18th and Holmes is a fairly unassuming and non-descript intersection but after stopping and parking there I thought it worked out pretty well. Near the end I climbed to a second-floor exit to get some elevated shots. Three lenses used for this post. Also, I need to update the aesthetics and presentation of this blog, it’s getting a little stale. Hopefully that will be coming in the not too distant future.
Twenty very recent shots from downtown Kansas City. I’m getting a better feel for what kind of stock photo material sells and I’ve been feeling motivated these last few days.
First, there is a local client who wants a north side fisheye view close up of the Kauffman Center post-construction. The first day I went out it clouded up on me on short notice:
Then on Sunday after the snow melted I went and re-shot since they are more interested in an uncloudy view:
…although I wonder if the discoloration on the sidewalk because of the salt will be a problem. Following are some more fisheye Kauffman Center shots –
Then that evening I went to the top of the garage at 13th & Grand downtown for some fancy sunset shots, where I realized the state of disrepair my tripod is in. The wobbliness made most of the pictures blurry rubbish, but these are what I did (barely) get with an insecure tripod head:
Some Kauffman Center and AMC Mainstreet Theater shots…
The next night (MLK Day) after having something tightened on the tripod head I went out to 12th and Main:
On Tuesday afternoon/evening I went to Penn Valley Park to get yellowish late afternoon skyline photos. The tripod came undone once again so most of these are handheld, and the fact that I was freezing my hands off with no gloves meant I wasn’t going to wait for it to get dark blue in the sky…
The tents housing the good folks of Occupy Kansas City during the cold January weather…
Second round of shots taken the late afternoon of November 10th from a helicopter above Lower Manhattan as we circled around the World Trade Center site.
CLICK for Part One
A drive to downtown Kansas City, which included parking a few times to take pictures. Monday night, Sept 5 ’11.
After all this time I finally made a Facebook Fan Page for my pics CLICK HERE. Like I’m saying in my own FB newsfeed, click like on it if you’re one of those people who like clicking on things you can like on Facebook.
A couple shots from around some industrial areas in North Kansas City looking south toward the skyline on the other side of the river. I’d actually gone out for Bond Bridge pictures but did this instead after I saw the location I picked for the view toward the bridge on the map is blocked out by trees.
I had reasons to be at 18th and Jefferson Monday night for photos, but those plans didn’t work right so instead I went beyond the open fence on the open plot of land where the “L-Shaped house” used to sit and did a couple shots with the trees and the I-35 traffic and the skyline with the new Kauffman Center building being shown off in the distance.
My friend Tony’s Kansas City has recently taken to referring to Kansas City as a “wicked little town,” on occasion. Which I think is hilarious. So much so that I think the Convention and Visitor’s Association should be a bit riskier and re-brand our city as a wicked little town – which could boost tourism and conventions, furthering the downtown renaissance which we could then give Tony credit for in the end.
Anyway, two pics from Monday night June 13, a wicked little town in the early summer…
After my taekwondo class ended I grabbed my camera bag last night and ran out to the plot of land that the “L-Shaped House” used to sit on, intending to get some Kauffman Center construction telephoto shots. Instead I was more fond of the general downtown skyline pictures I nabbed, until it started raining so hard I had to stop. Hopefully the Canon 5D Mark II camera is weather sealed really nice, as it did get rained upon quite a bit in my mad dash back to the car.
Above: Part of downtown including the Bartle Hall Skystations and the One Kansas City Place building, Kansas City, Missouri not long before it started raining hard.
Below: A view across the Crossroads District toward Crown Center and Liberty Memorial. I-35 traffic in the foreground.
-Evening of May 11, 2011.
Downtown Kansas City Skyline #1
I was asked by a local client to try and duplicate a previous photo I took last summer that at the time had more cranes in the foreground working on the Kauffman Center construction. Now there’s a demand for shots with the cranes gone, although one remains in these shots it is not very prominently seen. The first shot above is my attempt to duplicate last summer’s photo as precisely as I could figure out how. It helped having my iPhone to view the original on the screen from my own site and compare with the display on my camera as I composed this shot. I took a couple extra shots as well while the lighting was good, seen below.
Downtown Kansas City Skyline #2
Downtown Kansas City Skyline #3
KCMO Skyline and LIberty Memorial Grounds
This was one of my three photos I came away with (Saturday’s post being another) from my time over near the Federal Reserve building with my telephoto lens trying to capture both parts of the Liberty Memorial grounds along with the skyline after the snowfall last week. Photo taken Friday, Feb. 4 a little after sunset.
Kansas City MO Skyline with LIberty Memorial
I was intending for shots from Liberty Memorial’s overlook area of the downtown skyline, but it was closed off due to the mess the blizzard left behind. After I was leaving I looked left out my window and noticed from around in front of the driveway of the Federal Reserve building you have this view (via telephoto lens) of part of the downtown skyline.
– evening of Friday, Feb. 4, 2011 –
North on Main in The Link
This is the first of the three photos I bothered editing from inside The Link on Sunday evening, and the final one I’m posting for now. The last time I had been inside The Link for photos back in October, this section where the main part of downtown is viewable was closed off due to some kind of maintenance work. I’d gotten in here this time with the intent to utilize my oft-used standard wide angle lens (Canon 16-35 L II), but ended up trying the fisheye while waiting for the lighting to get good and decided fisheye was the way to go. Magnified in real close on my monitor you can make out the “Go Chiefs” display emblazoned with an electronic Arrowhead on the front of the downtown Marriott.
Kauffman Center Construction - varied exposures // f/18 // 285 mm // ISO 500
The Kauffman Center’s ongoing construction as seen from about Pershing and Broadway on July 16, 2010.
In other news I’m without my wide angle lens for the time being as it somehow mysteriously acquired a zoom ring problem, and I’ve had to ship the lens to Canon. It would be nice if I hadn’t sold the old 17-40 L f/4 when I upgraded to my currently faulty 16-35 L f/2.8.
