Chicago hosted NASCAR for it’s first ever street race around Grant Park. I was in town for the weekend, so I phoned a friend and we bought tickets for the two-day race. Weather was a challenge but for a pair of first-timers, we had a blast. Wish I could have used something more than my phone to photograph this memory.

We planned this “bucket list” vacation for over a year. Sadly, on our first day of the cruise from Vancouver, I contracted COVID. We were quarantined to our state room for the remainder of our trip. The cruise line took good care of us and I recovered by our first port of call but we are still stuck. Undeterred, we made the best of our trip asking friends to take pictures of excursions we missed and took pictures from our balcony when we could.

Deb and I rented a home in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida for three weeks partially for vacation and partially to see where we want to live when we grow up. This part of Florida has so much beauty to offer, I couldn’t help but capture a few good shots.

Finally, after rescheduling three times and waiting for a year due to the pandemic, Jetta & Zach pulled off a beautiful wedding on 25 March 2021 in Tucson, Arizona. Congratulations to Zach and Jetta Smithwick!

Deb and I drove to Nashville and Destin, FL. That’s right. We drove to make our own schedule so we could truly relax. I have to say it was quite enjoyable seeing parts of the country we have not seen.

We arrived in Nashville after a 7 hour drive from Peoria. My goal was to get some dusk pics of the John Seigenthaler pedestrian bridge overlooking the city. So, we quickly walked from our hotel to the bridge to scope out the best composition. After checking out the spots for pictures later, I flew the drone and waited for the sunset.

First time in Nashville

Nashville Cumberland River

Looking up the Cumberland river downtown Nashville at dusk from the John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge.

Downtown Nashville

Unplanned composition from the John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge

Continue reading Nashville & Destin Vacation →

This summer, Deb and I visited Ryan for a long weekend to just get away.  Of course, Chicago is possibly my favorite city to photograph. And I wanted to try out my DJI tech in this photogenic city. The weather and the city did not let us down.

Wrigley is just a few blocks away. Deb & I walked by the park just as the Cubs beat the Pirates. Wrigleyville was electric. They were in the heat of the league race. The win and electricity motivated us to go catch the game on Friday against the Nats. Unfortunately for the Cubs that game was the beginning of their slide. Wrigley was still a great baseball experience.

Continue reading Chicago North August 2019 →

I always love going to Europe – especially Italy. When I learned that I was going to be speaking at our customer event in Rome, I jumped at the chance to go and bring Deb along. After a few days working in Rome, we vacationed along the Amalfi coast in Sorrento.

“Rob Tour” of Rome

On Sunday, we were asked to recreate our 2014 waking tour of Rome for some friends. We were excited to share our experience witnessing the city sites through our friends’ eyes for the first time.  That said, this is a 7+ mile journey not for the faint of heart.  The bus dropped us off downtown Rome, on the Tiber river looking up at the iconic St. Peters Basilica.

Continue reading Italy 2018 – Rome & Amalfi Coast →

Pardon my hyperbole but the last three days was a perfect weekend in Chicago. It did not start out that way but thanks to the patience of my wife and family and fantastic weather, the weekend was perfect.

We planned the weekend weeks ago so I could use my new camera equipment to take some pictures our boys would want to put up in their apartment – an anniversary gift. After an early dinner Friday, everyone followed me walking over a mile to Navy Pier in a rush to capture the golden hour of light, lugging my Gigapan, camera bag and tripod. When I set up the Gigapan, all I got was a low battery error. The battery was dead! Oh, the light sucked and even after I composed myself, I could not catch any decent shots.

The rest of the night Friday everyone tried to cheer me up but all I could think of was that I wasted a perfect night. I did something that caused the battery to drain. This had to be my fault. Continue reading Perfect Weekend in Chicago →

Deb & I developed a taste for California wine over the past couple years, so we decided to plan long weekend to Napa Valley. Our goal was to relax and enjoy the scene without a crazy busy agenda but we wanted to visit our favorite wineries, find some good food, and get some good pictures. Maybe it was the planning or just blind luck but in spite of 100+ degree weather we had a great time.

Continue reading Napa Valley 2017 →