Home to NJ

I've had so much fun this past week seeing so many people I haven't seen in a long time.  I spent Wednesday at Lawrenceville having lunch with my previous photo teacher Mr. Vandever, and he gave me a lot of great ideas to try.  I also went to the squash team dinner, and spent the evening with many of the girls I played with during my senior year.  This year's team came in second at nationals though, the best that any Lawrenceville girls squash team has ever done.  I am so proud to have been a part of that team.

Yesterday I spent lunch at Purnell eating with Robin and Donna, the leaders of the Equine Studies class that invited me to give a photography seminar.  Afterwards I went out to Lightfields Farm and did a portrait session with my friend Ryann, and the outcome was fabulous.  The confidence I have developed in my work, combined with the skills I have learned in my composition class, have resulted in yesterday's images:

Reflecting on the past

In my room at home I have this box.  I've always had it, but I have never spent any time looking through it.  Its old, an old Ariat boot box, probably 16"x24".  Inside the box are photographs.  I started this box (not this actual one, but the idea) when I was about ten years old and have continued to add to it ever since.  Now almost eleven years later it is nearly full.  The idea that there will ever be a way to quantify a person's experiences, or immortalize them through the recordings of the experience is a daunting thought, but that seems to be what this box is.  Despite the more sophisticated ways to store photos like frames or photo albums, I clearly realized early on that these photographs were so much more than the click of a shutter, there were a snapshot of a moment in time, a moment of my life. A tangible way to look back and reflect on the past long after the experience becomes cloudy in the mind.  Photos are a way to remember the best times, but also a way to remind yourself of the way things once were.

Since the day I started riding I have encountered hundreds of horses.  Maybe more.  While I don't remember all of their names, I do have a fairly easy time recalling the experiences surrounding each photo. I went to different camps, rode horses in Honduras, Peru, Dominican Republic, England, Ireland.    Like humans, each horse is different.  Looks different, acts different, has a unique personality.  The more I learn about different horses the more I love thinking about the ones I knew in the past as well.  

A little more about me

My senior year of high school I was asked to write an article in defense of the three sport athletic requirement for a campus publication called Explore.  That semester's exploration topic was education.  I forgot about this article until I came across it today, and I wanted to share it.  The piece was called "Athletics with Academics: A Necessity or a Nuisance?"

A Defense of Athletics

By: Kelsey Sullivan '08

Kelsey Sullivan '08, a V form prefect in Stanley House and Athletics Representative to the Student Council, disagrees, saying that athletics are an opportunity for many students to learn more about themselves through competition. 

Some photography updates...

My photography has been a focus the past month and I have been thinking a lot about how to improve and expand my business, and how to improve my skills as an artist.  I'm currently taking a composition course with Shelley Paulson, the same woman who is running the workshop I'm attending in Lexington in June, and already I have learned a lot about my own style and have begun to learn about ways I can improve upon the skills I have.

Lately I have been looking for inspiration within the things I see everyday, but I have also been looking to other professional work to build my style, my expression, and the messages I convey in my images.  I'm planning on taking professional photographer Peter Demott's business advertising and marketing course in April-May once Shelley's course ends. Then it will be time for me to head to Lexington!  I have several ideas I'm going to work with, and several models who are kind enough to put up with me!  I'm looking forward to getting out there.

A week's worth of updates...

Its been such a busy week!  There is so much going on with AXiD this week, and our new girls are finally our sisters, and my little knows who I am!  She is awesome - her name is Emma and she is from Cary, NC.   I love my little!  

Last Saturday Janene helped me set up a free jumping chute, and we sent both Ritter and the pony through to help them figure out where their feet go and to see what they had to offer.  Ritter is well broke, but doesn't have much experience over fences. He showed some great potential!  And he is so level headed that he makes the training aspect easy! The pony too was fabulous over the fences!  I set up a cross rail, one stride to a vertical and kept increasing the size of the vertical.  She sailed over 2'9!  Here are the links to the videos:

A few more of Sarah and Moose

Photos

Some fun shots from today...

The sleeping beasties (note the yellow pony passed out in her blue blanket)...

Breakthrough!

Today has been quite a week, and between dropping my Spanish class, being diagnosed with strep throat, and both my teachers cancelling class today, I feel like I have had a lot of free time, even if for most of it I didn't feel anywhere near 100%.  I have spent a lot of time harrassing my little - and she still doesn't know who I am yet!  I send her candy and cookies and boys, and I'm constantly surprising her with tasks and things.  I love her, and she is going to fit it so well with me and Sarah!

This morning I drove around the outskirts of Burlington, Liberty, and Gibsonville (I think?), as I explored Guilford county.  The first half of the week for my composition course I needed to shoot several images to illustrate my understanding of the rule of thirds.  While conceptually I understand it just fine and use it on a regular basis it was interesting to head it into "unknown territory" (landscape photography) and experiment with these ideas.