Swap Meet Portraits at the El Camino

Posted by Julie Green October 03, 2015

Swap Meet Portraits at the El Camino

"El Camino No. 22" 2015

My husband Jonnie Green is a motorcycle enthusiast and entrepreneur who runs Ton-up Classics. Over the years I have attended different swap meets with him in hopes of finding interesting crates, vintage toys or other unusual items, as well as to support his passion. The El Camino is the one swap meet I have attended consistently for the past 7 years.

I started attending the swap meet with Jonnie in his unrestored '59 El Camino. The irony was just too good not to become a tradition. For 36 years it was held at El Camino High School in Redondo Beach but has now moved to the famous Irwindale Speedway. for the past 4 years. It's always good to see many of the sellers that attend year after year.

These swap meets are a group of hard working folk with a burning passion for motorcycles and are a parallel universe to the portraits I take of the hard working folk at the California County Fairs. The repetitive patterned backdrops tell an immediate story through the items are displayed for sale before them.

I am enthralled and excited to capture this subculture and look forward to another opportunity to capture its timelessness.

Julie Green
October 3, 2015