People & Places
A Defiant Muhammad Ali Was Cherished By Black Men
Over the past few days, we’ve seen image after image of Muhammad Ali: triumphant in the ring, joking on talk shows and shakily lifting the Olympic torch at the 1996 Atlanta games. He’s remembered these days as an athlete and a humanitarian, and that was, definitely, Ali. But so was the defiant, incisive Ali. “I’m…
Francois and Berenice Chouteau
Today their names grace our highways, city districts and restaurants. But before Chouteau was a trafficway, it was the name of an immigrant couple who used their honeymoon to discover new land. Before McCoy’s was a good place to get a beer, it was a family of missionaries whose son would use his business savvy…
Sympathetic Vibrations | Taking That Tone
Dave Wendler is obsessed with tone. So much so that he has spent the majority of his life striving to unearth the tonal potential of every instrument he comes across. And it’s at his unassuming home in the south Kansas City suburbs where Wendler hones his craft. Wendler is the owner and operator of Wendler Instruments —…
Of Faith and Loyalty
The office of Palestinian-born shop owner Munir Yameen is a warm and congenial space, adorned by a black-and-white photo of Yameen as a young man in uniform, a smattering of carefully framed verses from the Quran and the customary photos of children and grandchildren. But the most striking photo on display is of his grandson Tarik standing…
In ‘Service,’ A Celebrated Photographer Turns His Lens On U.S. Troops
As a celebrated portrait photographer, Platon Antoniou (who goes professionally by his first name) is well-known for his close-up depictions of the powerful. He has aimed his camera at the faces of celebrities and world leaders ranging from Vladimir Putin and Moammar Gadhafi to Willie Nelson and Woody Allen. “Sometimes,” he says, “you look in…
A New Digital Series
Today, their names grace our highways, city districts, and restaurants. But before Chouteau was a trafficway, it was the name of an immigrant couple who used their honeymoon to discover new land. Before McCoys was a good place to get a beer, it was a family of missionaries whose son would use his business savvy…
An Old Soldier’s Virtual Heaven
The 70-year-old photo, discovered behind an old kitchen cabinet in Huntington, West Virginia, held tightly to its secrets; only the barest of clues were etched on the back in pristine penmanship. It’s a man in uniform, highly posed, perhaps in his mid-20s, holding a pipe to his mouth. He would be well into his 90s…
Cosplay Style, Part II: Planet Comicon Comes to Town
It’s Saturday and Day 2 of Planet Comicon. So now it doesn’t matter if you have a day job or not — all gloves are off and the spandex is on when it comes to cosplay style. Flatland was on hand to capture another round of KC’s finest players. Planet Comicon continues at Bartle Hall through tomorrow. We were on…
Cosplay Style, Part I: Planet Comicon Comes to Town
As Planet Comicon takes over Bartle Hall for the next three days, comic book legend Stan Lee — and all the pop culture A-listers slated to make appearances — will be photographed thousands of times. But we at Flatland are on hand to capture another side, the C-listers. That’s ‘C’ for Cosplayers, the elaborately adorned mega-fans who take costumed play…
From KC to Cannes: It’s a Hustle
Orson Welles’ observation on filmmaking was simple: “It’s about two percent movie making and 98 percent hustling. It’s no way to spend a life.” Kansas City-based indie filmmaker Patrick Rea knows everything about hustling. He began creating short films in 2002 to help him refine his skills as a storyteller and film director. To date, Rea has…