The Country Club Plaza lights are a holiday tradition in Kansas City. They’re lit on Thanksgiving and stay on until New Years. It’s been a while since I’ve photographed them so I wanted to make sure to do it this year. The thing is… I wanted a day that wasn’t cloudy (low clouds turn brownish when they reflect the lights) and wasn’t too cold. Oh, and I obviously had to be in town.

As Christmas was rapidly approaching, the weather was not cooperating. Clouds, cold temps AND high winds were pretty much the daily norm. It was beginning to look like it might not happen this year. The week following Christmas wasn’t much better until yesterday. We actually hit 70 degrees and there were only scattered clouds. It was windy, but the wind began to die down around 3:00 and I decided to go for it. I called by friend and fellow photograper, Bhaskar, who has recently moved to KC and we arranged to meet on the plaza.

I arrived less than half an hour before sunset. Bhaskar had already scouted around a bit and I found him along Brush Creek where we began our 45 minutes or so of frantic shooting. I like to catch that cobalt blue sky that happens right after sunset and before it goes solid black. Those few minutes go by fast when you’re trying to cover a several block area of a landmark 1920s shopping area. The creek was still frozen from the previous cold days and it was killing the reflections so we headed to the streets and eventually the tops of two different parking garages. The light began to die while we were on the first garage and was pretty much gone for good when we arrived at the second one:

My last shoot of 2010 but the weather was so amazingly cooperative! This morning I woke to the sound of sleet hitting the roof and windows. Not just light sleet, but a regular downpour. Lightning and thunder soon followed and by the time the sun came up, my front window was iced over like this:

I’m thankful for that one summer-like evening but it looks like we’re solidly back in winter again.