#245 2011 Cadillac Lasalle C-Hawk: Tad & Sue Leach
The Concours this year was huge. The cars were on the other side of the lake and the amount of people wandering around was immense. I did miss the Etceterini category though, must be the Geddy Lee fan in me. Last year we arrived too early and we stood around in the dark being cold and wishing we had more coffee. Before the sun comes up, there is not much to shoot and usually the cars are covered; either with covers or dew, usually both. You are really only there waiting for the sun to top the trees. Its a two hour rush to shoot as much as you can before the gates open at 9:30 and clear shots become impossible. What really bites is that some of the most interesting cars, to me anyway (don’t care much about the horseless carriages) are placed at the beginning of the queue closest to the entry. This is, conveniently, the last place the sun makes its arrival. There were still huge shadows on the first few sets of cars and I really didn’t try to shoot them much. In fact, I left and went back to the RV shortly after the gates opened. Its really quite impossible to shoot once everyone comes in. The Media Director, who is a great lady, told me that they had credentialed more people this year than ever before. I believe her since I have never had so many people with point and shoot cameras walking in front of me as I was composing. I felt like I was at Long Beach. Enough of my complaints, I had a great time at a great event.
The crowd at Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance
This year, the Concours asked several of its judges to arrive at scheduled times for posed portraits on cars they had driven. Supposedly the media were the only to know about this but I had my doubts about what would happen when famous drivers suddenly appeared at their cars. This was to happen starting right after lunch, so I came back from the RV (Kim and the dogs were relaxing on the driving range of the Ritz) and waited for Hurley to arrive. The awards for the concours were happening at the same time, so not too many people were around to shoot the drivers. Essentially, there were three of us hopping from car to car followed by a few civilians. Lynn and J.R. showed up early, so we had nearly 30 minutes to wait for David Hobbs to arrive. He did appear a bit early as well and very graciously chatted with us about the state of motorsport coverage on American TV and other topics such as the favorite cars he raced. I have met him before and can tell you he knows his motor racing.
David Hobbs - #410 1985/1988 Chevrolet GTP Race Car: General Motors
The Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance is a great show and everyone should visit it at least once. My image gallery can be viewed at DPerceptions MotorSports Photography. See you at Sebring!
-Darren
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