The world, as I see it ...
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Every December the National Finals Rodeo is held in Las Vegas. I’ve had the opportunity to make the trip three times now. It’s not that I am that much of a rodeo fan, it just that it turns Las Vegas into a Country paradise for a couple weeks. If you like Country music, like I do, you’d enjoy the trip. This year my date was my daughter Jackie. We had a lot of great one on one time and she is a great date. Here are a few photos.
If you know me, you realize I have a strange obsession with the movie and the musical “Rock of Ages”. I just find it hilarious! And … what a great theme for a party! So … welcome to the first annual Rock of Ages party. Thanks for Meghan McLaughlin for all the great photos.
Fashion for Pawz is a great event Pam Ontiveros holds annually as a fund raiser for the Humane Society. It’s a great cause and just a fun evening to see a little fashion, some cute dogs, and great looking models! Here are a few photos of the event.
Essentially all the photos on my site are my own. Here’s an exception. Ashley Hempel did a great job doing a few photos of me and my kids. I had to share.
When I was in Germany, I discovered my cousin was in Chicago working on the Skyscraper Live television event. Since I flew into Chicago and was planning on driving home, I instead drove downtown to meet up with her. Eve is the Assistant Director for this multi-cam production and I got the chance to see first-hand what that really means. It was an extremely cold and windy day and I couldn’t imagine that Nik Wakkenda was going to walk a high-wire in that weather. Here are a few photos from my stop over.
Here’s the final match of Short Hills’ season long Member / Member match tournament. I couldn’t be happier since these are the buddies that I golf with every Wednesday and Saturday. This final match went the entire 18 ... and ... an extra hole before it was final. It the end, Mark Parkinson and Greg Ricke came from behind to beat Marty Davis and Pat Brorby on the 19th hole. Then ... we went straight to the 19th hole to celebrate! :-) Check out these photos from the back nine during this hard fought match.
Marilou asked if I could do some head shots of her that she could use on LinkedIn, etc. Of course, I was happy to oblige. I proposed ... something with a nice clean white background? She politely countered with, “Yup or natural (blur the background).” Ahhh ... a little bokeh then ... I can do that. So, here’s what we ended up with ... she looks great. And ... here are a few more from the session. 
When I heard that the Night People were playing at Ken Harkin’s bar, the Rusty Nail, I just had to go see them with my own eyes. The Night People just celebrated 50 years of playing Rock & Roll a week ago at the Col Ballroom on 11 Oct 2014. The Col was one of their normal venues. What peeked my interest though, was that I heard they were the House Band at the Draught House for many years. While it was just a little before my time, I remember the Draught House was my sister’s hang out and was located where the Dock Restaurant is today.
It was a blustery day and the girls played tough. I stopped by Moline High School and grabbed a few photos of Sectional Tennis. Even though the title says “Moline”, there are some photos of girls from Geneseo, Alleman, and Galesburg. Take a look!
Known as “The American Band”, Grand Funk Railroad came to Bettendorf, IA and blasted out hit after hit. My favorite “Do the Locomotive” was joined by many others and concluded with the most well known one “We’re an American Band”. They played at the Waterfront Convention Center which has a very intimate setting for concert goers ... every seat is a great one ... and if you want to get up close and personal with the band, just walk up stage side and you are literally on top of the action. Great fun on Saturday Night. I captured a few photos ... enjoy!
Quite the brisk night and Moline got off to a slow start falling behind 49-0 at the half. They did come back and scored 28 unanswered points in the second half. Made it a good showing .... great character. Here are a few photos of the game and photos of the homecoming court.
The annual Moline Homecoming parade was held in brisk conditions. The overcast sky did make for good lighting though. I captured quite a few. Take a look.
I finally made it to a Moline Volleyball game. This was a hard fought meet and Moline was in the first game at the end and way ahead in the second game. Unfortunately they lost both :-(. Take a look at some of the photos I captured.
It was a beautiful day for the annual Quad City Marathon. I always enjoy shooting this event as it is such an accomplishment for everyone that finishes. Thanks go out to Ken Arevalo for including me on the photographer team. I shot some pictures of the start, went to downtown rock island to shoot a few with the Centennial Bridge in the background, then back to the finish line for the leaders and the rest. Here are a couple hundred of my “picks” of the day.
Did a little road trip to St. Louis for the Cowboys / RAMS game. Only had a little camera, but still had to capture a few photos.
Rita asked me to come capture a few photos of her Gypsy Vanner Horses during the Celtic festival. They are beautiful!
It was a heartbreaker for Moline. They dominated Alleman for most of the game, but somehow let them escape at the end. Check out the photos I captured.
Brian Soucinek tees off during a 4 team playoff to determine 3rd place at Short Hill’s team play event. Ben Hansen’s team won the event going away ...
The John Deere Classic kicked off this week … and I had the pleasure of helping the John Deere Classic Tournament with a few photos. Hopefully you’ve seen a few of these on the John Deere Classic Facebook and/or twitter feeds. 
Iconic Steve Stricker at the JohnDeere Classic.
It was a beautiful day for a very successful Color the Quads 5k race! A big thank you goes out to Mel Foster and race director Sarah Johnson for bringing this great event to our area. As you can see from my photos, this is all out fun for the participants.
It was a great morning for the kids races at the Bandshell in Bettendorf for Color The Quads. As you can easily see from my photos, they had a great time! What a great event!
Lots of friends showed up to celebrate Keaton’s Graduation! Congratulations Keaton!!
Ethan throws out the first pitch of the River Bandits game for his 5th Birthday. Here are a few photos of the evening.
The Volunteers came by to signing, pick up their shirts, and get a little training. We did get rewarded with dinner at Azteca and a couple “Adult Beverages”! I captured a few photos ....
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