Topeka Kansas Photographer

Jim’s Service (formerly Jim’s Conoco) has been on the corner of 10th & Plass for as long as I can remember. Jim and his assistant, Harry, have been friends since Topeka High School. Before Jim’s Conoco, Jim worked at the DX station that was across the street from his current station. The DX station is now Dynamic Computing and in between it was “The Little Drummer Boy” restaurant.
At one point Conoco insisted that Jim turn his station into a convenience store in order to maintain his affiliation with Conoco. That was about the time Jim told Conoco that he was a mechanic not a convenience store operator. Jim stopped selling gasoline when it got to the point he could only make a couple of cents/gallon. He still, however, welcomes all makes and models of cars that need mechanical work done.
Images taken with a Leica IIIF on Kodak Portra 400BW

I had a lot of fun attending the “Think Big Topeka” rally for Google held downtown Tuesday 12/1/2010. It was a chilly day the wind blew down the street where the event was held with some urgency. Although the actual temperature was around 28 the wind made it seem colder. All that said it was a great turnout for the day! Everyone was in great spirits and thanks to Core First Bank for the Hot Chocolate and Hot Dogs it was a festive atmosphere.

The “Think Big Topeka” group had arranged for a “Topeka Loves Google” banner to be unfurled that was about 2 stories tall, pretty cool! Someone said during their speech that the hope had been to fly the banner off of the crane that hoovers over the capitol building but that the wind was over 15 mph and it wasn’t safe to go through with the plan.

Before the event got underway I found myself standing next to the mayor, Bill Bunten. So what do you say? We talked about the weather, if he is going to run again etc. then I kinda ran out of things to say! Thank goodness about that time Bill Ogle from WIBW came up and started chatting with him. I was pretty amazed to learn that I still live in a city where an ordinary citizen can just pass the time of day with the mayor! Having just seen the mayor before that on TV you get one impression about what a person is like but I can tell you after talking to him for awhile, he really seems like a genuinely nice guy! One thing that stuck in my head that the mayor told me about the Google effort and the “Think Big Topeka” group as a whole was “we just need to get out of their way and let them do their thing”! He also re-iterated these comments during his brief speech to the assembled group. The mayor of Topeka is trying to send the message that Topeka is ready for progress!

Another thing that struck me was during the whole rally I didn’t see one police person. It could have just been me and I didn’t see them but their presence wasn’t outwardly apparent to me anyway. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying they should have been there. I’m glad to live in a town where people can have a rally in the middle of downtown and it isn’t necessary for the police to be there on patrol, even with the mayor present. Pretty cool when you think about it!

Another person I got to meet was Dennis Rogers, the Navajo hoop dancer. He says that he is the only person in the world that can spell out “Google” using “hoops”! He was a real nice guy to talk to and I thank him for “striking a pose” for me!

I really hope that Google chooses Topeka for their high speed internet access project. The project would mean a lot to Topeka. But, even if Google doesn’t choose us some really good things have happened in Topeka as a result of this project. Before this project and it’s challenge came along I wouldn’t have thought it possible to get an movement going in Topeka like “Think Big Topeka”. Hopefully whatever happens with Google, Topeka will learn from this and take on other challenges that the community faces in order to make Topeka the type of town it could be.

One last thing; the images below were taken on Fuji NPH 400 120 Roll film with a 1960′s era Mamiya C330 TLR (bought years ago at Wolfes, second hand) and processed by the fine people at Zerchers on Gage. Although in our studio work we are digital and have been for quite sometime, I’m always amazed when I shoot film at the tonal range that film affords. With film the highlights and the shadows hold detail at a much broader range. Film is still fun to shoot too!

Alissa of "Think Big Topeka"

Mayor Bill Bunten on right

The Major Speaking to Rally

Navajo Hoop Dancer

Press at the rally

It was a beautiful fall afternoon for Topeka High’s 2010 Homecoming parade on Friday Sept. 24th. The parade left the east side of Topeka High and travelled down 10th St. to Kansas Ave. then to 9th St. to Jackson and back to Topeka High. It has been many a year now since this Topeka photographer marched in the parade but it sure brought memories streaming back. Oh those were the days!! The images were captured on Kodak Portra 400 VC 120. The film was processed and scanned by Zercher’s here in Topeka.

A familiar site around Topeka during tax prep time is the dancing liberties around town. I wonder thought how many people stop and visit with any of them. This lady was very nice. She says that she has gotten to know some of the people that drive by frequently. Some of the frequent passers by wave and honk when they go by. It helps pass the time.