I love being a Kansas City Event Photographer.

The biggest event of late was the grand opening of The Kauffman Center For Performing Arts.

This 13 shot  panoramic to the left is the structure I speak of… Kansas City’s newest skyline plaything.

I was lucky enough to cover the indoor gala dinner as well as some of the outdoor projection that went onto the actual structure from across the street using 4- 30,000k projectors.

In layman’s terms… that’s really bright.

It was a fantastic event & a part of Kansas City history.

Of course it is always fun to cover any event I do. I love my job & have a passion for Event Photography.

I think telling a story with pictures is still the best medium to do it in.

Black tie affairs… amazing bartenders playing with fire & 100 proof liquor… entertainment from all angles…

Oh- and the shot of BB King in the recording studio..? It’s not an event but believe me, being in the room alone with the man & having full access to shoot what I wanted- was an event for me. And on film, at that. F-I-L-M.. For Idiots Like Me.. no- Fine Increments of Light Management.  Yes.. That’s it.

Please enjoy these Kauffman images & the few other event views- and BB King- all taken with Nikon cameras & lenses. Canon’s are for shooting old ships. Nikons are for shooting everything else.

Look all the way to the last event photo- “The End” You think that wasn’t a winning moment for me?

Remember to have a professional photographer at your next event… and you might even consider using me- Mr. Passion for Events. I love me a good event..& I can help out in the coat check room.

See you in the buffet line…

I try & shoot anything I can when I am up there… I make my clients happy first & then it’s a free for all. I’m on the lookout for anything interesting. Old drive in movie areas… a power plant in the middle of Kansas… other aircraft… a Kansas Dust Devil- made from the smoke of a controlled burn… I love it up here.

The pilot- & by the way- The pilot I fly with is retired Air Force… knows the FAA rules better then they do & is just great to fly with. – and he can’t always just, “fly over there & spin in a circle for me.” There are rules with airspace & where we are at a given time & where we said we’d be… And I couldn’t do the job without him.

Kansas City Aerial Photography is more than just getting in the plane & off you go. A good Kansas City Aerial Photographer studies up on the location prior to the flight so that we don’t spend any extra time looking for the target. Then you have to be ready to compose, shoot & check your metering, all at a nice 45-80 degree angle & on a constant move.

I shoot for land owners, construction companies, the US Army Corps Of Engineers, Military installations, Realtors… I’ll photograph you waving from your front lawn if you like.

Here- it’s easier to just look & see for yourself. Enjoy the view & pass me along, won’t you?  Images taken with a Nikon D90 & 70-200mm VRII lens for the bulk of the work & a Nikon 18-200mm VR for the wide shots… such as our lovely city here on the left.

But if you’d like a peek at several things I do, feel free to choose anything you see on the front page. This post is about Event Photography.

I- am a Kansas City Event Photographer, among many other genres of photography.

I am an experienced & very passionate event photographer & truly love what I do. Please- if you’re looking at having an event documented, look no further. I am the guy you’ve been looking for… Even if you weren’t looking for an event photographer, I am still your guy because now you have an event photographer… you look like the hero when the party starts & you’ve hired me to show up to take very fun, professional, campy & unique images for your event.

Events can be almost anything if I take enough creative license.. & I do.  Every day is an event, if you know what I mean. I document what I can.

And I can say that if you call on me to cover your event, wedding, portrait session, aerial photography needs, food or fun, personal photos… it will be documented in the best way possible.

The Kauffman Center For Performing Arts will be open soon… Talk about some event possibilities. I love this building & I hope to do some work inside of it. I’m sharing these photos here as well. Watching it go up has been- an event. Therefore, I include these images amongst this sprinkle of event shots.  So there…

There are some shots from the Wild About Harry event that was a lot of fun to be on. Phil Donahue is a wonderful speaker & you could listen to him talk about anything & be pleased with it.

Nothing says event like a county fair. Below are some catches from this year’s Wyandotte County Fair…event.

Sure, the shot titled “Boots-a-Walkin isn’t a traditional event shot…but they were on a mission to the cotton candy stand – where a spinning sugar event was taking place.

See..? Artistic license at work.

And the final frame in this series is a 1990 photo of Nancy Kerrigan, lacing up prior to an event & before her world was rocked with a ball bat.

Please give me a call or drop me an email through my site. Follow me on twitter & see what I post at a moments notice…

Help keep me out of the rush hour traffic by hiring me for your event.

Enjoy the Event Photography & I’d love to see you at yours…

As an event photographer, I get to see & meet a lot of interesting people from all walks of life… I get to cover unique & many one of a kind events, such as today’s event I worked where Google announced that Kansas City, KS will be the first community in the country to get googliciously fast internet speeds that even NASA doesn’t have.  OK.. maybe not exactly that but the country is now going to be keeping up with KCK & that’s what Governor Brownback is getting across here.

When I am playing the part of a Kansas City Event Photographer, I try to get all the main shots needed & then I look for the little details that help tell the story.

It’s important to catch people when they don’t know it & I like to do it in a candid editorial style.

I’m also not afraid to climb right up on stage to get a shot or point of view that most don’t get to see.  That might be with a large group singing or back with an attractive percussionist that flashes a great smile at the right time.

There are some events, like the the Breast Cancer Awareness Month pinking of the Kansas City fountains- that need that key image of the dye going in & then a beautiful shot that evening at dusk to bring it full circle.

The Plaza Lighting ceremony is a beautiful sight every November & this past year I was in a great spot for the fireworks. The super wide angle lens helps of course.

I love getting interesting shots of keynote speakers… of runway models when they give that quick, sexy pause- gotta be ready for those. I even catch the wait staff in an arty shot as they scurry about, getting the hot meals out to tables of hungry people.

What is really fun, is to happen onto a shot like the series below that is of a couple in a photo booth… thinking they have a moment alone to take their own memories photo from the event they attended. I was on a stage above them & happened to peek over the top & caught them taking a nice photo but then- being there for that quick peck on the cheek that I captured made it a winning short story.

If you know of an event that needs concise, solid images that tell a story or if you know someone who puts events together- for heaven’s sake, pass me along.  I have the passion it takes to want to seek out the photos that help tie it all together & I am such a people person that I might as well be in a room full of them documenting what it is that they’re all doing.

Don’t you think.??

Please enjoy this series of  my Kansas City Event Photography taken with my trusty Nikon D90 cameras & Nikkor glass. Nikon & Brianwithaneye… a great team that Nikon should really know about.  Write them, won’t you?

I love when I see something within something else… and one of my favorite things to spot, is a face hidden in an image.  I will stop in my tracks to nab a shot of it – unless I’m shooting aerial photography..in which case I have to see it, shoot it & move on.

These are but a few “faces” I have photographed & are some of my favorites.

Mouse over an image for its title..

Enjoy the “Monkey Farm” aerial- which at a glance, appears to be just that.  See it?  Hang upside down & let the blood rush to your head..  see it now?

The furniture that folks put out on the curb… take a look at “Goldie Dawn” & “Snow Story” & “Green Giant” in this series of images. These old pieces have some personality. Most drive past it. I thrive on finding it.

“Hot For You” is the end of an oil filled radiator.

“Iron (board) Man” was hanging out back stage at the NWMSU winter commencement. This guy was no match for me & my trusty Nikon D90.. 18-200mm VR lens, for you techies.

Just look at the size of the green robot head on the top secret space alien archeological dig somewhere in Kansas. The government scrambled my brain so I’d forget what I saw but I managed to get out with one photo . I have to be on the move constantly now, leaving cardboard cutouts of myself all over town..

The big grinning frog with goofy eyes is really the new Kauffman Center For The Performing arts taken from 2,000′ on a recent aerial outing.

“Snow Story” looks like a gentle old soul..waiting for the pleather hearse to show up.

“Green Giant” is an old side table that has a bit of a robot feel to it. and- the bonus here..  The house was the same color as the table! I can’t plan it any better than this…

And finally… this face in the tombstone was just plain creepy to see across the street. Taken in  Cassadaga Florida.. the town has a haunted history as it is. This old tombstone just adds to the mystery… Don’t stare at this one too long.. I will not be responsible for what could happen.

These are some of the faces I see in the everyday… you should hear what the voices in my head have to say.

Thanks for looking. Pass me along or call me up. I love to shoot real faces on real people. I’ll show up with a Nikon & an eye & my passion.. then the fun starts.

Since we had to wait till it got dark enough to see the screen, I took advantage of the vanishing daylight & stage light mix to create these images.

The ladies are from the band,  “The Screaming Orphans” straight from Ireland- and were quite entertaining and very seasoned musicians, I might add. Very fun music & who doesn’t like 4 ladies on stage playing & singing their hearts out?

Next, there are a few shots of the Canadian band, Pogey…also a talented bunch of guys.

But the last night of the Irish Fest belonged to local Kansas City Band, The Elders.

As a Kansas City Photographer, I get to run into old band mates like Steve Phillips & Joe Miquelon, who I used to play with in a few other projects in my Kansas City drummer days… back when drumming 6 nights a week & a pizza delivery gig would make ends meet.

When it was show time, I took my camera position at the stage & was set to be another good night of hand held camera work for this Kansas City videographer.

The winds were gusting 30-40mph that night & only 45 minutes into the show, the producer pulled the plug on the “video to screen” portion of things, as the screen was about to set sail on it’s own power & would have injured someone had it lifted off…which it was very close to doing.

From the looks of the beautiful sky & the Western Auto building against the Kansas City Downtown Skyline, you’d never know it was blowing like a small hurricane down there.

So- I put down the video camera..helped get the screen down & out of danger.. & picked up my Nikon D90 & started shooting photographs of the band.

Having stage access was such a plus as you’ll see here in the following images.

The Elders rocked…the crowd was great & I came away with some fine photos of the whole thing.

I love being able to bounce from being a Kansas City Videographer to being a Kansas City Photographer, all in the same evening.

Please enjoy these images & see the passion in the musician’s faces.

My trusty Nikon D90 & 18-200 VR lens combo came through for me again.

Nikon- in front of every good eye.

If you or someone you know is in need of good, creative images- send them my way.

I’m here to help…

This, to me, is what it must have been like when they built Union Station in the early 1900′s. The excitement of something grand & new that the city will enjoy for years to come. Union Station opened in 1911…and this performing arts center will open in 2011.

As a Kansas City Photographer, I am very interested in the history of nearly everything. This new facility is no different. This is a piece of Kansas City history & I like to document it as often as I can, whenever I am in that part of town. I only wish I could get some interior shots.

Since I document construction work at times, I was drawn to this like a moth to the flame. JE Dunn is building this little gem & they do, in my opinion, just amazing work.

The images start in April of 2009 & end up with a nice little night shot just last week on July 23rd, 2010.

There is this rather large fence that keeps me from getting the actual angle I want but as any good Kansas City photographer would do-

I Make the best of what is presented to me.

Please enjoy the images & the angles I chose to tell the story.

Bright blue days that led to some beautiful contrast with rusted steel & blue sky. Black & white images to give a timeless feel to them.

Steel, cranes, colorful rust & a rocket ready for take off…

There is plenty to shoot in this town…

And this Kansas City photographer loves getting out to shoot it.

The shots from the air give a great perspective. I love when I get to wear my Kansas City aerial photographer hat.

Enjoy these & I’ll see you in the balcony.

Taken with a Nikon D90 / 18-200 VR & 70-200 VRII lenses.

Diggin’ the Nikon…

Wait- this reminds me of the Johnny Cash song, “Jackson.”

Sing it with me!

We got married in a fever

Hotter than a pepper sprout

We been talkin’ ’bout- Jackson

etc. etc.

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So- it’s hot out & I thought it’d be nice to post some photos of people wearing really hot clothes. The heat index is 109 today.

Now boil up some hot tea & give that chili a stir & have a look at a few favorite moments from some weddings I have covered.

As a Kansas City Photographer, I cover a lot of areas and one of the “harder than you think” areas would have to be weddings. There are several things going on at any given moment & you can only point the lens at one “moment” at a time.  The trick is to get the right moment, often times walking backward or stepping over a ring bearer that stopped in mid aisle.

Here are some moments that I like from a small collection of weddings where I lived the role of a Kansas City wedding photographer.

Summer, winter, Wiccan, whatever… it is always interesting & fun to cover a wedding.

I like to think that I capture the shots that will make the couple drag out the wedding photos more than once. A good wedding photographer will do that. I tend to be an editorial style photographer & I treat a wedding like a story.. a story that has to be told in photographs. I think that a still photo is much more fun to look at than a wedding video… and I even shoot video.

With video, you really almost have to edit it together to tell the story. I believe that stills are like looking at a book. You can take your time looking. Get lost in the memory of it, etc.

As you stroll through these, you might think of a caption on some.. & laugh out loud at others. If so, then I have done my job.

If you know of someone looking for a wedding photographer with a visual sense of humor & loves wedding cake, please pass them to me for a look.  I’ll bring my own tupperware…

Taken with Nikon D200 &/or D90 cameras with Nikkor lenses. Nikon- takes a good picture

Is that what you’re asking yourself?  Sounds like something you’d get on TV for $19.95 if you didn’t know any better.

I asked myself that the first time I had heard the word.

As a Kansas City Photographer I have to be on the lookout for new & fun things to make life’s subjects look interesting…different..

When I have on my Kansas City Aerial Photographer hat, I shoot with primarily a Nikon 70-200mm VRII lens… and, oddly enough- from the air.

When I am the Kansas City Event Photographer, I use a wide range zoom, such as my Nikon 18-200 VR lens.

And for interiors in architecture photography, I tend to use a super wide, Sigma EX 10-20mm zoom.

For nudes…I will shoot with whatever is handy- or many times,  just resort to internal memory only. Being a typical man, I tell people I have 8 gigs when it’s really just 6. (This joke is for sale. Please send your dollars now. No- really. If you all send just one, I might be able to get that Yugo I have my eye on.)

But when I want to be a Kansas City Creative Photographer- I don’t just shoot away, click-click-auto-this-&-auto-that & then do the fancy photo manipulation & post production wizardry that you have to do on a bad photo to make it look like “something.” No, my friends. These are- “see-focus-check exposure-composition-click.”

When I want a unique look & feel for my images, I turn to my Lensbaby.

It is a very cool little lens that “bends” & “distorts” the photo around as you move the actual lens element & you have to be spot on with focus & exposure…no “auto” anything with this little camera creature.

It is not for everyone. Photographers either love it- or leave it alone. I happen to love the little bugger.

You are actually doing “selective focus” with this lens. If you will note in these photos, you will see an area “in focus” & then the rest just kind of goes Sa-wwoooosshhh -out of focus.

Many may think that the photo is out of focus in general. I try to select an area of interest & draw the observer there. Depending on what depth of field I want, determines how large an area is in focus & I admit, it works better on some things than others.

I bought my first one years ago & they have since improved. They now have several kinds of Lensbabies however, these were all taken with the original Lensbaby.

It takes the “every day” & bends it up a bit. A blue berry looks like…well, I’m not sure. Possibly the Death Star on a mushroom trip.

It isolates a quick candid of Buck O’Neil & draws you right to his wonderful face- and note the ladies in the background still oogling at the man. RIP, Buck. The city misses you.

But-

A classic microphone… an El Camino… Ladies undies…  A heart sprinkle on a cupcake…  A sax man… Phlox… A  Liquid Drummer & a tiny Punkin’ in a Halloween scene.  All bent a bit to make you look twice- or thrice.

**Only 103 days, 0 hours & 45 minutes to Halloween at this posting.**

And the Pony Express Stables look as if they were photographed just before they opened the gate for the first delivery. The first internet.   Not Dial Up- but Giddy Up.  (This joke is also currently for sale.)

Every good Kansas City photographer should have a few tricks in the camera bag & the Lensbaby is one of mine.

Enjoy these unique views & subjects. I enjoyed capturing them & bringing them to you-

There is a Lensbaby tab in my gallery. These photos & others reside there.

The wedding section has been added to, as well. Please- look around. Tell a friend. Tell a co-worker. Make me busy.

Nikon

Lensbaby

Peacebaby

This week I was once again, a Kansas City Aerial Photographer as I hung out a Cessna 172 in the summer heat to get some shots for a client & then some…

You’ll see here a Limestone farmhouse dating back to the mid-late 1800′s.

Imagine the summer storms that this place has been through. History in a bean field.

There are a nice couple of views of the new performing arts center that’s taking shape on the skyline. It reminds you of Australia a bit…with a different accent.

The new Christopher Bond Bridge is coming along nicely as you’ll take note. The guy in that small crane at the tip top has a great view…except his never changes.

A pristine Kansas farm with a striking set of red out buildings was begging to be shot. This farm looks like magazine or move material. If I could only find it on the ground now.

As a Kansas City Aerial Photographer- you shoot anything that looks interesting along the way. It’s not like you can just go back later that day.

Then, another even closer view, looking into the performing arts center… where I hope to get a few jobs as the Kansas City Event Photographer that I like to be, once it is open.

Lastly- a couple of “faces” looking back at you.

One almost has a monkey peek-a-boo look (to my underdeveloped brain, anyway) and the other- which is a construction site for a church- has what appears to be a giant robot head smiling at the plane.

I love shooting from the aerial vantage point because you see things completely different than the ground or even roof top level…and you can see so much in a small window of time.

Aerials are great tools for construction management…real estate agents…police investigations…property owners, etc. I really enjoy the aerial photography jobs & look forward to my next sortie.

As a Kansas City Photographer, I take pride in using Nikon camera equipment. These were all taken with a D90 & the 18-200 VR lens combo at or above 2100′

Next time you see a blue & white Cessna flying in a circle…wave or lift your shirt. Ya never know…