Yes, it’s been a while. Blame lack of inspiration. Credit for this inspiration goes to my wife and her sister who made a play date for me with a photo expert and physician, Dr. Elsburgh Clarke.

Dr. Clarke invited me to join him to a Peoria Chiefs game where he has a seasonal press pass. Shooting baseball is a bucket list experience for me. Inspiration, check! Even more inspirational to shoot with someone with Dr. Clarke’s skills!

It was a blast. I learned a ton. Hopefully, you enjoy my 39 favorites, which are reduced from 1,836 and over 100GB of RAW photos – more than any single shoot I’ve ever done. Doc tells me he shot 4,100. So, I must have been conservative.

Milky Way nightscapes are something I have wanted to do for a while. Finding the right foreground subject in the perfect-clear conditions is a big challenge. Suddenly October gave us one more warm weekend. So I ventured toward Toluca to have a go.

I’ve been following Richard Tatti on YouTube for months. These shots are my first try. If I practice enough maybe I can match his quality.

Thanks so much to the generous family who owns this farm for welcoming me to try my first nightscapes.

One of the reasons we love it here in the Midwest is because we enjoy all four seasons. From January’s winter snow through the exploding June and July summer sunsets to our signature fall colors, I hope you can agree. (Note to self: take some spring pictures next year.)

Every fall, we are reminded what makes our home town special – fall colors along the river bluff. Perhaps the best specimen is Detweiller Drive, a winding park road that slowly spills from high up on the bluff down to the river on the north side of town.

After spending the morning cleaning up from a monster storm the night before we decided to take advantage of the beauty that often follows by going for a drive up old Route 88 (called Rte 40 now). What we saw were amazing vistas where God blessed the earth. The rich soil here in the Mid-west produces beautiful, flowing fields and cast against billowing clouds on a Sunday afternoon felt close to heaven. Feast your eyes on these shots and the video and I hope you will agree.

Sometimes you plan and plan for the perfect shot. Sometimes the shot just lands on you. This is three of the latter. I believe the Saharan Sands drifted into the Midwest. As we sat down for the evening and looked out our window, the skies lit up in a red tone we had never seen.

Just a short 10 miles outside of Peoria, there is a 480 acre park reserve with native Illinois animals established by William Rutherford called Wildlife Prairie Park. Animals including Bison, Elk, Cougars, Black Bears, Fox, Bobcats, Crane, Bald Eagles, Otters, Owls, domesticated farm animals, and much more can be found in natural habitat. After cleaning up the yard today, Deb & I visited the park. Enjoy the shots.

I found a new toy called Gigapan. These are samples of my first try at the new medium. Of course I had to test it out with my favorite subject, Peoria the River City.

I wish WordPress allowed embed so you are not sent to another site but these files are so monstrous, you cannot appreciate the clarity and detail unless you see these Gigapans using the native viewer. Click on the images below to see for yourself. Zoom in to read the signs on buildings and street signs. I can’t wait to experiment more.

After a five year dry spell, Peoria is once again home of Championship Football. To make up for lost time, Peoria area schools won two state Champions. Peoria High School won 5A and Deer Creek Mackinaw won 2A – both for their first time in school history.

Peoria High School took their high scoring offense to the championship and were tested every step of the way against an evenly matched Vernon Hills team. The match was like watching two heavy weights go at it for 6 rounds. But in the end it was Peoria’s defense that took the ball from Vernon Hills in their last three possessions then marched on to outscore them 62-48. Junior running back Geno Hess ran for 215 yards and two touchdowns for Peoria High. Senior Jaleen James added 67 yards and a touchdown.

Continue reading Peoria – Home of Championship Football →