Topeka Magazine

A flight with the Kansas Air National Guard

Back in October of 2017, I was commissioned to ride along with the 190th Air Refueling Wing of the Kansas Air National Guard.  This particular mission was to refuel three B-2 Spirits, otherwise known as Stealth Bombers.  The images that I shot for this story were recently published in the new Spring issue of Topeka Magazine and I'm excited to finally be able to share it.

I arrived at Forbes Field in Topeka, KS and climbed aboard a KC-135.  The crew was super accommodating and allowed me to sit right behind the two pilots on take off.  It was such a unique experience to be in the cockpit on take off that I had to keep reminding myself "more shooting, less sitting here in awe!".  After about an hour in the air, the first B-2 came in sight and I was lucky enough to be down in the refueling bay with the boom operator as the B-2 came up for refueling.  It was truly awesome to be laying down in the belly of the plane, shoulder to shoulder with the boom operator, watching a B-2 come in for refueling.  It was a WOW! moment for sure.  I got some great shots of the operator with the B-2 hooked up.  The B-2 was so close, I could see the pilots.  Pretty freaking sweet.  Anyway, here are the images of mine that were used for the cover and the article.

Kansas Ballet Academy - Topeka Magazine

Last month I was commissioned to make some images of three young dancers from the Kansas Ballet Academy, for Topeka Magazine.  The idea was to have the dancers in their normal street clothes, performing ballet positions and jumps at a Topeka landmark, so we chose the Kansas State Capitol building for the location.  The kids were really great to work with and were all smiles, even though I made them jump over and over and over.

Here are a couple of the published images and a few extras from the shoot.