More River Trail Holga

I got another Holga roll developed and scanned, this time at a place I found in Rock Island. The scan quality isn't as good and they're a little bit cropped so I might have them rescanned at some point. But they turned out well enough, especially at less than 1/3 of the price to send them to Chicago. These shots were all made on November 4th on the portion of the trail between Sunset Marina and the Casino riverboat in Rock Island.

Basketball

Here's an outtake from shooting a girls basketball preview at United Township High School in East Moline the other day.

The Pelican Left Behind

Some excitement today. This American white pelican was left behind a few weeks ago when the rest of the flock migrated south for the winter. Animal activists and volunteer firefighters captured the bird today and took it to an animal hospital for examination. Watch the multimedia piece here.

Season's End

I traveled to the Chicagoland area today to shoot Rock Island High School's IHSA Class 6A Quarterfinal game. They got trounced 38-0, which was really tough on all the players. They end the season with a record of 11-1 and two wins short of the state champtionship; it was a great team to cover. See the game slide show here.

Fog

The foggy country road I drove down coming to and from an assignment yesterday near Reynolds, Ill.

Leaves and a Head

It was a slow day today so between my single assignment and a false report of someone about to jump off a bridge, I took pictures of the remaining bright patches of fall leaves around Moline and Rock Island. Again, thanks to Andy Wicklund and Dragon Fire Parade, I used one of their great tracks over the photos and made a pretty feature for our website. See it here.

Also I found this awesome dummy head in an alley.

More Election Night

Here is some more stuff from election night. Before I went to the election coverage party was covering a voting location in the west end of Rock Island and at Four Brothers Clothing in Rock Island where they were grilling and selling Obama shirts. We didn't end up having room in the paper for any of this stuff.

Election Night

I spent election night with a very fun, energetic crowd at Rexie's Gourmet in Rock Island. It was excellent.

See the audio slide show here.

Alpaca

I got to go to an Alpaca farm near Alpha, Ill. today for Radish Magazine, a monthly healthy living and environmental magazine that we publish. These are some outtakes. A very fun assignment.

Along the Great River Trail

This is the first collection of images from my holga on the bike path adventures. This is an ongoing project so I'll be adding and replacing images as I shoot them and get the film developed.

Rocky Football

It had been far too long since I shot a football game in the daylight.

Here's an audio slide show from the game.

Along the River Trail

These are 3 shots from my Holga explorations of the QC section of the bike path that runs along the Mississippi from Rock Island to Savanna, Ill. about 50 miles north of the Quad Cities. I've ridden the stretch of trail between Rock Island and Port Byron in sections on several different trips. In the spring or next summer, when it's warm again, I'd like to leisurely ride the whole trail and camp along the way. I'll post a whole slide show of all my images soon.

Basketball Portraits

Here are some outtakes from shooting basketball portraits at Augustana College in Rock Island today.

Softball Heroes

Allison Snyder, 8, watches a ProFastpitch X-Treme Tour player walk into the dugout during a tour event for the professional softball league at Greenvalley Sports Complex in Moline on Friday night, October 24. The professional tour team includes eight USA Olympic softball players.

GI Mom

Students applaud with support as DeAnn Clark, 16, walks down a hallway at United Township High School in East Moline on Thursday morning, October 23 with her mother Laura Powell, an English teacher of 14 years at UTHS. Powell is a Major with the United States Army Reserve and will be deploying to Iraq for one year with the Multi Function Support Command out of the Rock Island Arsenel in early November.

The Office

Top: The things that sit atop my computer monitor (They've been sitting there since at least May, but I reckon it's been quite longer than that.)
Bottom: Photo Dept. Mood Lighting

I spent a lot of time today working on a backlog of stuff from the last month or so and therefore spent more time in the office than usual.

Music, Pints, Food, Friends and Vintage Clothing Stores

Champaign-Urbana at f/1.8

Steam Train to Silvis

Train stuff from Saturday. See the video here.

Louie Bellson

Legendary jazz drummer Louie Bellson performs at the Redstone Room at River Music Experience in Davenport on Wednesday night, October 15. Belson, a Moline High School graduate, has played with a long list of famous jazz musicians including Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Benny Goodman and Louie Armstrong just to name a few. Bellson developed the double bass drum kick pedal system at age 15, earning him an A in his Moline High School art class. The double bass drum system is now widely used among rock drummers.

The Organic Dairy Man

I got to make a portrait of an organic dairy farmer in Port Byron, Ill. today. Despite the rain I managed to bring out a studio light without ruining it.

Cutline:
Bob DePauw operates an organic dairy farm in Port Byron. DePauw believes in organic farming because he feels it's his responsibility to leave the land he uses in good shape for the next generation.

The Straight Talk Express

John McCain made a stop in Davenport today. Only the traveling press corps and specially picked pool photographers are allowed free rein in shooting. I, along with most of the other local media, were relegated to risers in back. Such is national politics.

Friday Night Lights

I of course shot Friday night high school football again tonight. This play came nicely to the the sideline for me and I shot this with my wide angle from my hip as I moved away. For some reason I like it- layering, etc. It's a different football shot than I normally get. It's a little blurry, but it doesn't bother me too much.

The Golden Years

Rocky, a retired Rock Island Police drug enforcement dog, relaxes at Happy Dog Bakery, a specialty dog biscuit bakery and doggie day spa at 1628 15th St. Place in Moline on Tuesday afternoon, October 8. Rocky is an 8-year old Belgian Malinois and retired from the force in April after helping in a record number of drug busts in Rock Island County.

Barber Shop

Here's a shot from yesterday for a story about long-time businesses and residents of Rock Island's west end, which too often gets a bad reputation as a rough place.

John Morrison trims Charlie Babers (Both on left) hair at Morrison's Barber Shop at the corner of 9th St. and 13th Ave. in Rock Island on Friday morning, October 3. Morrison has operated his barbershop in the same location for 16 years and has lived in the west end of Rock Island since 1963. Babers is a native west-ender, and although he's since moved, he still comes to Morrison's to get his hair cut and to "pester" his old friend.