What material says "Plumbing"?

Copper, of course!

Yesterday I photographed the newly remodeled Reeves-Wiedeman Company building ("Plumbing Supplies For Contractors and Industry") at 3635 Main, KCMO, for their tax credit application. Helix was the architecture firm involved, and I really like their work.


A spectacular feature is this skylight/atrium lined with copper located over the order counter.




The entire elevator bay is clad in copper as well.


The elevator bay is mirrored by a copper wall in the office lobby.



A stairway surrounds the elevator bay providing a dramatic blast of sleek copper color. Nice!

Real Estate? Sure, I do that.

I was recently asked by a friend of a friend if I would be interested in shooting a home for a real estate listing. "Sure! " was my response. This is one of those things I wish I could do more of. Photos on real estate websites are generally pretty sad, and that's the point of first contact for any potential sale.

Anyway, are you in the market for a nice house in North KC? Contact Jeff Johnson and ask him about this beauty!

Cooool School

WAY past due for a new post here . .

Last week I photographed an elementary school in southeast Kansas built in 1951 for a National Register of Historic Places nomination. Many would not consider a building of this vintage to be historic, but it qualifies in every respect. And, I like the style.

The job was fairly unremarkable, except for the fact that on this day it was 28 degrees outside and 32 degrees inside!

Dry Dock

Pomme deTerre Lake in SW Missouri is not a big lake, even by Missouri standards. So when the Army Corps of Engineers announced that they would drop the water level by 6-12 feet below normal pool this fall/winter for dam maintenance, the ramifications were obvious to everyone. This is a flood-control lake and as such the water level can raise considerably. But it rarely drops by much, and never in the history of the lake has the water been this low.

It's not this dramatic everywhere, but some of the coves really took a hit!







On the other side of the dam it's a different picture. The increased and sustained flow from the spillway cleaned things up nicely.

Building Spelunking

Spelunking is the technical term for cave exploration. Building spelunking is what I call picking through the dark recesses of old basements. Sometimes they're so dark you literally can't see your hand in front of your face. And other times there's just enough light to creep you out. Many times I don't know what I'm shooting until I see the image on the camera.

Yeah, it's fun!

Be there

Was at Mount Moriah Cemetery this afternoon right after the rains for another project and HAD to stop and shoot their mausoleum. I've wanted to photograph this building for several years now but only spent a few minutes grabbing these shots. The stone work is amazing . . I'll be back; hopefully sooner than several years from now!

f-stop in New York City

Last week I was hired by Rosin Preservation to photograph two buildings in Herald Square and parts of the Empire State Building. We were in NYC for a week and I took close to 2,000 shots, both for work and fun. I won't bore you with a lot of general tourist stuff, but here are some of my favorites from both categories.

We stayed on the 33rd floor of a condo on the upper west side, two blocks from Broadway and about 6 blocks from Central Park. Here are some views from our windows.





Rosin Preservation is preparing an application for Historic Tax Credits for the owner of the buildings and my photos were to show the completed rehab/restoration work.




Same story for the Empire State Building. Here's the restored main lobby.



OK, ONE touristy shot . .



I had a great time and very much hope to go back soon!