Northern California - Tour of CA Prologue - couple of pics

Hi, I'm just an occasional lurker but I wanted to share a few pics, taken at the first turn, corner of Hamilton and Cowper. Notice how their focus while negotiating a dangerous corner results in different facial expressions. I even caught one guy sticking his tongue out the side of his mouth, but the picture was too blurry to post.

Tom Boonen
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f155/tacksharp/toc08/toc08_plog_2199_boonen.jpg


Jens Voight
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f155/tacksharp/toc08/toc08_plog_2202_voigt.jpg


Levi
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f155/tacksharp/toc08/toc08_plog_2221_levi.jpg


Bobby Julich
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f155/tacksharp/toc08/toc08_plog_2187_julich.jpg


David Millar
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f155/tacksharp/toc08/toc08_plog_2213_millar.jpg


Porn Star Guy (AKA Zabriskie)
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f155/tacksharp/toc08/toc08_plog_2116_zabriskie.jpg

Looks like Voight has some fresh road rash. The cornering ability among these guys varied greatly. Despite his good time, Levi took the turn a little wide. I blew the Hincapie and Cipollini shots because they made perfect tight apexes at very high speed about two feet from my head.

Thanks for viewing,

Dave

Thanks for sharing! :)

Great shots. Yes, Voight had a tumble during their training camp around Solvang (I think). That's what the Versus crew mentioned last night.

Awesome pics!! Thanks for sharing!!

VERY smokin' well done. Great flash fill use, good spot, right moments.
+100. Thanks!

Great pics. DZ really does look like a porn star :LOL:

Boy! You know how to work a camera!

Great pics. Why do they look a whole lot better than mine? Oh, it must be the photographer :p

Excellent! Lots better than mine;

http://lh5.google.com/DiabloScottsBikeBlog/R7sP0JU9EjI/AAAAAAAACLA/uJiULIsG9iU/s800/2008-02-17%20045.JPG

Cancellara was way too fast for my shutter finger:
http://lh3.google.com/DiabloScottsBikeBlog/R7sP0pU9ElI/AAAAAAAACLQ/xsyjgcTF-pw/s800/2008-02-17%20066.JPG

definitely nice shots ... can see the determination.

SUPER shots! Thanks for sharing, for those of us that can't be there! Next year, I'm taking more days off work! I helped Marshall the course for stage 2, and one of the 'rules' for us? No cameras! Bummer. :rolleyes:

Nice ...... very nice. ThanX for posting! :)

... Brad

Best shots I've see so far of the Prologue.

OK, maybe this is of interest to no one but me, but I actually found the picture gallery of the person who was standing behind me during the Prologue, and I'm in some of the pictures, so it shows my perspective when taking the shots you see above. I'm the guy wearing the Cal cap. Pictures are posted with her permission (here's her gallery (http://picasaweb.google.com/liz.jessen/ATCO2008Prologue)).

Here's a picture of me with Tom Boonen just before I took my shot (compare the position of the front wheel to my picture in the first post):
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f155/tacksharp/toc08/toc08_plog_2199_boonen_picasa-lizje.jpg

Here's another picture I took; the inset shows the picture of me just before I took my shot (compare the position of the shadow):
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f155/tacksharp/toc08/toc08_plog_2094_8x6.jpg

And lastly, here's a picture of me not following through with my pan. My brother is holding the flash off camera. Having the flash off to the side gives more "depth" to the subject. Note the shadows cast by the flash in the pictures in the first post; it's most obvious with the pics of Boonen and Millar. Also note the difference in brightness between the left and right arms on several riders.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f155/tacksharp/toc08/toc08_picasa-lizjessen_me04_7x5.jpg