QC Artist's Work Heads to D.C. - CBS4 - WHBF Quad Cities, IL-IA News Weather Sports

QC Artist's Work Heads to D.C.

By Natalie Zarowny
nzarowny@cbs4qc.com

One local artist's bird photos are taking flight from the Quad Cities, all the way to Washington D.C.

For the first time in his life, 64–year–old veteran photojournalist Terry Herbig's work is being shown in a national scale.

"It's very exciting.  I'm very anxious for Thursday to come," said Herbig.

And it's not just any show.

Mayors from cities and towns along the Mississippi, plus members of congress, will all have a chance to see his work at a meeting to promote greater protection, and support for the river.

"I'm just very excited to be able to partake in this," said Herbig.

Staff at Quad Cities Arts Center in Rock Island were in charge of choosing Herbig to represent the Quad Cities among 26 other artists work.

"When this opportunity came up for people who do photography on the river, I immediately thought of Terry," said visual arts director Dawn Wohlford-Metallo.

Herbig retired in 2007 after a 37–year career as a newspaper photojournalist.

Since then he's been focusing on his passion for nature photos, especially birds.

"You can always get pictures of birds sitting on a branch or sitting on a bird feeder, one of the things that I started to do lately is try to get them in flight, and that's very difficult to do," said Herbig.

In this series of three pictures, Herbig explained the story these eagles are telling.

"It actually represents an eagle about to pick up a fish, actually picking up a fish, and then carting one off like you see here," said Herbig.

And choosing eagles to represent the Mississippi in the Quad Cities, was a no brainer.

"Growing up, I spent a lot of time out fishing and hunting with my father.  So you develop a love for the outdoors," said Herbig.

You can see some of Herbig's work on display at Quad City Arts Center in downtown Rock Island.