Didn’t want to hassle with parking and buses and the heat of the sitting on the airport tarmac all day long, so we made a less involved trek to Case Park in Kansas City to watch the airshow. The park sits up above the river and overlooks the Charles Wheeler Downtown Airport.
Mom bought a new car and was going to pick it up from the Carvana vending machine over off of Southwest Boulevard. I thought I’d take the opportunity to stop in at the Liberty Memorial and shoot a few pictures looking up at downtown. I figured it would be a good time to put into practice some of the things I’ve been learning about Aperature Priority shooting as well as trying out the SMOVEMOBILE gimbal stick for my Note 9.
I’ve been interested in photography for a long time. My grandfather had a great Canon camera that he would let me borrow from time to time, dating back to some trips I took with the marching band in high school. As I got older and spent time travelling for a living, I always liked having a small camera with me where I could grab some memories of where I’d been.
When I knew that I’d be moving to Budapest I decided that was a great time to up my game and actually try photography as a hobby. I started small. I had a little Panasonic Lumix point and shoot that went with me everywhere. Any pictures you see by me from that 6 month adventure were taking on that handy little pocket camera.
I had such a good time that I decided to take the plunge and get a DSLR. My Nikon D5100 has been my travel companion ever since. I’m rarely without it. Between that and whatever smartphone I’m using at the time (Currently a Galaxy Note 9) rarely a day goes by that I’m not taking pictures of something…something.
My wife has been after me for years saying that I only take pictures of boring stuff and never people. Part of that was my own confidence in what I was doing. Also, I love landscapes,architecture, interesting patterns that you see in everyday life, and sunrises and sunsets Still learning the ins and outs of the dreaded Manual mode had me focusing on things that were more stationary and that I could take my time composing the shot and getting all of those settings just right. That changed with the birth of my granddaughter. I think I’ve taken more pictures of her than all the pictures I’ve taken in my entire life…seriously. It’s ridiculous.
Recently, we learned that my middle daughter and son’s father was diagnosed with cancer. He asked me if I would consider doing some family photos for them. Given our history is a bit complicated, I was a bit surprised but because of the situation, I felt like it was something I needed to do.
They decided on Union Station so we all set a time to meetup and just see what we could capture. Had no idea that there is a $25-75 photo pass that is required in Union Station. If you show up with any equipment other than holding your camera in your hand, you have to buy a day pass.
This was my first real attempt at a shoot like this and I have to say, I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.
I’ve been playing around with a several new things related to this site and my photography. Below, you will find an H5P Photo slider that allows you to compare two images side-by-side. You may have seen these on websites showing you before and after views of storm damage.
Here, we have two versions of the same photo.
On the left, the original taken by me using a Nikon D5100 this summer at Arlington National Cemetery. It is the eternal flame at JFK’s grave site. ON the right is the same photo post-processing using Adobe Lightroom.
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