On the Road to Golden Gate

Good thing that Tom is out taking great photos.  He started this trip in Santa Cruz, hit up Salinas, and then . . . the bridge.

Tom says this may be his new all-time favorite neon signs.  It has stained glass for the lettering with neon in of the glass.  Tom had hoped to make it back to see the neon lit up, but it was out of the way on his return.  Saved for another trip.

Tom spent some time on the campus of the Mission of San Luis Obispo de Tolosa, a Spanish mission founded in 1772. Its design is unusual for California missions as it has a secondary nave that is almost as large as the central nave.  Also, its combination of belfry and vestibule is unique.  I love photographing mission churches and this one intrigues me enough to want to ge see it on my own.  That is, of course, unless Tom took a lot more photos.  I love the wooden ceiling and that wall paper look has to be a recent addition but also unique.

Mission of San Luis Obispo de Tolorosa

While in Salinas, Tom got a tire fixed and had breakfast with a friend, Rod Powell. Rod gave Tom a town tour and as a life long resident, Rod was able to offer historical, cultural and political insights. His grandparents had settled there as Dust Bowl Okies just like the Joad family in Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath. The images below are of Steinbeck's boyhood home.  It is now a restaurant!

Gorgeous detail, eh?

On to San Fran!  We tried to get to the location Tom was looking for on our long trip last fall.  For whatever reason we could not get down to the beach.  I sort of remember a gate being locked and perhaps it was due to the government shut-down at the time.

I allowed a frame on this one. Just love this one.

Now, a couple from the road.  I think these were taken on his way back to Pomona where he overnighted.

Fog from San Francisco in the back.

One of Tom's signature compositions.  Lonely tree, shadow, Golden Hour light. . . 

Nuff for now.  Tom is still in Pomona and headed home later today.  He started his gallery of the Concours d'Excellence on his website last night.  I don't know if it is done yet but if you want to check out the site you can go to tomdavisonart. com.  I am having a blast with my mom and sister in Albuquerque.  Not getting much shooting in but that is more than OK.

Wrapping Up Pebble Beach Concours

More photos to enjoy.  Some of these cars might bring back some memories!

Pure concept car.  Give up?  Mercedes Benz!!!!

Old and new!

Racecar driven by the legendary Driver Juan Manuel Fangio. From Argentina, he was nicknamed El Chueco (the bowlegged one).  He dominated the first decade of Formula racing.

One of Tom's favorites. Mine too. I think this might be referred to as a mastery of bokeh!

Well, this post pretty much wraps up the Pebble Beach Concours d'Excellence.  I am encouraging Tom to post a featured gallery of the event on his website once he has processed all of the hundreds of images.  When he gets that done I will forward a link to his site so you can go there and see the whole thing.  

Yesterday Tom headed into San Francisco to photograph the Golden Gate Bridge.  He was hoping for good light but was disappointed in that, however, he thinks he got some good images nonetheless.  He also got some great shots along the way and in Santa Cruz.  Those will follow.  Thanks for sharing.  We love having each of you along and enjoy the emails that you send with your observations of our images and the stories we tell.

THE Day at Pebble Beach

Tom arrived at the Concours d"Elegance at 6 AM.  When I spoke with him a little bit later on in the morning I could tell he was having fun, almost breathless!  Tonight he is already in edit mode.  Please enjoy.

There were several Delages entered and they were among my favorites. They all featured Custom Coachwork which means this chassis was delivered bare to a coach builder in 1936 for a one-of-a-kind body. The body on this Delage was designed and built in Paris by the highy regarded shop of Figoni y Falaschi. Simple elegance is the key here…..right down to the door handles!

A rear view.

Tom included the following in his email with the image below. "I asked the owners of several of my favorite cars if they thought they had a chance for winning Best of Show. Each one insisted they didn’t have a chance and even gave reasons why they would not. Interestingly, one of them said, “That Rolls Royce Silver Ghost has a chance.”.  It was over-the-top perfect, just not necessarily my style. . . and in the one below this one shows her driving the car on the tour Thursday  (is her passenger hanging on for dear life?).

The green ribbons indicate the car participated in the tour on Thursday.

The crowd. The would look out of place at the Concours d'LeMons!

Opening the hood for a judge.

Tom wrote, "The Duesenberg was the largest and most expensive auto ever produced in America. Probably the origin of the slang phrase, “It’s a Doosy!”. Note the stylized bird radiator emblem."

These people were perfectly in sync with the cars….most were a little over the top, but still elegant.

I appreciate the smaller detail photos.  When we shoot a car show together I am more interested in the small details.  That is because I don't know my cars the way Tom does, and he really does know a good car.  I suspect I could shoot the bigger items in this Concours as the cars are all excellent.  But, I still like detail such as in the image below.  Dang that is a good shot!

I just love this.

Detail of hand made door handle by Figoni y Falaschi. With running board reflection.

Jay Leno was surrounded by a crowd and the press, but I was able to be there in time to get a decent spot. He was in the middle of negotiating to buy one of the show motorcycles, but he appeared to by quite generous with his fans! 

The car below sports the Italian flag indicating its heritage.  The chassis is by Alfa Romeo and the coachwork is by Pininfarina.  In case you don't recognize Pininfarina (I certainly didn't), Tom provided us with his research.  It is an independent car designer in Cambiano, Italy and was founded in 1930. The company designs cars, high-speed trains, buses, trams, yachts, airplanes and more.  It works with many different companies around the world, including Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, GM, Maserati, and even emerging markets such as China.

Fiat

The Testa Rossa Ferrari, a featured marque at this year’s show. There were 12-15 there, of the 34 which were produced. The red “Testarossa” which we saw at Mc Donald’s and followed on the way to Flagstaff was a  street car produced in large quanities by Ferrari in the late 90’s….this is the real deal here!

This photo is for Anden!!

She is working the Bentley Booth.

Nuff for tonight!  It is past midnight.  Tom is still editing with several thousand photos to explore.  More blog entries on this event to follow.  We hope you survived the storms in Greater Phoenix this evening. Stay cool!