Monday morning greetings to one and all!

Jan and I just got back last night from our 3800 mile work / vacation road trip safe and sound and hopefully if you were traveling over the Memorial weekend you did as well. We’ll be sharing some of our nature photography that we shot on the rest of our trip in the coming weeks and we’ve got some good stuff to share!

One of the things that I love about what we do is that we sometimes get access to places and things that only those people that work there ever see. Being in the operating room shooting photos during an operation when the only people that ever see that are the doctors and nurses. We are so lucky to have that access and it really makes what we do interesting and fun! This past week we had that kind of access and we were shooting photos and video at a new golf project in the Northwestern Scottsdale, Arizona area. The founder of the internet domain registry site Go Daddy, Bob Parsons is transforming the former The Golf Club Scottsdale into a new property called Scottsdale National Golf Club. They are building new 9 and 18 hole golf courses in addition to the current 18 hole course. They are moving an incredible amount of dirt to contour the land into a more undulating area for the golf courses.

Caterpillar has one of their 14M3 Motor graders working on this project and that’s where we got involved. While I was shooting video of the 14M3 working, Jan was shooting all the still photography. Shooting the video takes so much time and it’s very hard for me to do both things in such a short amount of time, so it worked out great having Jan shoot the still photography!

Here’s this week’s photos from the Scottsdale National Golf Club and these are some of Jan’s photos from that day!

It’s time for us to get to work, we’re in town for a couple of days and then back on the road next week. We hope that you’re going to have a great rest of the week and thanks as always for checking out our (and this case Jan’s) work!

Kev and Jan

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Monday morning Arizona greetings to one and all!

Well it was one crazy busy week this last week and the craziness is continuing this week!!!

We had a pretty big three day shoot last week that was very last minute for a project that was so involved. The shoot had three different locations with models and props, so there was a lot of coordinating to make everything come together. Fortunately for us, the weather cooperated and we were able to pull everything off! We’ll be sharing photos in a few weeks when everything is out on the web!

We did a shoot recently for the Hearth restaurant in Peoria Heights and I have to tell you that it’s a really nice place! The shoot involved the staff along with some food photography and some photos of the restaurant. One of the things that I love about shooting food photography is that sometimes you get to try some of the food. In this case we did and it’s out of this world! Do yourself a favor if you haven’t tried this place and check it out and I don’t think you’ll be disappointed!

Here’s a few of our snaps from Hearth!

It’s time to run, we’ve got a shoot to do! If you’re traveling this coming Memorial Day weekend as we are, have a very safe trip!

Thanks as always!

Kev and Jan

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Monday morning Peoria greetings to one and all!!!

Well the weather sure hasn’t been all that nice the last couple of weeks in Peoria. It’s been cold and rainy and I’m starting to sound like a broken record!!!

One of the things that we have been waiting on is the weather and having it been cold and damp, things have been a little slow to green up in Central Illinois. The grass in my yard has been growing, but some of the trees are a little late to the game when it comes to having leaves on the trees. I’ve got a number of shoots where we have been in a holding pattern waiting for things to green up so we can get out and shoot some outdoor shots for clients. Well things really started happening last week and the trees looked pretty good. One of the clients that we’ve been trying to help out is the Peoria Park District. PPD was wanting to get some photos of Kellogg and Madison golf courses for new scorecards. Last Friday ended up being the perfect day and we jumped at the chance to get things knocked out for them! It was sunny and cool with the temps in the 50’s, but it was a perfect day to get out and shoot!

Here’s a couple of the shots from Madison and Kellogg golf courses for the Peoria Park District.

We’ve got a very busy week coming up, so we’re going to get things started! We hope that you have a great week and also thanks for checking out our work!!!!

Kev and Jan

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Monday morning Peoria greetings to one and all!

We had another good week this past week with a number of fun shoots and that sure makes life a whole lot easier! It’s always good to have work, so we are very grateful that the phone continues to ring with calls about work.

We did a shoot recently for a new client that most of you probably have never heard of unless you’re a firefighter or a fan of Indy Car racing. The company is called Holmatro and one of the many products that they make are hydraulic tools for firefighters and rescue crews. When there is a motor vehicle accident and people are trapped inside and they need to be extracted from the vehicle, tools like cutters and spreaders along with hydraulic pumps allow these rescue crews to get in and open up a vehicle by cutting away metal and doors to facilitate a safer rescue. Holmatro has come out with some new versions of these tools and we were asked to shoot some photos of the tools with firefighters and rescue crews. The other fun thing that we got to shoot was some of these tools in action and to see the sheer force that they have to cut and move metal is impressive to say the least!

Here’s one of our shots with one of the firefighters holding a Holmatro spreader with a Holmatro ram inside the car.

We hope that you have a great week and thanks for checking out our work!

Kev and Jan

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Monday morning Peoria greetings to one and all!!!

I’ve talked before about how much joy there is for Jan and I to take a drive out in the country. There’s just something very calming about driving on the two lane roads through farm country and seeing the sights. It’s also great to see something that you’d like to shoot a few photos of and then take a few moments to stop and grab a few snaps.

A couple of Saturday’s ago we headed South from Peoria along the Illinois River for a nice Saturday drive and wanted to seek out any photo opportunities that we might come across. One of the places that we stopped to shoot some photos was Jacksonville, Illinois. It’s about a half hour due West on I-72 from Springfield, Illinois. I’ve been to Jacksonville a number of times, but never stopped in the downtown area. I’m glad that we made the effort to see downtown because I was very impressed by how nice it was. They’ve got a big square in the center of town and lots of little shops and restaurants around the square. We were able to walk around and shoot some photos and really had a great time. There’s lots of interesting old buildings and history in the town and I think that we just scratched the surface on everything going on there. I know that we’ll be making a trip back down at some point to walk around again with our cameras and shoot some more photos!

Here’s a couple of our snaps from a Saturday in the park at Jacksonville, Il.

Thanks for taking the time to check out work and we hope that you have a great week!!!

Kev and Jan

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Monday morning Peoria greetings to one and all!!!

We’re still rocking and rolling with shoots and editing last week and again this week, so we can’t complain!

About six years ago I was traveling through Snyder, Texas and came across this old abandoned gas station. I was thinking about stopping and shooting a few photos and after driving down the road a few miles and debating with myself to stop or not, I turned around and went back to the old station and took a few photos. A couple of years ago, I was in the area of Snyder, Texas again and I had a new lens that I wanted to try out on that same old gas station. When I got to the place where the gas station was, it was long gone and a new store was there in its place. I learned a very valuable lesson that day that when you see something like that, you better get some shots because you don’t know if it will be there the next time you stop by! Here’s one of the photos that I snapped on my first visit to that old gas station, so I was glad I made the time when I did! https://www.flickr.com/photos/kevinmay/4123830356

Jan and I were heading down along Rt. 24 just South of Bartonville, Il. a week ago and saw a crane (with a wrecking-ball) next to the old Allied Miles plant along the road. It’s been abandoned for as long as I can remember and I’ve always thought about getting some photos, but never have had the time when I’ve driven by. Seeing that crane made me think that we’d better get over there sooner rather than later and shoot some photos before the place was torn down. We made some time last week on a perfect morning and were able to get a few photos and videos and I’m glad that we did because I don’t know how long it’s going to be there!

Here’s a couple of our photos of the old Allied Mills plant in Bartonville, Il.

It’s time to get busy, so thanks for checking out our work and we hope that you have a great week to come!

Kev and Jan

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Monday morning Peoria greetings to one and all!

Jan and I had another rocking week this past week and that’s always very nice. We had a nice mix of shoots from stills to video along with some video editing as well. We also started shooting on our first pro bono charity video project and we will have a few more shoots in the coming weeks and then we’ll put it together and can share it at some point once it airs on TV and social media.

It’s great to travel overseas and see different countries, but we have so many great places here in the US that you really would never have to travel abroad if you didn’t want to. We have so many different regions of the US from the big cities on the East Coast to the Gulf Coast to the Rocky Mountains to the Desert Southwest to the Pacific Northwest and all points and places in between. There is something for everyone, so get in the car or on a plane and check it out!

We are sharing a few photos from our East Coast trip a month ago and this week’s photos are from Charleston, SC. What a wonderful city and so much to see and to do! Lots of great food and beverages as well!!! 🙂 We were only there for a couple of days on this trip and so we tried to hit some of the places that we hadn’t seen when we were there for the first time in 2012. It won’t be our last trip to Charleston and I know that we’ll be back again at some point down the road!!!

Here’s a few of our snaps from a couple of great days in Charleston!

Thanks as always for checking out our work and we hope that you have a great week!!!

Kev and Jan

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Monday morning Peoria greetings to all!

This past week I wrapped up another year of being my own boss and I still can’t believe it! It was in April of 1990 when I decided to take the plunge and take on the challenge of being self employed and I haven’t looked back! At the time it was a very scary thing to do to be giving up the security of having a full time job and a steady paycheck to take a chance on making your own business. I was very blessed that things started out good with the business and clients hired me and got me going so that I could make it. I’m still amazed that after all these years we are still rocking and rolling. There have been so many changes with how as a photographer we made the switch from shooting film to digital and now to have added shooting video to the mix! What a photographer did and how it was done when I started has forever changed to what we are doing now, but you have to embrace the change and move forward or you’ll be left behind!

Jan and I have another couple of photos to share from the Savannah, Ga. area from a few weeks ago. Tybee Island is just down the road from Savannah and it’s a great place to have some great food and a few cold beers too! One of our favorite things to photograph are lighthouses and we’ve seen a few in our travels. Tybee Island has a great one and you can see it for miles. Here’s a couple of our shots of the Tybee Island Lighthouse.

A big thanks and a shout out to all the clients who have supported me all these 26 years and I’m incredibly thankful to be doing something that I truly enjoy doing! I couldn’t have done it without you!!! 🙂

We hope that you have a great week and year 27 starts today, so we better get busy!!!

Thanks again!

Kev and Jan

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Monday morning Peoria greetings to one and all!

I’m guessing that everyone is probably back to work today from spring break and ready to get at it! We had a busy week this past week, but not so crazy busy that we couldn’t get caught up on some things! It’s never good to be so busy that day to day things aren’t getting done and you end up spending the weekend trying to get caught up only to be right back in the frying pan on Monday morning once again! This past week was great because we had some shoots and video editing sessions and also had time to get some much needed paperwork done and didn’t have to work the weekend! Yea!

This week we are sharing a really fun tv commercial that we did for Cupi’s Motor Mall in Pekin, Il. About a month ago we featured some still photos on the Monday morning promo from that same shoot of the new Polaris Slingshot. Today we’ll be featuring the new video from that same shoot.

Shooting the still photos was relatively easy because we were looking for cool angles and we’re not trying to show motion in the shots. The biggest challenge for the tv commercials was that we were shooting in Central Illinois in late February and needless to say shooting outside with these vehicles wasn’t possible with the weather. We were wanting to give these spots a lot of energy, so shooting in the showroom really made that challenge a 1000 times harder. I knew that we would have to create the energy that we needed in the editing of the spot and once we got all the footage shot in the showroom, we were able to get everything into the computer and create the energy that we needed!

Here’s one of the first sizzle spots that we created for Cupi’s Motor Mall and the new Slingshot.

Thanks as always for checking out our work and we hope that you have a great week to come!

Kev and Jan  

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Monday morning Peoria greetings to one and all!

It’s Easter week and I have a feeling that there’s going to be a lot of people off of work and school taking advantage of the spring break! I was out at the airport on Saturday picking up some of my photo gear that didn’t make it back with me on a late Thursday night flight from Canada because of weather issues and I saw a bunch of families all packed up and excited and ready to head out on vacation, so I’m sure there’s going to be a bunch of people traveling this week!

A few weeks ago Jan and I were down along the South East coast and these past few weeks we’ve been sharing some of the photos from that trip! This week’s photos are from the Garden City of Savannah, Georgia. As always, we had a great time walking around checking out the city and shooting photos. The photo that I’m sharing is from the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist and Jan’s photo is from the Telfair Academy building at the Telfair Museums.

If your Easter week includes some travel, have a safe journey! For the rest of us we’ll be holding down the fort while you’re gone! Have a great week and thanks for checking out our work!

Kev and Jan

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