Kelsey Sullivan Photojournalist

From last summer...

2010-02-21T23:57:00.004-06:00

Practiced my lighting with my little brother this summer. He's a senior this year.

Ghetto Light

2009-11-28T15:10:00.004-06:00

Last time in lighting, we were told to put away our strobes and use our imaginations. We were instructed to go to Home Depot or your home and find lights to use for our assignment. We were told to do a portrait of a blue collar worker. Meet Tim Brant. He is the general manager of the Stonehenge Avenue store and has been working at Domino's for 4 years. He confesses that he has been working in the pizza business for 15 years, and he loves it. He now attends WKU and is trying to get a degree in finance or management. He hopes to open his own pizza business someday. Anyway, I had a great time photographing him and it was challenging figuring out where to put my the lights in the car.

Here's my setup: Two "Real" 60-watt bulbs attached to clamps. One on the driver side pointed up and one on the window lever on the other side of the truck. I had a lamp on the outside to light the outside of the truck.

Parent

2009-11-23T14:15:00.006-06:00

This picture is from earlier in the semester that I just realized I didn't post. We had to do a portrait of a parent, and so I did a portrait of my story from my final project in multimedia last semester. Her name is Summer and she is a single mother that has a 9-year-old (I think) named Jet, who has ADHD.

Love me Cheer-ly

2009-10-05T12:50:00.006-05:00

Our assignment for lighting last week was fill light, and our subject was portrait of an athlete. I decided to choose athlete(s).

Lori and Josh are both ex-cheerleaders who met through the WKU cheerleading program. They fell in love and got married this summer on the beach. :) Lori is a junior at WKU and Josh is an '06 alumni and the coach of the all-girl Western cheerleading team. Therefore both are still active in cheerleading.

The first one is filling the light so that it looks natural and unstrobed. The second one is where we were supposed to make it look strobed. I don't really like the second one. In the first one, I wish that her glasses didn't leave a shadow on her face.

I am starting a photo story on Lori and Josh today, so check back later because there is more to come.

Random.

2009-09-22T22:38:00.004-05:00

Creepin' the roommate...

I wish I would have shot this better...At roller derby practice.

Orange you glad you didn't say Pear?

2009-09-22T22:22:00.003-05:00

I think I am obsessed with fruit. I took this the other day when I was cutting an orange.

Sockem' Soccer.

2009-09-13T13:48:00.006-05:00

I shot my brothers soccer game yesterday with a 70-200 and it was hardddd. Yes, I realized I needed bigger glass, but that is all I had that was available. Anyways, when I got there I thought the field was bigger than a usual HS soccer field was. To top it all off, it was one of those games where they do more running back and forth than staying on one side or the other. (The final score was 1-0 and they scored that first and only goal within 5 minutes of starting.) Anyway, I know it sucks but here's my take. My goal this year is to get better at shooting sports, so if I post these today I can go back in the archives later and see how much better I've gotten.

Au Pair!

2009-09-10T19:20:00.005-05:00

It's the beginning of another beautiful semester of photo at WKU! Our first assignment in lighting class was to light a pair with natural sources. I wish I had spent more time on my and had been more create, however, I did learn from what I did shoot.

The day in pictures

2009-07-11T18:25:00.005-05:00

I felt really bad for this cadet today. He bruised his patella and is missing out on training for 3 days. He was really bummed out.

I'm such a mean photographer! Poor cadets are trying to steal a wink of sleep while the drill sergeants aren't looking and what do I do? I take a picture! :)

People who look like people from home

2009-07-10T19:10:00.002-05:00

This blonde girl reminds me sooo much of Danielle Bartley!! She may not look just like her, but she looks kinda similar and it is also in the way she talks and sometimes the way she does things. She's really badass and hardcore when she is training and is really spunky.

More to come soon. I created this post at the last minute and I have to tone to post more.

Keep checking back!

Photos I actually like

2009-07-10T18:56:00.006-05:00

I don't really know why I like this. The technical stuff is off, like the focus...it's not focused on his face. But I think I like it because it is kinda creepy in a way.

One photo from the airport

2009-06-28T18:37:00.002-05:00

2009-06-26T18:17:00.007-05:00

A Cadet fires a M16 rifle in a simulation at the Engagement Skills Training room.

A Cadet takes a nap in the grass during lunchtime after eating his MRE. (yummy!)

Yesterday's photos

2009-06-23T17:27:00.011-05:00

Finally, fun at the Knox

2009-06-21T13:13:00.007-05:00

Today I felt a bit mischievous, so I let my mind go wild. I'll let you see for yourself in the silly images below.

YES, this is a headless army dummy on a strecher!

And again!

Oh my! Is that a full moon?
Wait, what are you doing staring at that girl's butt, when obviously the focus of the picture is right there in the center? Perverts. ;)

2009-06-09T18:45:00.012-05:00

So, I've finished my first week as an intern on post at Fort Knox, KY in the Public Affairs Office and am now starting my second. Here are some photos I've taken so far. The first three images are from the ROTC first company that I shot for the web. The others are the JROTC from Jackson, Mississippi.

2009-05-30T18:38:00.003-05:00

My new website is finally up. I had to make a few minor changes to it after turning it in, but now it is ready to view. Let me know what you think.

www.wku.edu/~kelsey.sullivan282

Let me know if it messes up. I've looked at it over and over again but it looks right in Flash. Sometimes when you click the "enter" button it goes to the wrong page. But, sometimes it works when I refresh it.

Thanks,
Kelsey

Favorites from "Flying Solo" (Single Mom)

2009-05-26T23:32:00.008-05:00

Here are a few of my favorites from my final story in Multimedia. The story was about a single mom named Summer and her eight-year-old son, Jet.

Summer became pregnant when she was 22, while studying at WKU. Raising Jet while she was still in school was difficult at first, but now Summer believes that Jet came to her just when he was supposed to. While raising Jet, she discovered her love for art and is now the Manager for Design Services at The Roshan Group located at Shutterbug in Bowling Green, Ky. Summer believes that without Jet, she would not have discovered the career path of her dreams.

With my experiences with him, Jet did not seem like an easy child to raise, especially alone. Jet had always been a hyper child, but Summer thought it was normal since he had always acted that way. When Jet was diagnosed with ADHD recently, it explained his behavior and has helped Summer know how to deal with his hyperactivity.

Even though being a single mom can be hard at times, Summer says she wouldn't trade it for anything else. "He is the love of my life," she states.

Prom 2009

2009-05-20T17:24:00.006-05:00

So I went to shoot my brother's junior prom, because heaven knows my mom can't work a camera. I thought it might be a decent day, but when I got there on Saturday afternoon, it was rainy and overcast. I knew from then on that the day would be less fun than I had planned.

The girlfriend arrived and I start shooting pictures. I then realized pretty quickly that mom was not going to let me take the pictures I wanted to take. I ended up with photos that a basic kid would shoot: messy backgrounds, raccoon eyes, and boring, centered shots. It was miserable. On top of the rain, I was surrounded by cliquey teenagers. I forgot how much I hated high school.

Anyway, here's what I came up with.

Death of a Killer

2009-04-20T01:04:00.005-05:00

Friday was a sad day for those who know freshman photojournalism student, Danielle Bartley. On this day, Bartley awoke to find her betta fish floating in the murky waters of his spherical home. The irony in this story: his name was KILLER.

Funeral services for Killer were held Friday afternoon at 3:30 pm on the dirt mound of Nashville Road. The funeral was directed by Bartley, herself, who said a few heart-felt words in memory of her beloved fish. Killer's grave was also prepared by Bartley. It consisted of a box colored with pastels. Killer rests in the thick grasses of the mound to this day. He will be greatly missed.

Single Mom

2009-04-16T16:01:00.013-05:00

I've recently been working on my final story. Here are a few images of Summer Bolton and her son, Jet.

More images to come soon.

A Team Effort (Preacher)

2009-04-10T13:44:00.009-05:00

The last three weeks we were assigned to do a project on a preacher or a farmer. I was one of the few who chose to do my story on a preacher. It didn't turn out as well as I had hoped. I had good audio, but I realized that my pictures did not go with that audio a little too late.

As many of you may know, I recently dropped my hard drive, so all of these pictures as well as all of my other pictures for this whole year are probably gone for good. However, I was working on four pictures before the hard drive fell, so I do have those. Although they are not best photos, they were a part of my story, and I feel that I should at least put something on here to show my hard work for those 3 weeks. Here goes nothing.

Jordan Sturgeon and Pastor Dave Sturgeon relax on the couch in their home after the Friday night meeting of the church group called the "2o somethings."

Jordan does everything technology-wise for the church, while his dad, the pastor, worries about the sermons and the praise band. (YES, the pastor leads the praise band with an electric guitar, too!)

Jordan and PD share a moment after the easter egg hunt BG First Assembly hosted on Saturday, April 4th.

Jordan again with the video camera...Yeah, I know...these are the only four pictures I have left...

That's all for now. Hopefully I can at least get my files from my hard drive recovered...

Comments are appreciated.

Thanks,
Kelsey

A Jack of all Trades (Unsung Hero)

2009-03-24T14:52:00.000-05:00

Last week we had an assignment due in multimedia over an unsung hero. I shot mine over spring break on a janitor at an elementary school.

Ron Key is 53 and has worked as head custiodian for Lowes Elementary for about a year and a half. He has never married and has no children.

Straight out of high school, he started working for a company called Ingersoll Rand. He was recently laid off after working for the company for 30 years with only two more years until he was able to retire. He worked for another company for two years, which also laid him off and moved elsewhere, leaving him with no job.

Key plans on working as a janitor in the Graves County school system until he can no longer physically work on a full time basis. He will then work as a substitute janitor until he can't do that anymore. Key claims that he comes to work for the kids, because the whole reason the staff of Lowes is there is for the kids: without them there would be no job for him. Therefore relationships with the students are very important to him.

The multimedia piece can be found at www.wku.edu/~kelsey.sullivan282. Please view in Safari or Firefox, not Internet Explorer.

Thanks,
Kelsey