Topeka photographer captures magic of wintery downtown

TOPEKA (KSNT) - A Topeka-born and raised photographer is soaking in the praise after capturing a series of magical photos from the State Capital during a winter storm.

On Saturday, Andrea Etzel of Ad Astra Explorer fought the cold to capture the wintery wonderland downtown. Etzel shared her photos on Facebook and was surprised by the number of positive responses. The post was shared by more than 1,000 individuals.

"It's funny what goes viral and what doesn't," Etzel said. "I just kind of posted them thinking people might like these."

Etzel says she has been doing photography for as long as she can remember but started professionally 10 to 15-years-ago. She said she loves the idea of snow photography but "when it snows I'm like, yeah, I don't want to be out in that."

"You're going to regret not doing it," Etzel told herself. "I was like, I knew I wanted to go downtown because I love our downtown on a normal good day."

Etzel, who works downtown, had several scenes in mind. First the Capital Building, second the Cyrus Hotel and third the Jayhawk Tower. But unfortunately, the Jayhawk tower lights weren't on that night.

"It did not feel like you were downtown," Etzel said. "Sometimes I try to find a different perspective than what maybe people would normally see, and then also I work downtown so I walk around a lot. Each time I walk around I put it in a mental folder to remember for a possible photo later."

Etzel said nobody pays her for the photo shoots but she plans on selling prints from the weekend. She said she hopes to have her website updated soon for people to buy prints. You can visit the Ad Astra Explorer website by clicking here.

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