Bringing in the crops!!!

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Monday morning Peoria greetings to one and all,

Well it’s that time of year when the farmers are out in full force here in the Midwest getting their crops in! If you’ve traveled at all in farm country, you’ve seen the combines out working in the fields. The weather here in the Peoria area has been perfect for harvesting and we haven’t had much rain so the farmers have been working day and night! They have to take advantage of the good weather because they’d like to get their crops in before the weather turns and the rain will keep them out of the fields!

Here’s one of my snaps of a glorious day of sun and dry weather for our farmers! The numbers should be good and the grain bins will be full!!!!!

It’s time to get to work, so I hope that you’re going to have a great week ahead!!!!

Kev

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The Moody Blues

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

Shooting bands in clubs and concerts is something that I’ve always enjoyed doing! For the last number of years, I haven’t had the time or opportunity to do it and it’s something that I’ve really missed! I got my chance to get back into the game this past week in Peoria to shoot the Moody Blues at the Peoria Civic Center. Those of you under 30 probably won’t know who this band is, but to those of us in that 50 and over range, we know all about the band!

I was shooting photos for Frank Productions out of Madison, Wisconsin who was promoting the MB show here in Peoria! The concert was in the Civic Center Theater and they had a sold out show!!!! It was my first time shooting in the theater having seen a number of shows there as part of the audience. One of the challenges is that with any press pass, you can shoot the first three songs and then you’re done! You’ve got to make sure that you get your shots and at most you have 15 minutes of time to get those shots! The other challenge in shooting at the PCC theater is that you can’t get in front of the stage since they have seating there, so it’s either stage right or stage left to get your shots! There’s no time to mess around with a gig like this!!!!! 🙂

The band came out and right out of the box starting cranking out some of their hits! While they were singing and playing I was working on getting my photos! I think that I got a number of good snaps and here are some of my shots from this past Monday night!

It’s another busy week for me, so I’ve got to get rocking and rolling!!!!!! I hope that you’re going to have a great week to come and thanks as always for checking out my work!!!!

Kev

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“Muscle on Main”

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

I was able to get over to Morton, Illinois this past Saturday for the 7th annual “Muscle on Main” strongman competition, It’s the first time that I’ve had the chance to watch this event since I’ve been out of town in past years. They shut down a block on Main St. in Morton and they set up a bunch of different challenges for these tough men and women! It was raining for a good part of the event, so for safety they didn’t have all of the events. What I did see was amazing! One of the events that I have featured in this promo was the “yoke” carrying of two full sized refrigerators. The object to to pick up the yoke and carry those refrigerators 20 yards in the quickest time possible. Some of the bigger contestants we’re able to do this fairly quickly and others that were a little smaller had a heck of a time! In those cases it was pure guts and determination that would get them through it. You can see the pain that they were going through to get the yoke picked up and then walk with it! Oh by the way, the whole rig weighted over 500 pounds!!!! That’s crazy!!!!!!!!

The other event that I shot was the “Conan’s Wheel” and for this challenge, the contestants had a long steel bar that had a Ninja motorcycle as the weight that they had to move. The object was to see how many times they could carry this motorcycle in a circle. The one interesting thing is that when they started, the bar that they were carrying was up by their neck and as it the motorcycle got heavier and heavier, the bar would drop lower and lower in their arms until they couldn’t hold it anymore! Amazing to watch!!!!!!

Here’s a few of my snaps from the 7th annual “Muscle on Main”!

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

Kev

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Shooting stock!!!

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

It was quite the whirlwind week for me this past week!!!! A Monday driving trip to Mississippi for gig on Tuesday and then driving back to Peoria on Wednesday for shoot that afternoon. On Thursday a long day with a shoot in St. Louis and then on Friday a shoot in Peoria and then in Springfield, Il. in the afternoon!!!! Woo! I haven’t been that busy since I don’t know when!!!!! It’s always good to be needed!!!!!

On my Thursday gig in St. Louis, I was shooting for a new client and we were shooting a bunch of stock photography which is always fun! The thing that’s great about that is there are some general ideas and concepts that we are trying to shoot, but nothing that we shoot is so ridged that we can’t play and experiment with the shots and the photography! The main focus of this stock shoot was nutrition, food labeling, calorie counts on menus and healthy lifestyles. We were able to do a number of different scenarios and locations and I couldn’t have been happier with what we were able to accomplish!!!!! All and all a very good shoot and the client’s going to have a ton of stock photos to use for years to come!!!!!

Here’s a few of our snaps from this past Thursday for our health and nutrition stock shoot!!!!!!

I hope that you’re going to have a great week to come and thanks as always for taking the time to see what I’m up to and what I’ve been shooting!!!!!!!!

Kev

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Cars ‘n Art

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Monday morning Peoria greetings to one and all!

We had one of the most perfect weather weekends here in Peoria for this year! The temperature was in the low 70’s and there was nothing but sunshine and blue skies!!! It was one of those weekends after a hot humid summer when it’s nice to have the windows open and the air conditioning turned off!!!! It also helps on the electricity bill! 🙂

Pretty much any weekend in Central Illinois, there is some sort of activity going on, so I don’t know how people can say that there’s nothing to do! At the new Levee District in East Peoria, they had the 1st annual “Cars ‘n Art” show and from the number of people that I saw there I would say that it was a huge success. They had a number of Central Illinois artists and a car cruise-in. Needless to say, I was drawn to the cars and that’s no shocker! One of the things that I really liked is that they had a very wide variety of cars from different eras and that really made it fun! Seeing some of the older cars from the 40’s and 50’s and their style always attracts me and makes for a lot of very interesting photos.

Here’s a few of my snaps from the 1st annual “Cars ‘n Art” event!

Have a great week to come and thanks as always for taking the time to check out my work!!!!

Kev

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200,000 hits and SRV!!!

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

I’ve had my photos on a website called Flickr since March of 2006 and it’s been a great place for me to share my images! I shared a post back in December of 2011 about how my 2400 photos had passed the 100,000 view mark. It took me five and a half years for me to reach 100,000 views. Now here we are less then two years later and my 3339 photos have passed the 200,000 view mark. It’s amazing to me and it also shows me just how much we as a society are migrating to the web for everything that we do! One of the things that I like is that people can go to my Flickr site and see a wide variety of photography that I enjoy shooting! Here’s a link for the 14 different sets of photos that I have on Flickr, so just pick a subject and enjoy some of my work! http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevinmay/sets

Back in July I was down in Texas for a shoot and I was able to spend a day in Austin before I flew home. In Austin down at their riverfront, they’ve got a statue for their hometown boy, blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughn. I was able to get out and get a few shots of SRV’s statue at night with downtown Austin in the background. I’ve also paired that photo with one that I shot of SRV here in Peoria almost 30 years ago!!! Yes, I have been around for awhile!!! 🙂

Here’s my photos of Stevie Ray Vaughn back in 1984 and today in Austin, Tx.

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

Kev

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It’s that time of year!!!

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Monday morning Peoria greetings to one and all,
Yes it’s that time of year when football is back and it’s a glorious time of the year! The high schools and colleges started playing last weekend and this weekend the NFL kicked off their season. I felt a little guilty watching my beloved Chicago Bears on Sunday being such a nice sunny day in Peoria, but I couldn’t miss the first game of the season. On a yucky rainy day it’s one thing to be a couch potato and watch all the ball games and I don’t feel too guilty, but on a good day I do just a little bit!!!! 🙂 It’s going to be fun watching all the games this season and I’m looking forward to it!!!

I was shooting for my friends at Schutt Sports recently and we shot a bunch of football shots! It’s always fun and challenging to come up with some different ways to showcase the different Schutt products. We’ve got a good team working on these shots and it shows in the shots that we are getting! It’s fun to be able to do lighting and create some mood and drama to these photos!
Here’s a few of my shots from the day shooting for Schutt Sports.

It’s time for the big push for the next few months before Thanksgiving and I’m ready to rock!!!!!

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

Kev

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Tee it up!!!!!!!!

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Labor Day Monday morning St. Louis greetings to one and all!!!!!!

For all my friends here in the USA, I hope that you’re having a wonderful Labor Day weekend!!!!

This past Monday I was out shooting photos for the 2013 “Tee it up for the troops” charity event in Peoria. This was the fifth year that the event has been in Peoria and in those five years, the Peoria area has raised over one million dollars for this great charity!!! We have so many great charities here in Central Illinois and it always amazes me just how generous this area is to all of these organizations! For a smaller town like Peoria, we do pretty darn good!

For those that haven’t been to this event, it’s now held at two local golf courses, the Country Club of Peoria and also Mt. Hawley Country Club. At both courses in the morning they have about 240 veterans at each course that play golf and then have a great lunch and dinner as well (no charge for any of that for the Veterans)! In the afternoon, all the golfers are paying to play and help support the charity. At lunch time at both courses they have ceremonies that honor the veterans and also the active duty military that have and do keep us safe and free! As everyone is playing golf, there is lot of fun and laughs (and a occasional swear word for a bad shot), but when the ceremony is happening and then the trumpeter plays Taps, you realize why we are all there and what the event is all about!!!!

Here’s a couple of my snaps from this years Tee it up event!!!!

Thanks as always for checking out my work and I hope that the rest of your Labor Day weekend is a safe and fun one!!!!!

Kev

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That was fast!!!

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Monday morning Peoria greetings to all my friends around the globe!!!!!

Wow, for my friends here in the US, this coming weekend is Labor Day weekend and that’s the last big weekend to signal the end of summer!!!! The kids are back in school and the college kids at Bradley University were moving in this past Saturday. The high schools and colleges will start playing football this coming weekend, so fall is coming! I’m just always amazed at how fast time flies the older that I get. It seems like it was just yesterday and it was Memorial Day weekend! Wow!!!

Here’s one of my quick snaps from last month when I was shooting a gig down in Texas! I’m always glad to have road trips, but Texas in July is a little toasty!!!! It would be nice to go back there in November or December when things are a whole lot cooler there and here in Peoria as well!!!! This night shot is of the state capital in Austin and the thing that I like about it is that they have a underground walk way for the Texas state legislators. I’m thinking it’s a security thing and also a much cooler way to walk in the summer time!

If you’re traveling this coming Labor Day Weekend, make it a safe one!!!! Have a great time as well and bid summer a fond farewell!!!!

Thanks as always for checking out my work and I really do appreciate it!!!!

Kev

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Women of Faith

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Monday morning Peoria greetings to one and all,

I’ve been working with the Peoria Civic Center this past month documenting some of the events going on and also working on new fresh photos for them to use in their marketing materials. This past weekend the PCC hosted the “Women of Faith” conference in the arena. There were thousands of women there listening to a wide variety of spiritual messengers and it was pretty neat to see! When I first walked into the arena I thought I had walked into a full blown rock and roll concert. An amazing set up with incredible lights, sound system and video projection! First rate to say the least and a very well thought out and produced show!!!!

Here’s a few of snaps from the Peoria stop of the “Women of Faith” 2013 tour.

I hope that you’re going to have a wonderful week and thanks for taking the time to check out my work!

Kev

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