Kansas City Vacation Photos

When we announced the two-week summer break from the Paperclipping Roundtable, someone said they were excited for me to bring back some inspiration to share with you all from out trip.

The pressure was on and I had hopes of delivering. But then the plane ride to K.C. exacerbated the little virus that was my souvenir from Las Vegas and turned that baby into all of the following:

perforated ear drums
ear infections in both ears
pharyngitis
sinusitis
tinnitus

I spent most of my visit to family in bed. And I skipped my 20-year high school reunion. And I didn’t gather much inspiration to share with all of you.

Fortunately, Izzy took a bunch of shots, and I think they give some great ideas…

It looks magical to pose at the front of the property with the house back in the distance, rather than posing immediately in front of the house.

Over the shoulder shots are really cool. Especially when the smoke is still flying.

Un-posed group walking shots have lots of energy.

Shooting a line of people from an angle gives the photo movement, directs the eye, and can be more interesting than a straight-on shot.

Get a waterfall in the background. They’re cool. Fountains are all over Kansas City.

It’s really beautiful to get lots of green in a photo, especially when there’s greenery in the foreground and repetition of nature moving to the background.

Just a note because I know how thoughtful you all are — It took a while but I’m feeling back to my normal self again. The only thing that lingers, despite two antibiotics plus Prednisone, is the tinnitus. I’ve had constant ringing (no breaks!) for 3.5 weeks!

The doctor says it’s time to visit an ENT now. At least I feel good again!

Tags: Photography, photography tips, vacation

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 25th, 2011 at 9:00 am and is filed under Photography Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Anonymous

I hope you enjoyed (the best you could) your time in KC. I’ve lived here my whole life and it’s fun to see a scrappy celebrity here in my home town! :)
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=715560629 Kim Vail Brown

ack, i was hoping you would hint to when you were going to go because I would have loved to have a vegan meetup of sorts (public place you know for us crazy internets peeps. lol)
I live down in Wichita and it wouldn’t have much of a drive for me, plus the red sox were playing the royals,

Anywho, sucks that you were sick and you probably had the same dramatic heat stroke weather that you have in Arizona while you were here, but it looks like it didn’t bother you all to much. We have had something crazy like 47+ days of 100+degree weather here just this year.

So, my point is, hope you and yours had a great time.
http://www.paperclipping.com Noell

It was crazy hot, but you guys have all that humidity there! In AZ our air is light as…air. ;) So the heat isn’t all that bad here to me. I actually love to go out into and get a nice little sun bath on my skin.

Do you know of any vegan places around KC? Or at least vegan-friendly? Only one of my sisters actually lives in KC anymore. My other sister lives in Libery and my parents are in Jameson, so we spend most our time out there instead. But I’d love to know of some great veg restaurants for next time.
We did actually spend a night in Witchita and found a really awesome Indian restaurant there! I look for Indian everywhere I go and wasn’t expecting the one in Kansas to be all that but it was one of my favorites!
Anne Walterich

Sorry to hear about your illness, but glad to hear you’re on the mend. Sucks about missing your reunion. At my 10-year, I would up partying all night with cool people but NOT checking in with my Mom (was staying with her in town) and she called my BOSS to find out if he knew where I was because, you know, I couldn’t have just had a cool night on my own. Needless to say, it made for a very awkward Monday-morning conversation with said boss and some cord-cutting with Mom. (Nothing good happens after 2 a.m.) Hope you got to at least catch up with some fun people from back in the day!
http://www.paperclipping.com Noell

This happened at your TEN year reunion, Anne? Wow!!! ;)
http://www.chalicat.com/blog/ Noelle

Wish I could give you a cure for the tinnitus, but I’ve never found one myself. Tinnitus and periodic vertigo were the lingering side effects of the virus that took the hearing in my left ear when I was 16. I live with constant noise in that ear. Sounds more like the snow from a tv not on a station, to me. I CAN tell you, that mine has been aggrivated by other noise, caffeine, and alchol. All of them cause the ringing to get louder, and the louder it is the more annoying it becomes.

If you can’t sleep because of the noise, or it’s really driving you nuts, try turning on a fan or a sound machine. The simulated white noise counteracts the ringing I hear and makes it easier to deal.

Dang…I should probably some day document in a scrapbook this whole hearing thing. I don’t usually think about being hearing impaired. After 20 years, it’s just ME.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=715560629 Kim Vail Brown

yes, there are quite a few vegan options here in wichita. jason’s deli (yes they have meat, but they have vegan options,) n&j’s bakery which is greek(vegab options), there is a place right by my house, I can never think of the name of it, but it is on Seneca street, it is completely vegan, they have a restaurant and small market. We have a donut shop called the donut hole that serves vegan donuts only on Wednesdays. like cool vegan donuts with fruity pebbles, cinn/sugar/ kool-aid mix, citris, ect and I think sprouts is 100% vegan too. I’m sure there are more, but I just can’t think of any off the top of my head.
http://www.paperclipping.com Noell

Wow, Noelle!!! I had no idea you can lose your hearing from a virus! Was it just that your ear infection (or maybe eardrum eruption) was so bad that it caused permanent damage?

I’ve always gotten tinnitus pretty frequently, and obviously I’ve found it to be the worst after a loud concert, especially since I like to stand right up front. Bad, I know. I’ve had a slightly harder time hearing since my freshman year of high school and it’s only gotten worse since.

I do feel my hearing is even worse now than it was before I got sick last month, but I can also feel that I’m still a bit congested, since my ears keep opening up. My Dr. told me the lingering tinnitus is from still having fluid in my ears. So I hope he’s right and that there is a solution that isn’t too invasive (like tubes — yuck).
http://www.paperclipping.com Noell

That’s awesome! Now that you say that I do remember there were one or two places we found on Yelp but they were all closed for dinner. If we ever go through Wichita again, I will be planning for those donuts!!!
http://www.chalicat.com/blog/ Noelle

I didn’t have an ear infection of ruptured ear drum. I woek up fine one morning and mid-afternoon came town with vertigo so bad I vomited if I moved my head at all. I had no ear infection, but I lost all hearing in the speaking-range in my left ear. The doctors did MRI scans and blood tests and hearing tests. Ultimately it was determined I’d had a virus called Labrynthitis. It’s a pretty rare virus that strikes on about 1% of the population a year. What it did was kill the nerves in my ear. So I can’t wear a hearing aid, because amplifying the sound won’t help.

I learned to deal and adapt pretty quickly. I continued to play a musical instrument through the rest of high school. When I listen to my iPod, I only wear 1 earbud. (Or play Paperclipping Roundtable through the iPod jack in my Subaru while commuting.) But I’m extremely conscious of the noise level of my toddler’s toys. I’ve made my engineer husband figure out sound dampers on toys I deem too loud. I want to protect my girl’s ears as long as possible.
Fancyscrapper

How did I miss that you lived in KC before? I was born there, and lived there until I was 9. My Mom’s folks are from Wichita, but moved to KC when my Mom was still at home, so it’s her roots as well. Dad’s from St. Louis, though his grandparents are also from KC. Got lotsa roots and still some family there myself. We spent lots of summers with my Grandparents when I was growing up.

I’m so sorry you were ill on your vacation! Totally sucks! Glad you are better now. I have some tinnitus, and my Dad has had it for years. But then, we are a musical family, and have played far too much through headphones most likely. My hubster has been a drummer since childhood, so he’s got some hearing loss as well (especially on the cymbal side of his head).

Funny the things we find in common. I hope your ringing ears clear up soon!

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