Topeka Kansas Photographer

Kevin and Kari Aker’s and their son Robert operate and own Aker’s Diamond Galleria located at 1570 SW Wanamaker #130 (Just north of Best Buy).   The Aker family have been in several locations over the years. They used to be White Lakes Jewelers (where I met them). Then they moved to North Topeka just off of North Topeka Blvd. (that was a very cute homey jewelery store!).  For the last 4 or 5 years they have been located on Wanamaker.

One day, years ago, I was looking for some diamond earrings for my wife and had been into about 6 or 7 jewelry stores both here in Topeka and also in Lawrence and boy was I confused!  Kevin wasn’t too busy that day, I guess I made the mistake of saying some disparaging remark referencing jewelers about trying to figure out how I was getting a fair deal buying the earrings I was looking for. Well for the next hour or so Kevin sat me down and using his diamond microscope taught me how to judge the quality of diamonds that I was thinking of buying.   Once you understand about cut, color, size and clarity of a diamond it is pretty easy to make a informed jewelery buying decision.

If you want to talk about custom designed jewelery or the current market in metals or precious gems Kevin is the guy to talk to!  He has a machine that after he designs your ring etc., then makes a plastic 3D mold of the design. The mold is then sent out for casting. Kevin’s passion is designing  jewelry!  Kari on the other hand, is Kevin’s wife and when it actually comes time to get the love of your life a great gift Kari is the person to talk to!  Kari has jewelery tucked away in that store for every budget.  Guys if you need some help this Christmas season you need to see Kari!  She may be just about the sweetest jewelery sales person in town. You will feel really great about whatever you decide on.

Akers Sale now til Christmas

Custom Designed Rings

Custom Designed Rings

Gem Microscope (How I learned about diamonds!)

Award Winning Designs

Barry Feaker, Executive Director of the Topeka Rescue Mission has become synonymous in Topeka with helping the homeless and feeding the hungry. Today I was fortunate to photograph an event at Wells Fargo Financial Svcs. here in Topeka where Barry accepted around $7000 and a bunch of children’s Christmas gifts on behalf of his ministry.  It is very understandable after just visiting with Barry for a couple of minutes why his ministry has been so successful over the years helping people that need it most here in Topeka. Barry is a very warm, humble, quick witted, funny guy!  He gets the message across about the plight of the homeless very succinctly and to the point that brings tears to your eyes.

The staff of Wells Fargo Financial were great to meet. The team lead by Neta Jeffers provided cookies and coffee to all in attendance. The gifts were donated both by the staff of Wells Fargo and their clients.  Wells Fargo is located in Topeka on 21st St. on the hill behind Westridge Mall.

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

I am sure that wherever you are you are aware that the Christmas season is now in full swing; Topeka is no different. Well at least the secular side of the holiday anyway. The first Sunday in advent hasn’t happened yet but that’s another post to come! Following my wife on a shopping trip today gave me the chance to do some blog photos. I do love all of the colorful items this time of year. Red is my favorite color anyway!

Just a few images of fall photographs taken during my daily walk. Well the dog really doesn’t have much to do with fall but she is along my walk route. The dog’s name is “layla”, you know, like the Eric Clapton song. Anyway, I thought I better get these images posted before the snow starts to fly! Hope you like them! Tom