ShawneeDispatch.com

Jason Domingues loved taking photos of people, but he had no intention of becoming a wedding photographer until a friend asked him to be his wedding photographer.

"I didn't want anything to do with weddings," Domingues said of his first reaction to the request. "I'd just heard horror stories of crazy moms and crazy brides."

But with a little coaxing, Domingues relented, though he gave one condition: he would get to shoot the wedding the way he wanted, no other directions. His friend agreed, and Domingues found he loved it.

"I told my wife 'I've found what I want to do, this is it, I don't care what it takes,'" he said.

Now Domingues has been in the business of wedding photography and family portraits for five years, and he has recently taken another step in his growing business by opening his by-appointment-only studio in downtown Shawnee, 10914 Johnson Drive.

Domingues grew up in Bristol, R.I., where he was a black and white architectural photographer and also worked as a freelance photographer for a local newspaper. Then, deciding he needed a change, he joined the military in 1995 and was sent to Fort Riley, Kan.

It was there he met his wife, Allison, and they married after he got out of the military in 1998. Allison grew up in Lenexa, and the couple decided to settle in Johnson County to raise their family.

Domingues had kept up with photography while in the military and returned to it not long after his marriage.

"When I came to Kansas City, I knew there was something missing in my life that I wanted to pursue," he said.

He went back to journalistic photography, again working for an area newspaper, and said he fell in love with taking photos of people in action. Then, after that friend asked him to be the photographer at his wedding, Domigues said he found he enjoyed the interaction with his clients, getting to know them so well just by spending such a special day with them.

He also loved the challenge wedding photography presented.

"I had to be creative right on the spot and come up with a photo shoot without any preplanning," Domingues said.

Domingues soon had done enough weddings that his brides and grooms were calling him back when it was time to do a family portrait, so that became a part of his studio business, too. He also specializes in what he calls "un-bridals:" a photo session taken some time after the wedding when anything goes to get a unique shot of the bride in her dress, including putting her on a dirty floor or even in one of Kansas City's famous fountains.

"You pay thousands of dollars for these dresses - why not get something out of them," Domingues said.

For five years, he worked out of his basement studio in his home in Prairie Village, but decided it was time for his own space. Domingues and his wife looked at locations on the Plaza and in southern Johnson County and had even decided on a Plaza location.

"My wife found this the day we were going to sign the lease on the Plaza, and we chose Shawnee instead," he said.

He said he has always liked the Shawnee area, and the city's downtown area was more his style.

"It just felt right when we saw the space," he said. "We're a high-end, boutique studio space, but we're down-to-earth. We're not high up on that pedestal."

He points to one of the "un-bridal" shots he has hanging in the window of the studio: a bride sitting next to a rough-looking trucker. He calls it his gate-keeper.

"If you see that image, you know right away you're not coming into a typical portrait studio," he said.

The studio can be reached at (913) 499-0144. For more information, visit dominguesphotography.com.