What is your name, grade, and pronouns? Emily Wagner, I’m a sophomore. She/they.
What school do you go to? Staley High School in the North Kansas City District.
What is the best thing about Kansas City? I would have to say just the wide variety of scenery you get from the north being super country and rural, to the south and middle of the city being a lot more like a city how you would picture it being. Like urban and stuff like that.
Where are some places you recommend to visit in Kansas City? The river market. It is one of my favorite places because you have a bunch of food from different cultures. You can get local honey, flowers, patches, and just a bunch of other stuff. There’e even an Asian market there, so if you like ramen noodles, or candy from there it is amazing.
If you could travel anywhere, where would you go? Ireland.
What is your favorite thing to take pictures of? Nature or animals because they tend to work with you a lot more than humans.
What got you interested in photography? I’ve always been into taking pictures. Something about just hearing the click of the camera is super enticing to me, like I get a little bit of dopamine everytime I hear the shutter close.
What is your motto in life? It’s from Meet the Robinsons. “Keep moving forward”.
If you had unlimited money what would you buy? Loads and loads of cats and food. Food is awesome.
What’s your favorite picture you’ve ever taken? My favorite picture I’ve ever taken is a picture of my cat laying down in the sunlight on his tummy.
Who inspired you to start taking pictures? Nobody really inspired me, I just loved taking photos of anything that really entices me like even Kansas City. I find some really good pictures from murals and even the skyline.
Can you describe a time you were scared but pushed through? One of my swim meets my coach put me in back to back events, which I’m not used to swimming,. And when I do, my blood sugar tends to drop so I was trying to swim through it and I just started to feel like absolute trash. Once I got done with the lap I was currently on I just held onto the starting area and was like “I cannot do this, I cannot do this,” and one of the coaches came over was like, “just keeping going you only have two more laps,” and I was able to push through and get the entire laps done.
What other activities do you do besides photography? I am a swimmer and a choir kid.
What’s something in life that you value? Relationships.
What’s your role in choir? I’m a tenor, but I could also sing alto.
What music do you listen to? Lots of rock and alt.
What’s your favorite band? Rare Americans. I can talk about them for hours
