After a lot of hard work we have finally finished our first promotional video. We love providing beautiful images for our clients and wanted the video to express this passion. After all, it’s hard to get to know about the people behind a photography studio just by looking at their website. We hope you enjoy watching it half as much as we enjoyed making it!
Engagement portraits by Glow Imagery strive to tell the story of you and your relationship.
These kids are all right, Nicole and James that is. This pair are walking the aisle this Summer in Nicole’s hometown of Wichita, Kan.
Our clients know how important it is to us to create images which say something about the couple. There’s only so many engagement portraits done in pretty parks and grungy industrial scenes before it starts to feel like the same old same old and worse… it doesn’t tell us a story of the couple.
We think it much better to take the time with our couples before hand and learn about the two of you! In the case of Nicole and James, James is an aerospace engineer and has a love of flying and planes, Nicole’s own grandfather is a pilot. In fact James proposed to Nicole aboard the very plane we used in the portrait session! How cool is that?
We worked with James and Nicole to help them think about ideas that were more unique to them. This is something we do for all of our couples. When people see your beautiful portraits at your wedding, we want them to say, “Yup! That’s them!”
Jon and Diane - like a lot of our clients - live in a another part of the country. Chicago is their home, to be exact. Diane grew up in Olathe and has most of her family in the area hence their plans to marry in mid April. (Goodness that’s coming fast!)
These two are wonderful and so freaking in love. Diane has a glowing smile and a wonderful sense of humor, not too many people are willing to laugh at all my jokes (I’m funny, but my wife will testify, I’m not that funny so it takes a very good natured person to laugh at those jokes.)
Jon and I have quite a lot in common: We’re big into Seth Godin, web analytics, spreadsheets and for all our geekosity we probably should be wearing pocket protectors. I even suggested a unique wardrobe option for Diane to wear for their engagement session.
There’s so much spark between these two. The pair carried on like teenagers in love. When a couple shows such an unchecked affection for one another the photography is easy. Three cheers for working the wintry cold you two! I figured a Chicago couple could take it and I wasn’t wrong!
Katherine discovered Glow Imagery through one of our many photography exhibits we have been steadily setting up around town. Katherine and Brian will be tying the knot next July. Both bring a beautiful daughter to the relationship, creating a new family.
I love working with our clients to create atypical engagement sessions that are a statement of the couple and their story. Urban settings, graffiti walls and Loose Park are the norm for Kansas City photography sessions. Our studio tries to go beyond the standard solutions to find something more unique to the couple. For Brian and Katherine, the fusion of a new family with their daughters is very important to their love story. So we HAD to include the girls in the engagement session. It became a family session and engagement session, thus I call it the familygagement session. Enjoy!
We did two wedding receptions at the Scarritt Grand Ballroom last year and all I can say is wow! This location at 819 Walnut is remarkable in so many ways and it comes with the very best surprise you wouldn’t expect! That surprise is not the wonderful ceiling work, the marble interiors, the beautiful chandeliers, the spacious ballroom nor is it the ample parking. The Scarritt Ballroom has all of these wonderful things, but those aren’t the surprise. The greatest surprise is the energy and enthusiasm of the venue manager Shilah Anway. What a lady!
I love what I do. To have the impact I do on such a singular event in the lives of others with my talents… it leaves me at a loss for words. What an honor! I don’t think becoming tremendous at your job is possible if you doesn’t speak to something deeper inside.
Now, we’ve all worked with people who do a decent enough job but they don’t necessarily communicate a passion or spark for what they do. It’s just a job. If they had their choices of places to be and things to do at that very moment, you know it probably wouldn’t be working with you.
Once in a while you’re lucky enough to meet someone who truly loves what she is doing. Enter Shilah of the Scarritt Ballroom. She brings a sense of fun, purpose and enthusiasm to Scarritt’s events that is contagious to everyone else. People like her make everything thrilling. The funny thing about working with someone who believes their work matters is they make you feel like you matter.
Click on the pins and markers to see a description of the location with a sample of our pictures from the various locations. You can download, print or email to your friends! You can also view a larger version of this map inside Googe Maps.
Great engagement pictures locations in Kansas City:
Union Station: Built in 1914, Union Station is 850,000 square feet of landmark Kansas City style. It features massive windows, beautiful sweeping lines and architecture with an ornate ceiling that is awe-inspiring and makes for great pictures. Warning: Union Station, despite being a publicly funded landmark, requires advance notice for professional photographs to be made there. In my experience the restrictions have been applied somewhat unevenly. Sometimes I have been told I should pay a fee, other times with clients we have just showed up and shot without anyone noticing, on another occasion I called and received advance permission.
Liberty Memorial: For pictures that are distinctly Kansas City, Liberty Memorial has the unique advantage of providing a one-of-a-kind view of the Kansas City skyline. It’s beautiful sand colored construction and distinct architecture provides clean, elegant backgrounds. Even on calm days, Liberty Memorial seems to have constant wind. Its location on top of a hill doesn’t allow for much wind obstruction. It can be extra challenging to make flattering pictures if it looks like you are in a wind tunnel.
The River Market: The trend these days in engagement pictures is to work couples into urban environments and surroundings. The River Market has lots of those with lofts, a park, older buildings (some of the olest architecture in the city in fact) and a wonderful Lewis and Clark mural located near the Broadway Bridge.
The Crossroads (pictured at bottom): It’s the hipster haven nowadays. The Crossroads is another urban environment and presents an interesting mix of new architecture and old. The entire district is the creative center of Kansas City. Don’t schedule your engagement session for the evening of first Friday of each month, that’s when the infamous First Fridays art walk takes place. Tons of people attend these which can make photography very difficult.
Loose Park (pictured above): located at Wornall Road and 51st Street, Loose Park is probably the standard location for Kansas City photographers. It’s a wonderful place with a Rose Garden and a nice array of bridges, older trees and blooming plants. When my clients suggest Loose Park, I generally try and suggest other locations because it is such a popular Kansas City photography location. On a weekend in the Spring or Fall, it can be a chore to find a spot where another photographer is not working!
The Country Club Plaza (pictured at left): It’s a Kansas City institution and a popular choice for Kansas City engagement pictures. The Plaza is a large shopping district with Spanish-style architecture. The holidays are a very lovely time to shoot pictures there since the entire location is lit in holiday lighting.
Burr Oak Woods Conservation Nature Center: Located in Blue Springs, Burr Oak Woods is a lesser known location but a wonderful spot for your Kansas City engagement pictures. Big trails with lots of native plants, wildflowers and trees provide for unique surroundings to help avoid the overdone locations like Loose Park and the Plaza.
Powell Gardens Located 30 miles east of the Kansas City area on U.S. Highway 50 near Centerview, Mo., Powell Gardens’ picture possibilities are amazing. The gardens are immaculate with beautiful plants and landscaping everywhere you look. They also have occasional art exhibits. Aside from the drawback of the driving distance, be advised they also require a fee for professional photographers to shoot there.
Shawnee Mission Park: A Johnson County treasure, Shawnee Mission Park is an expansive space with many trails, water features and scenic areas. It is an underused location for Kansas City engagement photos.
Kauffman Memorial Gardens: Located at 4800 Rockhill Road, the Ewing and Muriel Kauffman Memorial Garden is small but packs a mighty punch. It doesn’t require you to pack your walking shoes like Loose Park or Powell Gardens and features intense amounts of color, good light and beautiful backdrops. Be advised, they have rules for photographers. Most of the rules are common sense (i.e. no climbing on walls, stay on the paths, don’t stomp on any plants, etc.)
Larry and Karen asked me to shoot an engagement session and to construct a customized guestbook they can take with them to their wedding in Indonesia in July.
These two were a lot of fun. Larry wanted to involve local landmarks in their shoot so we looked for locations that held some local history.
We happened on a park bench in Loose Park. Larry promptly buttoned his collar and sat “Forrest Gump” style on the park bench next to Karen. Karen promptly lost it and giggled uncontrollably as Larry continued to give his best Forrest Gump.
It’s so awesome to capture a couple’s personalities in their photos rather than just produce the same old formulas!
Entries (RSS)