JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Retiring Rep. Jeremy Lafaver spent the night before veto session working on his next career, photography.
The Kansas City Democrat flew a drone around the state Capitol capturing images of the building just as the sun was setting. He thinks the pictures came out great.
This is the best one from this week. Prints available sometime soon I hope. pic.twitter.com/k6RbKsqaaa
— Jeremy LaFaver (@jeremylafaver) September 15, 2016
“I was so excited,” he said. “I could see them from my phone, but then when I got them on my computer and was able to run them through a quick processing software, I was like whaaaat. I can’t wait to fly it and do more of that stuff, it was cool.”
There was also some emotion involved with work, which offers a different view of the building than usual.
“It seems stately,” LaFaver said. “And I think there was something about it being the night before my last vote, that it was just kind of fun. I was just flying around looking at my old office.”
Another one from this week. pic.twitter.com/pgMFUziSTO
— Jeremy LaFaver (@jeremylafaver) September 15, 2016
LaFaver plans on selling some prints from the shoot, though he’s still figuring out all of the details. He does have FAA certification to fly near the restricted air space near the airport and he got permission from the Capitol police. He also wanted to make sure he had the best equipment available so he could get the best shots.
“The drone I’ve got is — as far as I know, and I did a lot of research and I wanted to buy the best — is the best consumer drone from any company that has ever come out,” he said. “It self corrects as it’s in the air. It hovers in place if I’m not making it do so. If I want to leave it in place when I’m looking at the camera or adjusting light or whatever, I just don’t touch the controls and it stays right where it is. I have a video that I shot where I was across the river and then came across the dome and panned the camera down, and I programmed the height to be 10 feet above the statue, so I didn’t have to deal with up and down. I just dealt with forward and backward and panning the camera and the left/right swing. And so it just took one thing out of it and it made the shot incredible.”
I will cast my last vote today as a member of the #Moleg. It’s been quite a ride. pic.twitter.com/hmuq58q0sv
— Jeremy LaFaver (@jeremylafaver) September 14, 2016
It’s part of a new career for LaFaver that began as a distraction from politics. He shoots weddings and family portraits.
“It’s been a fun, I don’t know if release is the right thing, but something fun to focus on that isn’t politics or politically related,” he said. “And when I’m out at a wedding, there’s not a single person who knows that that guy is a state legislator. They just know there’s the photographer. And so it’s fun to just get out of politics for a while and do something entertaining and fulfilling.”
But LaFaver hasn’t strayed completely from politics in his new job. He’s done some shooting for Kansas legislative candidates and he thinks he brings something different to the table with his own experience as a state representative.
“I think that’s an area as I transition out of being a state representative that I think I can provide a lot of help and value for candidates,” he said. “Knowing what it’s like to be a candidate and the nervousness of a campaign photoshoot and how do I get volunteers and stuff like that. It’s been a lot of fun. I have fun doing that.”
The best part of LaFaver’s new career probably comes when he does weddings, where he handles “second shots.” That includes taking pictures of the scenery and some of the crowd and, as LaFaver puts it, the “artsy-fartsy” pictures. But his favorite part involves the wedding itself.
“Every single wedding I am in charge of taking the picture of the groom the first time he sees his bride.That’s a pretty cool thing to do.”
FEATURED/JEREMY LAFAVER
