WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — We’re learning more about the life of photographer Amanda Gallagher, who died in an accident Saturday when she backed into an airplane’s spinning propeller.
Her friends say they are heartbroken but take solace that she died doing what she loved, photographing others and capturing their memories.
Gallagher died Saturday afternoon while photographing skydivers. Her good friend and co-worker, David Wallace, said she had a large influence on everyone.
He worked with her as part of Local 190, the stagehand union. She was a rigger, helping to set up many downtown Wichita concerts.
“She impacted everyone, from our Local 190, to the family at the sky diving, to her family at Cox, to her boyfriend, and her actual family, it was as tight and as a big, she’s going to be missed,” Wallace said.
He said Gallagher fell in love with photography. He is thankful for the memories he has now, to remember her through her work.
“I went back and looked at some video her and I shot, some photos. I was reminiscing, laughing with them, and I don’t tear up a lot, but I actually teared up, just going back through,” Wallace said. “We’re never going to have that time again.”
Gallagher’s good friend Tori Tong was at their photography studio when she got word her friend had passed. She said they now live through the small messages Gallagher would leave them around the office.
“I find beauty in the tragedy. I feel like often, we as people tend to overlook the little things that people are leaving for us, like the notes,” Tong said. “It just kind of reminds you, over time, of that message.”
Gallagher leaves a lasting impact through the lens of her camera.
“She actually took some absolutely beautiful photos of me, and I’ll just always remember that light in her eyes when I met her,” Ruby Guerero, a friend and photographer, said. “She was a sweetheart. She definitely impacted me through photography.”
“Seeing everybody come together under the light and love she was and what she brought to people, that’s going to be the lasting impact right there,” Roger Beste, Gallagher’s friend, said.
The friends say they are planning a large celebration of life for Gallagher at Century II, a final way to honor her life through the pictures she took.
