| People who know me may disagree, but I don't really like to talk about myself. It is one of the most boring subjects I can imagine. Many of you probably have no idea who I am, however, so I will tell you a little about myself. I live in Kansas City, Missouri. I am a computer network engineer (my full time job) and I love my work. I have a wonderful wife and two wonderful daughters. If it is possible to have a perfect life, I am very close to living it. I don't say that out of pride, because I had very little to do with it. In fact, I credit all the good things in my life to the unmerited favor and grace of a loving and merficul God. Oh, I am also a Christian. Not a Christian in the preachy, churchy kind of way. In fact, outside of this page, you probably won't hear me say much about it. But, it is the dominant influencing factor in my life. I may not wear a neon sign flashing, "I love Jesus", but I also don't hide my relationship with Jesus. It is just a part of me, and since this page is about me, I needed to include it. I ride a motorcycle almost every day. My current bike is a Yamaha Vstar 1300. The only times I don't ride my bike is when there is lightning, when there is ice on the ground, or when the temperature drops below 25 degrees F. I have a part time job with my Father-in-law hauling the equipment for the NFL football teams here in Kansas City. When the Chiefs have an away game, we load up their equipment and take it to the airport in two 24-foot straight trucks. Then we meet them when they come back and transport their equpment back to the stadium. We do this for most of the visiting teams as well. You may see photographs from the football games crop up from time to time. Finally, I am a photographer. I have been shooting as a serious photographer since 2007. I shoot with Canon equipment and my primary body is a Canon XTi. My photographic interests are very diverse, and I like to change up very often, both to stretch my photographic skills, and also to keep things interesting. I do a lot of volunteer photography for my church and other organizations. This provides an excellent opportunity to practice my photography in situations that I don't have control over. It also allows me to "give back" with talents and skills that not everyone has, and I find it very rewarding. I also hire my skills out from time to time. This is mostly by word of mouth and I don't actively promote myself as I only have a limited amount of time to"work" at photography. I enjoy this aspect of my photography, however, and I plan to do more of it as time goes on. I don't specialize and will probably shoot anything that a customer desires. My goal is simply to meet with a customer, get as much information about what they want, and what they plan to do with the photographs, and then provide photographs that meet their goals. One area I would like to do a lot more of is photojournalism. I shoot every accident and emergency scene I can. Many people find this ghoulish, but I feel it is important to document these types of events, and often I am the only photographer on scene at the time. When the dust has settled and the debris has been cleared, people begin to realize the photographs taken at the time are the only record of the event. These can be very useful to investigators, news agencies, and property owners. They are also significant historically. I love shooting events that may be historically significant (protests, marches, concerts, VIPs, etc.). If you are planning any kind of event like this, keep me in mind. There is significant value to having a dedicated photographer onsite who has no other job besides taking pictures. They will see and photograph things that people working the event can't. So, for any of you who cared enough to read this far, that should give you a little more information about who I am. Let me know if you have questions, and thanks for reading. Chris Phillips |
