Ignite Peoria 2014

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Monday morning Peoria greetings to one and all,

We had quite a art event here in Peoria this past weekend. It was the first year for Ignite Peoria 2014 and in essence it was created to jump start the Peoria community in the world of art. This event has been in the works for a long time and I can’t even begin to imagine how much work went into this.

It was a real smorgasbord of things going on durning the Ignite event on Saturday; music to theatre to the visual arts. There really was something for everyone and that’s always good to see! The other thing that I liked is that they had a lot of activities for the kids to do and to get involved with and that was a big part of this event. It seems with kids having so many activities like sports and school stuff, to get them off of the computer or video games is a good thing!

One of the activities that I really enjoyed seeing and photographing was some of the different “world” dancers. They had everything from little kids to adults dressing in their native countries garb. They had their music and would do a traditional dance and it was wonderful! I just loved the colors of all the costumes!

Here’s one of my snaps from the first Ignite Peoria event.

I hope that you’re going to have a great week to come and thanks for checking out my work!!!

Kev

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kmcip11aug14

The summer is rolling along!

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Monday morning Peoria greetings to one and all!

I know as I get older that time for me seems to go faster and faster. In my mind it seems like it was just a month ago and we here in Peoria were a foot deep in snow and thinking that winter would never end. Fast forward six months and this summer is almost over. I saw people at the store yesterday loading up on all the back to school stuff for the kids and it sounds like in the next couple of weeks they will be heading back to school! We’re a month away from the Labor Day weekend and that has always been the traditional end of the summer. Before we know it, we’ll be back to the foot of snow in Peoria!

Despite time seeming to be moving faster everyday for me, I still wake up and try to make everyday the best day that it can be. I don’t want to waste a moment of time in my life and look back with regrets for things that I didn’t do. I put on my smile to start the day and make the most out of each and everyday!

Here’s one of my summer shots at the Heart of Illinois Fair a few weeks ago and it’s part of enjoying every moment of time!

I hope that you’re going to have a wonderful week to come and thanks as always for taking the time to view my photos!

Kev

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kmc3aug14

Spotlighting Peoria

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Monday mid-morning Peoria greetings to one and all!!!

I’ve been a busy little beaver this past week. I’m doing some charity work for the United Way on a project for them and we got some good shots this past week and I know we’ll be getting some more good snaps this week as well!

The other project that I’m working on is one for the Peoria Convention and Visitors Bureau and this one will be going on for the next year. What we are trying to do is to step up the quality of the PACVB library of images that they use to help promote the Central Illinois area. We have a really good story to tell here in Peoria for visitors that come to the city to see places like the Peoria Riverfront Museum or the Caterpillar Visitors Center. We’ve also got visitors coming for different events like the TT motorcycle races or the IHSA boys basketball tournament. There are also a number of great hotels and restaurants, so we really have a lot going for our area!

One of the other areas that the PACVB is working on is the convention business. I shot some photos at the Growmark convention at the Peoria Civic Center this past week. Getting big conventions like this is huge for not only the Peoria Civic Center, but also the Peoria area. A lot of local business also benefit from these conventions as well like the hotels, restaurants, gas stations and shopping centers. This is why PACVB is working hard to get more conventions like Growmark to come here to Central Illinois.

Here’s one of my shots of the entire ballroom for the Growmark convention at the Peoria Civic Center and you can see just how big of a deal that this is!

Thanks as always for checking out my work and I hope that you have a great rest of the week!!!

Kev

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kmcpcc22july14

Let’s take a dip in the pool!

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Monday morning greetings to one and all!!!!

With all of the great weather that we’ve had in Peoria these past few weeks, there’s been a lot of opportunities for shooting photography outside. When it gets nice like that, you really have to jump on it and take advantage of the nice weather because you don’t know how long it’s going to be before it’s nice once again to be shooting photos.

I’ve been working with Russ Hinderliter at San Juan Pools for a long time now and we will go around and shoot photos of some of their unique pool projects. Russ and his team really do a nice job on everything from the smallest of projects to the bigger ones that I’m featuring today! For me it’s really a lot of fun to see what they have designed and then come up with the best way to capture the project and make it look good!

There is a trade publication called “Pool & Spa News” and they are going to be featuring one of San Juan Pools latest projects in the next issue. It will be in their annual “Masters of Design” issue and as you can see in my photo, rightfully so!!! Here’s one of the images from our shoot and this night shot has to be my favorite from our shoot!!!!!

Thanks as always for checking out my work and have a great week to come!!!!

Kev

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kmcsjp21july14

New York City skyline at night

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Monday morning Peoria greetings to one and all!!!!

I was out in New York City a few weeks ago for a very quick photo shoot. It was the first time that I had been in NYC in over 45 years, so it’s been awhile!!! We had a great shoot for the client and that always makes you feel good! One of the other things that I always like to do as well is to get a night shot of a city skyline if possible. Sometimes things don’t work out and stuff comes up and you just can’t work it in, but that wasn’t the case for this night shot. We had a perfect location for a shot of the NYC skyline and the weather cooperated as well. Knowing that we had everything in place for a good photo, I felt pretty confident that we would come away with something good! Needless to say, I wasn’t disappointed with the results!

One of the other things that I was able to do as well besides the panoramic skyline photo was a time-lapse of the sun going down and the lights of the city coming up! Here’s a link for that time-lapse on YouTube and you’ll really like this!!!

Here’s my panoramic image of the New York City skyline at night. You’re look at Manhattan and the financial district on the left along with the Brooklyn Bridge and on the right of the photo is the Manhattan Bridge.

Thanks for checking out my work this week and I hope that you have a great week to come!!!! 🙂

Kev

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The Rave is back and better then ever!!!

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Monday morning Peoria greetings to one and all!

I’m hoping that you were able to have a very wonderful and safe 4th of July weekend! These long weekends sure are nice and when you have the beautiful weather that we had here in Central Illinois for the weekend, that makes it’s even better!

Back in the middle of March I shared a promo about a band that I shot some pictures of called The Rave. Here’s the post from March if you’d like to refresh your memory http://blog.kevinmay.com/2014/03/17/were-getting-the-band-back-together/ I’ve been taking photos of these guys for over 25 years now and we’ve had a lot of fun along the way. We got together back in March of this year to shoot some promo photos since the guys would were getting back together and would be playing some live shows this summer. As always we had a lot of fun doing those promo photos.

The guys had their first live gig this past Thursday down in Pekin, Il. and it was great to see them perform and hear them playing live! It was there first live performance in 25 years for The Rave and I think that they picked right up where they left off! They played a couple of sets and it was everything from the Beatles to the 2000’s. It was a bit of a time machine to hear those songs that I remember so well and to see the energy that they put into their show! They are still kicking it out all these years later and they aren’t done yet! Here’s a few of my snaps from Pekin, Il. with The Rave

Well it’s time for all of us to get back to work after the 4th weekend! I hope that you have a very wonderful week to come and thanks for checking out my work as always!!!!!

Kev

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kmcrave7july14a

Day and Night PIA!

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Monday morning Peoria greetings to one and all!

Well it’s one of those holiday weekends coming up that’s a long weekend and that means this week is a short work week for most of us! The 4th of July is this coming Friday and I know that a lot of you will be traveling or are already traveling for the holiday! Make it a safe one on your travels and also make it a fun one! I know that having a long weekend sure is nice and we can put work aside for a couple of days and have a little fun is even better!!!!

I’m always very proud of Peoria and I think we have a great city here in the Midwest! Last year we won the All-American city for the fourth time in the history of those awards! There’s lots going on in Peoria and also a lot to see and do!!!! We should all be proud that the city is moving forward and not remaining stagnate! The Peoria skyline along the Illinois River has always been a wonderful view from across the river in East Peoria and it’s fun to watch the sun go down and see the lights of city come up!

Here’s a day and night shot of our city!!!!

I hope that you have a safe and wonderful 4th of July this coming weekend and thanks as always for checking out my work!!!! 🙂

Kev

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kmcpia21june14a

No words!

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Monday morning greetings from New York City!

I’m out East for a quick gig this week in New York City. We got in on Sunday and had some time to walk around and see the city. I think the last time I was here was 45 years ago, so it’s been awhile. Getting out and walking across the Brooklyn Bridge from Manhattan to Brooklyn was pretty neat and to see everyone out on a beautiful Sunday afternoon was pretty good! There was a lot of activity and people were out enjoying the wonderful weather and enjoying life.

The hotel that we are staying at is in the financial district of the city and we are about five blocks from ground zero. On Sunday night we walked over to see the 9/11 memorial. I don’t think I could come to the city and not get over to see it. There really aren’t any words that can describe the area and the memorial. For someone like me that’s not from the city, it’s not like I can come to the memorial and remember what different buildings were there before the attacks. To me the memorial is a place of solitude and remembrance! I hope it is a place that people will visit and never forget what happened there on September 11, 2001.

Here’s a few of my snaps from the 9/11 memorial in New York City. In the vertical shot you can see the new Freedom Tower in the background of the 9/11 memorial.

Thanks so much for taking the time to view my work and it’s very much appreciated by me!

Kev

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kmcny23june14a

2014 Canton Cruise-In

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Monday morning Peoria greetings to one and all!!!!

This past Friday in Central Illinois we had weather that can best be described as “Chamber of Commerce” type weather. For those of you that haven’t heard that phrase it means a day that is so nice and perfect that people visiting the city would want to move there because the day was so beautiful and comfortable! So to have a day in Central Illinois in June that was Sunny, low humidity and 75 degree temperatures is just about perfect! Well this past Friday was one of those days and it was a perfect day for a car cruise in!!!

This is the second year that I have made it down to Canton, Il. for their annual “Cruise-In”. They had a great turnout of cars and it takes up a good portion of the downtown area! It’s a nice show in the sense is it’s not all the same types of cars, so there’s a great variety from old to new! One of my biggest challenges as a photographer and shooting this for the second time is to try and come away with photos that are different from last years photos. I did see a fair number of cars from last year, so I tried to look at them in a different light and come up with some angles and looks that were different. That’s a great challenge, but it’s also a lot of fun! Here’s a link from last years Cruise-In and you can see how I approached the photos and then compare them to this year! http://blog.kevinmay.com/2013/06/17/canton-cruise-in/

Here are this years photos from the 2014 Canton Cruise-In! I hope you like what you see!!!

Thanks as always for taking the time to view my work and it’s very much appreciated by me!!!! Have a great week to come as always!!!!!!

Kev

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kmccci16june14a

Utah Rt. 128

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Monday morning Peoria greetings to one and all!

When I was out West in April, I got to drive one of my favorite drives! Rt.128 in Utah is one of the most fun drives you’ll ever have in a car or on a motorcycle. About an hour and half west of Grand Junction, Co. along I-70 is where you’ll find Rt. 128. This is one of the roads that will take you to Moab, Ut and it’s probably the most spectacular route! When you leave I-70 and head south on Rt. 128 the area is fairly flat and level. Off in the distance you can see the La Sal Mountains and after about 15 miles, you reach the Colorado River and that’s where the fun begins! Rt. 128 will follow the Colorado River for the most part all the way down to Moab, Ut. about 25 miles away. The thing that is so much fun is that you are in the canyon of the Colorado River and on either side of you is cliffs that are over 2000 feet high. The colors of the blue sky and the red of the sandstone rock is incredible. By the time you reach Moab, you’re ready to turn around and do it again!

Here’s one of my shots from the drive to Moab, Utah along Rt. 128. In this shot you’ll see the Fisher Towers formation on the left with the snow covered La Sal Mountains in the background!

I hope that you have a great week and thanks as always and thanks for checking out my photo!!!!!

Kev

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