The high end

Photographs

Of retail, that is.

Things you will not find in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California:

  • Starbucks
  • Safeway
  • The Apple Store
  • Macy’s

And that’s all good. Unfortunately there are two simply ghastly T shirt vendors and one can only hope that when the economy recovers they will be crowded out by higher rent tenants.

What you will find are many high end art galleries, restaurants, jewelers and boutique clothing stores. The many coffee shops here are strictly one-off efforts, run by local entrepreneurs. Here’s a cross section, snapped the other day.


Italian foodstuffs, complete with Vespa.


Even the booze is beautifully presented.


High end boutique.


Wine tasting.


Antiques – that’s a two person copper Victorian tub in the window.

All images on the D2X with the 16-35mm AFS Nikkor.

Security

Photographs

Contrasts.

This is Tiffany’s in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. It is at the very top of the retail food chain as regards location and inventory. Their heavy stainless steel gates leave you in no doubt as to the value of the contents within.

Tiffany’s. You will need a vault for anything you buy here.
Click the image for the map.

Second only in sales per square foot to Apple, Tiffany’s is an enduring success story, selling things no one needs to people who need nothing yet will pay a 100% premium for a duck egg blue box. The secure and established selling to the insecure and transient. It was around before Apple was created and will probably be around after Apple is done.

Contrast this image with that of Texi’s Joyeria in the poorest area of San Francisco’s Mission District, snapped the other day. There are also security precautions, the display windows have just as little to show and there is equal pride in the contents. The focus is at the other end of the demographic spectrum, however.

Tiffany’s has never shied away from raw arrogance in its window displays. The windows are small, very small, the glass is massive, and the display makes the point that small and expensive are good. The Tiffany’s window is maybe 14″ x 22″. Texi’s is 36″ x 48″.

If you cannot afford the box, you cannot afford the contents.

Three to five

Photographs

The magic hours.

In Northern California at this time of the year the magic hours for the street snapper are between three and five in the afternoon. Shadows lengthen and the crisp light renders everything just so.

These were snapped in Carmel the other day.

Hopper’s café.

Awaiting diners.

The store of Ambrose Pollock, woodworker. Click the image for the map.

Red door, setting sun.

All on the D2X, 16-35mm AFS, ISO 400.

A Smile

Art Illustration, Photography

Happy Thanksgiving.

For an index of articles on art illustrators, click here.

Message on the bag from the local greetings card store:

Here’s my Smile to you on America’s finest holiday, one on which the greatest nation on earth gives thanks for the abundance it has wrought for itself.

Smiles all around.

For an inspiring read on a great man who had more to do with the crafting of this great nation than most, click here.

“A society that puts equality – in the sense of equality of outcome – ahead of freedom will end up with neither equality or freedom. The use of force to achieve equality will destroy freedom. On the other hand, a society that puts freedom first will, as a happy by-product, end up with both greater freedom and greater equality. Freedom means diversity but also mobility. It preserves the opportunity for today’s less well off to become tomorrow’s rich, and in the process, enables almost everyone, from top to bottom, to enjoy a richer and fuller life.”

Thank you, Milton.