Tag Archives: USA

DAL

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Monday morning Peoria greetings to one and all!!!

Wow, this is it, the last week of summer is upon us and it’s going to be a hot one here in Peoria! The heat index will be well over 100 degrees today and we really haven’t had that kind of heat this summer! We’ve had our warm days, but thankfully most of the summer was relatively mild and that was great! The good thing is that after a few hot days, this should be the last of the really hot weather!!!

One of my oldest clients here in Peoria is one of those companies that you’ve probably never heard of unless your a dentist. DAL or Dental Arts Laboratories has been in Peoria since 1934 and they make all kinds of dental products that our dentists use to make our smiles better! If you go to DAL’s website, you’ll see my photos of the different products that DAL makes. This past week we were able to go into the labs and shoot some working shots of the different things that were going on and the people making it happen! It’s probably one of the best parts of what I do is to go and see the behind the scenes workings of a business like this. There are a lot of people that work at DAL and to be able to see what they are doing to make there different products is very interesting to me!

Here’s a few of my shots from this past week with my friends at DAL!

Labor Day Weekend is coming this weekend, so if you’re going to be traveling for the holiday, have a great time and have safe travels!!!!!!

Thanks and have a great week to come!!!

Kev

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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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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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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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kmcft8june14

Stax Museum of American Soul Music and 300,000 hits

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

I’m always blown away by the number of views that I get on my photography on the Flickr web site. Last September I hit 200k views and now here we are just eight months later and I’ve hit another 100k views and that to me is amazing. I’ve got over 3700 photos in 14 different categories on a wide variety of subjects! If you’ve never checked it out or haven’t been there been to the site in awhile, here’s a link for the different albums. https://www.flickr.com/photos/kevinmay/sets/

Over the Memorial Day weekend a week ago, beside checking out the Metal Museum, we also went to the Stax Museum of American Soul Music. This is another one of the many great things to see in Memphis, Tn. and well worth your time if you enjoy all kinds of music! I remember listening to AM radio when I was a kid and listening to Otis Redding to Isaac Hayes to Booker T. and the MG’s to the Staple Singers all on the Stax record label. The Museum presents all the different artists from the Stax label, but also covers the history of soul music from Detroit to Chicago. One of the things that I really enjoyed was reading and hearing the stories of the different artists and where they came from and who were their influences in music. The Museum has done a really nice job in presenting the material and the displays are fabulous! It’s another one of those places that’s worth checking out when you’re in Memphis the next time!

Here’s a few of my shots from an afternoon spent at the Stax Museum of American Soul Music!

I hope that you’re going to have a great week as always and thanks for taking the time to check out my photos!!!

Kev

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The Metal Museum

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Memorial Monday greetings from Memphis, Tn.

Hopefully you have had a good and safe Memorial Day weekend!!!!

We were able to spend the Memorial weekend down here in Memphis and as always it’s a wonderful time! Lots to see and do and also lots of great food!!!! We are always looking for new things to do where ever we go and this time found a great new place to check out. The National Ornamental Metal Museum or The Metal Museum as it’s also know is in Memphis and it’s a very interesting place. The museum is a campus of small buildings with a couple of buildings just showing art work. There’s also a working foundry and blacksmith shop as well, so there is lots to see and do! We were lucky to catch a blacksmith doing his thing working with some iron making some decorative pieces for a gate. This is one of those places that we had never heard about in all of our years coming to Memphis! Do yourself a favor and check it out if you’re ever in the Mid South!!!!!

Here’s a few of my photos from the day at the Metal Museum!!!!

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

Kev

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kmcmm25may14

San Diego

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

Here we are a week away from Memorial Day weekend and it’s always amazing how fast time files!!!! It seems like just yesterday it was Easter and now here we are at the official start of summer. I’m not one to complain about having a three day weekend to regroup and relax!!!!

About a month ago I was out in Phoenix on a shoot and I was able to scoot over to San Diego for a couple of days! It’s always nice to get out to that part of the country and with the weather being so nice, I wasn’t complaining!!!!! There’s lots to see and lots of fun to be had as well in San Diego!!! I was able to hit Kona’s Surf Club Cafe and Balboa Park and really enjoyed shooting photos while I was there as well! I’ve attached a few photos from my time in SoCal for you to check out!

I hope that you’ll have a great week to come and Memorial Day weekend as well!!!! If you’re going to be out on the roads next weekend, be safe and have a fun time!!!!

Thanks as always!!!!!!

Kev

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kmcsd18may14a

It’s that time of year!!!

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

Well it is that time of year when graduations from schools are in full bloom! The hard work of school is over for a lot of these students and they are ready to join the rest of us out in the real world of work!

I was shooting photos this past Saturday at Spoon River College’s annual graduation. One of the things that I really like about the way that they end the graduation is by having all the professors line up on either side of the departing students. You’ll see high fives, hugs and tears from the graduates and professors alike and it’s really a very great way to end the ceremony! This year I saw all of the nursing students had decorated their graduation caps with some bling and other goodies! Here’s one of my photos from Saturday with the nursing graduates, professors and the crowd of family and friends!!!!

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

Kev

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kmcsrc11may14

Christmas is coming!!!

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

Here we are just a little over two weeks before Christmas and it’s hard to believe that it’s coming up this fast! I’m just amazing how quickly this year has flown by and it seems like just yesterday it was Labor Day weekend! I guess the saying about how time flies the older that you get seems to be true in my case! Well with Christmas just a few weeks away and just around the corner 2014 is less then a month away! Amazing!!!!

I was out shooting this past weekend and one of the things that I wanted to try to get was a Christmas tree shot and I found the perfect one out at the Shoppes at Grand Prairie. They’ve got a 25 foot Christmas tree that is all decked out with lights and a incredible sound system! From 5:00pm to 9:30pm every night, there is a light and sound show that can only be described as a mini version of the Freemont Street Experience in Las Vegas. The tree goes through a light show as an assortment of music is playing and it’s very neat! If you’re out that way in the next couple of weeks, it’s worth the time to see it and check out the show!

Here’s one of my shots from Saturday night!

It’s time to get to work today, so I hope that you’re going to have a wonderful week!!!! Thanks as well for checking out my work!!!!

Kev

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