Kansas City had an eventful year, with a Super Bowl victory and parade, a shooting that grabbed the nation's attention, concerts by pop superstars, a new airport and so much more.
If you follow our work by keeping your dial tuned to 89.3, you would have heard a year of audio-rich stories — but you would have missed the visuals we put in each story. Carlos revisited some of the photographs he and KCUR's staff produced in case you didn't see them the first time around, or want to look back at the year before 2024 begins.
In February, the Chiefs pulled out a come-from-behind victory over the Philadelphia Eagles, 38-35, to earn their third Super Bowl trophy.
I started the evening at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception where unhoused people were treated to a watch party. Then, I shifted to John’s Big Deck where tightly packed fans were in a fine mood as I left for Power and Light. When I got there, though, fans were much less happy as the third quarter wound down.
But the crowd’s mood began to turn as Kansas City made two fourth quarter touchdowns and Harrison Butker put the Chiefs ahead with a 27-yard field goal with 5:07 to play.
This was among the images I made after the Eagles’ Jalen Hurts’ last pass fell incomplete.
In late February, Kansas Citians finally strolled through the new terminal at the Kansas City International Airport after nearly five years of construction.
The $1.5 billion single-terminal airport opened to enthusiastic reviews for its use of public art, local food vendors and technology. But as the year wore on, it became clear that users still struggled to navigate the cell phone lot and congestion at the arrivals curb.
The media visited the terminal at different stages of its construction. I felt that this moment, a few weeks before the facility fully opened, best captured what this building offers, with lots of light and art, versus what the older horseshoe-shaped terminals didn’t offer. The photo has a weird mix of light flare and lines that are a bit disorienting, but to me, this shows what this terminal is all about.
In June, Kansas City, Missouri, was well on its way to another grim year for gun violence and homicides.
We try not to make the series of homicides just a number, but it’s hard to put a human face on the death toll in Kansas City.
I found Rosilyn Temple with Mothers in Charge standing near the scene of a homicide on College Avenue near 74th Street on June 14, where a shooting occurred that morning. She was standing by to comfort neighbors and family. A woman had been shot and died inside a home.
The NFL Draft came to Union Station in April.
Not only did the NFL stage the draft on the grounds of the historic train station, the league sponsored events around town. Among these was a play day for area students who got to hang out and run NFL-type drills with college players in town for draft nights.
Middle schoolers ran through dummies, performed agility drills and caught passes with future stars such as Texas’ Bijon Robinson, Ohio State’s C.J Stroud and Alabama’s Bryce Young.
A local photographer makes beautiful photographs by freezing flowers.
In August, KCUR's Julie Denesha visited another photographer, Susan Pfannmuller, who buys a lot of flowers — but she doesn't put the bouquets in vases. Instead, she freezes them in containers of water to create stunning images.
Julie and I are photojournalists by trade, and it's always fascinating how other photographers approach subject matter and develop (pun intended) techniques that move beyond the way we see the world. Freezing things and encasing them in ice makes for a bold artistic choice and creates a whole new way to see things.
The Sobela Ocean Aquarium at the Kansas City Zoo opened in late August to enthusiastic crowds.
The aquarium boasts 8,000 aquatic creatures that are part of the 34 exhibits in the meandering building. Local media and social influencers were invited to a preview of the facility’s 650,000 gallons of different habitats from around the world before it officially opened.
The exhibits offer no end of photographic opportunities. It takes a little patience and some luck to find moments that might stand out from the others. I spent a little extra time peeking over the shoulders of many bloggers and other folks who wanted to show and tell their audiences about Kansas City’s newest attraction. The jellyfish, I thought, provided a mesmerizing place to make a photo and relax in the dark.
The KC Wheel popped into the Kansas City skyline in mid-September.
KC Wheel emerged seemingly overnight next to I-35 in Kansas City’s Westside. But finding a clear shot of the Ferris wheel with the city’s skyline behind it proved challenging.
There are several billboards around it. Numerous power poles and other utilities dot the area, making a clean shot difficult. After driving around it a few times and on different days, I discovered a back way in using Jefferson Street. It took a delicate climb along the embankment of northbound I-35 to get this image without anything covering it up or giving anyone too much free advertising.
Taylor Swift left an impression on Kansas City in 2023.
It began with her Eras tour, which came to town for two — TWO! — shows at Arrowhead Stadium. Her romance with Chiefs’ tight end Travis Kelce, and her appearances at home and away football games, have made her a constant presence in Kansas Citians' orbit.
In September, we visited the Swift merchandise pop-up trailers outside Arrowhead prior to her performances to make photos of the crowd scooping up T-shirts, posters and other merchandise. But I thought these large cutouts of her that adorned artist Jeff Parson’s yard in Riverside delivered a playful punch to the enthusiasm and over-the-top mania that she brought and left in the area.
Kansas City Ballet premiered Jekyll and Hyde in October.
KCUR's arts reporter Julie Denesha photographed and wrote about Val Caniparoli's rendition of Jekyll and Hyde."
He premiered the performance of Robert Louis Stephenson's gothic novella in North America at the Kansas City Ballet.
During dress rehearsal, Julie captured the struggle between good and evil as it played out on stage between performers Cameron Thomas (Hyde) and Gavin Abercrombie (Jekyll).
Freight Train Rabbit Killer celebrated 10 years.
October was a good month for photography at KCUR. Frank Morris, NPR’s national correspondent based at KCUR, created a remarkable audio piece about local music group Freight Train Rabbit Killer.
Frank spent time with the band and made this image of them performing at the Kansas City fashion show for Mark Smeltzer’s dead rabbit-themed clothing. Frank has a crafty eye for images and used his phone with its wide-angle lens to capture the colors and “crashing, heavy blues, swirled with dark opera and the devil,” as Frank described their music.
The American Royal Livestock Show gave children a chance to show off their animals.
Also in October, I got a chance to spend a couple of days weaving in and out of the sawdust-covered floors of the hog barn and dirt-filled arenas of Hale Center at the American Royal Livestock Show with Harvest Public Media reporter Eva Tesfaye. Livestock shows are one of my favorite places to photograph. The people are friendly and very open to having their pictures taken. Plus, there are many unpredictable moments and great stories to find.
Eight-year-old Allison Throckmorton from San Antonio, Texas, had just finished showing off her sheep, Tornado, and was taking time to do an interview with Eva. While they talked, I snapped candid photos. She would play and nuzzle with Tornado as she interviewed. Those were really fun photos. Allison exhibited a comfortable and bubbly nature during the interview. When they finished, I asked her to pose with Tornado for a portrait. I normally don’t like to use photos of people mugging for the camera, but this image seemed so natural and fun that I felt it was the best reflection of her relationship with her project.
