Monterey Car Week is one of my favorite weeks of the year (obviously). It is a time that all automotive enthusiasts dream of... one location filled with automotive enthusiasts of all kinds. My favorite part about car week is having the ability to go camp out almost anywhere in Monterey and being able to see some of the most insane vehicles ever built being driven around like it is no big deal. I also enjoy the concept car photo shoots that take place along the stunning 17-Mile-Drive in Pebble Beach. The scenery is so unique and there is no other coastline in the world that is like it.
For you tech heads out there, I shot most of car week on my Leica M (typ) 240, equipped with either a 50mm f/1.2 Voigtlander or 35mm f/1.7 Voigtlander lens. For the remaining photographs, I used my Canon 5d Mkiii with a 24-70 f/2.8 or 70-200mm lens.
It is funny, at Car Week, I always panic the first day thinking I need to find some cool shit within the first 4 hours or car week and almost always see something insane by nightfall. So there I was, driving away from my hotel stressing out on where to find all the best stuff (first world problems, I know....). Low and behold, the awesome experience I run across is the Bentley EXP 100 GT electric concept car... gosh dang, this was amazing to see out with stunning scenery and not in a studio or auto show.
My favorite show to attend every year is none other than The Quail. This, to me, is by far the best show of the week. Amazing vehicles, food, reveals, and much more! It is fantastic that Lamborghini and Bugatti do new car reveals every year at The Quail. This year, Bugatti revealed the the Bugatti Centodieci, which is a limited run mid-engine sports car. The Centodieci pays homage to the Bugatti EB110 to celebrate it 110th anniversary. The Centodieci is 20kg lighter than the Bugatti Chiron, and has a 8,000 cc quad-turbocharged W16 engine, producing 1,578 hp at 7000 rpm (Photos below).
Last but not lease, Pebble Beach Concours de'Elegance is the prime show of the week. For me, this is the end of Car Week. I did not do dawn patrol this year (because I am lazy and was going to drive back home down highway 1), but still arrived to the show around 7am which was plenty early for me. I usually try to get photographs of the cars, and the cars only. I usually never take photographs of people, but made a point to do it this year. All I can say is that I really enjoyed taking photos of people at the event and am kind of addicted to it. Moving forward, I think I am going to try and take more shots with people in them. I do love getting the reactions of enthusiasts spectating the cars.
Anyways, please see below for the recap gallery for Monterey Car Week! I will be releasing full galleries from each event and from car spotting on my newly created SmugMug account (which I will have linked on my website as "Galleries" on the top search bar. For there, you can view full size photos, and even purchase prints of any photo that I upload there. And as always, you can purchase prints from my Redbubble account which is linked under "Prints" on the search bar.
I have also released some new cell phone wallpapers from Car Week, so make sure to check them out!!! (I know you all go crazy for free stuff ;))
Anyways, please enjoy the gallery and leave a comment or reach out if you have any questions!
- David Coyne
