter Tracy brought her family's spec racer as well.

We had a great time catching up with good friends and fellow racers, as well as in meeting a whole lot of new people. Grant's pictures from the event are simply amazing, and it was really great to have the opportunity to visit with Jeff Ross over the last two days, and to learn more of he and his brother's racing adventures as well!!

Thanks again Dan!!! We had a great time!



It was great to see SEMA's very own Bryan Harrison at the event as well. I had the very fortunate opportunity to meet and work with Bryan this summer in his capacity as the SEMA liasion to the Mustang Build Powered by Women. Great to see you Bryan!!

[Mad Dog]

Great photos, Grant! Looks like a really fun event.

[ehansen007]

Grant, what filter are you using on those?

[David Hodgkins]

It was a GREAT event! Saturday morning 18 C-Cars - including 4 originals - were paraded into the LA Arboretum, which is spread out over 127 acres. The event was previewed in the LA Times and drew a nice crowd. The car owners answered questions and talked racing history for 2 days under mild Southern California skies. The high cloud cover on Saturday gave way to clear skies on Sunday with only a slight increase in temperature. The crowds were very respectful of the cars and eager to learn about them. I personally let at least a dozen kids and parents try my car on for size and get their picture taken by their loved ones. I really feel like perhaps more than one future builder was introduced to a new hobby and the owners did us all proud by representing our community so well.

Grant spent hours retouching the photos and has a large batch that he will be adding to the already impressive shots he has uploaded. If anyone is interested in acquiring a large format printed image, just contact him. I'm planning a canvas print of two or three shots myself. Not that I'm biased, but for a kid who only does this as a hobby, I think Grant has a lot of talent!

Once again, a big THANK YOU to Dan Zoil for putting on a great event! Count me in for future "Serpents In The Garden" events!

[G_Hodgkins]

Grant, what filter are you using on those?

im using Photomatix Pro and using a variety of base filters provided in the program and then I tweak each one until i get what I want. Or I just Edit them completely myself. It all depends on the photo.

[Garry Bopp]

Wow, I guess I should have stayed in Cal. for another month or so! Looks like a great time with great cars and wonderful folks.

Thanks for sharing the pics.

Garry

[bwdziol]

Not quite the pro shot's. Had a friend take these
I was a little busy.

Dan Ziol

BILL


DAVE


FRANK


DAN


JOHN


TRACY


GLENN

[bwdziol]

AND MORE
BILL


EDDIE


GO CART


MIKE


JJ

[bwdziol]

AND NOW FOR THE ORIGINAL'S

ANTHONY


HANK

[G_Hodgkins]

Heres the rest of the bunch, I did get everyones car on the second day. Eddie- The final shots in front of the house did not come out because you were waved off too early and I was attempting to take the pictures. (it takes 3 photos to create one final image) But I Hope you guys enjoy them! I had a blast taking your photos and learned a lot while doing it too!

ehansen007- if you meant filters attachable tot he camera, I did not use one.

Anyway..ON TO THE GOODS!

[G_Hodgkins]

[G_Hodgkins]

[G_Hodgkins]

[G_Hodgkins]

[G_Hodgkins]

[G_Hodgkins]

If you want some full resolution Pics of any of the ones I posted just ask. The real sizes can make LARGE posters or LARGE canvas prints. And if you think there may be more of your car I didn't post, your probably right . I just didn't have time to create a hundred pictures. But if you think there's more of your car... Just Ask and I will look into making more if there are any. ENJOY!

[vnmsss]

Grant......Thanks so much for taking the time to capture so many amazing images from the Serpents in the Garden event. You have a great eye for photos, and when combined with your awesome technological skills, the results are clearly phenomenal. I am truly impressed with your talent, and encourage you to continue to pursue your creativity!!!

Thanks again!!!

Karen

[G_Hodgkins]

Grant......Thanks so much for taking the time to capture so many amazing images from the Serpents in the Garden event. You have a great eye for photos, and when combined with your awesome technological skills, the results are clearly phenomenal. I am truly impressed with your talent, and encourage you to continue to pursue your creativity!!!

Thanks again!!!

Karen

Thanks Karen!
If you would like, I can still do all your other cars and give you the full file sizes to make your own giant posters like you said at the show. It would be great for me because I would get to do other types of cars, not just Cobras. Not that theres anything wrong with that.

[G_Hodgkins]

New Photos!

[QSL]

great stuff grant!!! Very nice!

Sucks we missed it all. Looks awesome

[bwdziol]

This may be the slowest cobra parade on record. The camera had major color issues but it is still fun to listen. I think others have some video's so bring them on.

Dan Ziol

[bwdziol]

Just found one of my favorite shot's used for promo's. A different Plum LOW CO

Dan Z

[David Hodgkins]

Dan that video is so weird! The only thing in black and white is the cars! I kinda like it!

[JJ'snakepit]

Dan and John T I can't thank you guys enough. I had an awesome time. I hope you have it again next year. Very much fun!!!! What a beautiful place to put beautiful cars and the pictures prove it. I must of had at least 5 guys really interested in FF5's talk and talk and take pictures. It was a blast.. JJ

[Vicki1]

Again, The Serpents in the Garden went over the top where the total experience far exceeded the sum of the great cars present. I cannot compete with the eye popping pictures presented so far so will digress to some personal observations that added to my weekend pleasures.
John Tongish

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That is Evan, Karen Salvaggio's grandson, behind the wheel of the red Dan Ziol Kiddie Special.

Check out the inactive participant in the stroller.

[Vicki1]

Here are three more photos I had to shrink down to fit the format. They document the unique and spectacular setting we were allowed to play in for the weekend.


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Dan, let's do it again sometime.......but maybe not next year.

[NiceGuyEddie]

i am the last person to like "instagram" or overly-doctored photos, but i gotta say, these photos are amazing!!!!!! G's got some mad skills!

the only thing I did not like about the show was that due to lots of energetic little kids, I didn't want to leave the car for too long, and I could not spend 45 minutes, twice a day, to go talk to everyone. and YES it would really take 45 minutes to make one round….

that aside, it was the most enjoyable day I've ever had at any type of car show. I brought a book in case I got bored, but that never happened, and we were there 9 hours a day, two days in a row!

non-car people-people are fantastic, and I met NOT ONE person who's uncle had one, not one person that has a faster car at home, and not one person that looked down on a kit car owner. in fact, if anything, they were MORE IMPRESSED at us for building our own!

most people came to the gardens fully decked out with huge cameras, and the cars were a surprise to them. I was so happy to see them go all-out on the cars… getting down on the ground, taking shots from all angles.

it goes without saying I had a great spot - my skin doctor will be very happy I sat in the shade most the day, and I loved the sound of the fountain the background.

I dearly hope we are invited back next year, I understand Descanso Gardens didn't want us back. Dan, John, and the 'Garden People' did a fantastic job organizing this event. i was overyly nice to the workers there to help us get invited next year.

I have already greyed-out the first weekend in October 2013.

SoCal crew - DO NOT MISS NEXT YEAR! let's make it even better!

cheers,

[Someday I Suppose]

Grant spent hours retouching the photos and has a large batch that he will be adding to the already impressive shots he has uploaded. If anyone is interested in acquiring a large format printed image, just contact him. I'm planning a canvas print of two or three shots myself. Not that I'm biased, but for a kid who only does this as a hobby, I think Grant has a lot of talent!

David, I would agree 100%, great eye and angle on the photos even before the retouching begins.

Grant, really nice work, I've not done much with HDR and a lot of what I have seen loots to surreal for my likes, but these aren't over done there and have a real nice panterly feel to them, very cool for sure!!

-Scott

[frankeeski]

I don't think any of us can truly express our thanks to Dan Ziol for both coming up with this idea of Serpents in the Garden and also for working tirelessly with the LA Arboretum to make this event a reality. Thanks also go to John Tongish for being the logistical genius getting JJ's car to the event each day. We as participants genuinely feel honored to have been able to be a part of this wonderful show. Asked over and over again during the event; we told spectators that is/was indeed our honor to be stewards for the hobby, answering questions and allowing as many as we could to share in the passion that we all have for the vehicles. The Arboretum is an absolutely beautiful place in its own rite. The fact the cars were there was just an extra added bonus for most who attended the event. If you live in SoCal and have never been to the Arboretum, you owe it to yourself to go out and walk the grounds. Thank You again Dan, John, all of the Arboretum staff and all of the participants.


Here are a few shots I took during the show. I still have to download the video and still pics from Julie's camera.

Each participant was asked to give a brief description and some interesting tidbit as to the evolution of their car.

Super Snake in it's natural surroundings.

Julie, making friends with the locals

Although there were no "bad spots" referring to placement of the cars, this one was one of the best.

[skullandbones]

I loved the shot of the black roadster with the blustery sky in the background. You had some wonderful pictures. It was fun to view but I bet it was more fun in person.

Thanks for the pics,

WEK.

[G_Hodgkins]

I loved the shot of the black roadster with the blustery sky in the background. You had some wonderful pictures. It was fun to view but I bet it was more fun in person.

Thanks for the pics,

WEK.

YES! That was one of my favorites too. I knew it would turn out great as soon as I finished taking it. Thanks!

[NiceGuyEddie]

YES! That was one of my favorites too. I knew it would turn out great as soon as I finished taking it. Thanks!

the black one with the cloudy sky is mine. just in time for Halloween....

[David Hodgkins]

Eddie, that pic is Grant's wallpaper on his Apple now. Great shot.

We took one of the shots of my car and are printing it on canvas. I'll post a pic of it when we pick it up.

[bwdziol]

More pictures taken by a vistor

D Ziol

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmentd1...7631708008100/