Sabrina Staires Captures Real Life and Offers Space for Documentary Photo Shows


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Sabrina Staires Captures Real Life and Offers Space for Documentary Photo Shows
Photographer Sabrina Staires, Roeland Park, Kan., will mark her first anniversary in her Crossroads gallery location, Sabrina Staires Studio/Landon Gallery, Oct. 5. For Staires, the year has been the answer to her needs and those of many who support documentary photography. “My birthday is August 3. My husband and I were driving by here and saw the ‘For Lease’ sign in the window. We talked to the building owners and they wanted gallery space and there really is a need for a photo gallery,” Staires says. “I wanted a place for emerging photographers to show their work. I wanted to provide a venue for documentary-style photography. Not many spaces are available for folks trying to capture the real world.” For Staires, the real world of photography started with photos of her daughter. That progressed to photos of children. “I have always been involved with one form of art or another. I knew about dark rooms because of my father’s love of photography while growing up in Oklahoma City. I started using that room.” Staires gained experience in Boston. Although she did not take pictures, she learned the art of scheduling clients for a portrait and wedding photographer. She also handled some of the editing. Moving back to Kansas City, she worked at Custom Color and at the Kansas City Star, Staires ran the lab. “On my first day, I took in-studio photos,” she says. After a dream about hanging her own photos on white gallery walls, Staires opened Sabrina Staires Studio/Landon Gallery. Not only is Staires known as a photographer, she is also gaining a reputation for giving to the community. Proceeds from different shows have benefited such groups as Cancer Action and YouthFriends. She also offers her skills to photograph for the Heart Gallery, which captures images of foster children. “I didn’t want this to be an uptight gallery, but I also wanted a place where there could be a voice for issues. Those issues are here and aboard.” The September gallery show will be “Gypsies of Slovakia,” documentary photography by Julie Denesha. The October show will be Kansas City photographer Roy Inman’s “Scary Prairie.” “In a year’s time, I continue to learn,” she says. “I will continue with my lifestyle photography where I show people in their lives. They are beautiful and real. It is about showing people in their environments or in nature. It is often people in action. I show life, but in the best light possible. For me, it is about timing and capturing a moment.” www.sabrinastaires.com

Photographer Sabrina Staires, Roeland Park, Kan., will mark her first anniversary in her Crossroads gallery location, Sabrina Staires Studio/Landon Gallery, Oct. 5. For Staires, the year has been the answer to her needs and those of many who support documentary photography.

“My birthday is August 3. My husband and I were driving by here and saw the ‘For Lease’ sign in the window. We talked to the building owners and they wanted gallery space and there really is a need for a photo gallery,” Staires says. “I wanted a place for emerging photographers to show their work. I wanted to provide a venue for documentary-style photography. Not many spaces are available for folks trying to capture the real world.”

For Staires, the real world of photography started with photos of her daughter. That progressed to photos of children. “I have always been involved with one form of art or another. I knew about dark rooms because of my father’s love of photography while growing up in Oklahoma City. I started using that room.”

Staires gained experience in Boston. Although she did not take pictures, she learned the art of scheduling clients for a portrait and wedding photographer. She also handled some of the editing. Moving back to Kansas City, she worked at Custom Color and at the Kansas City Star, Staires ran the lab. “On my first day, I took in-studio photos,” she says.

After a dream about hanging her own photos on white gallery walls, Staires opened Sabrina Staires Studio/Landon Gallery. Not only is Staires known as a photographer, she is also gaining a reputation for giving to the community. Proceeds from different shows have benefited such groups as Cancer Action and YouthFriends. She also offers her skills to photograph for the Heart Gallery, which captures images of foster children. “I didn’t want this to be an uptight gallery, but I also wanted a place where there could be a voice for issues. Those issues are here and aboard.”

The September gallery show will be “Gypsies of Slovakia,” documentary photography by Julie Denesha. The October show will be Kansas City photographer Roy Inman’s “Scary Prairie.”

“In a year’s time, I continue to learn,” she says. “I will continue with my lifestyle photography where I show people in their lives. They are beautiful and real. It is about showing people in their environments or in nature. It is often people in action. I show life, but in the best light possible. For me, it is about timing and capturing a moment.”