Robbie and Karen's story

For the past couple weeks I have been photographing the story of Robbie and Karen Stevens. The teenage boy and his grandmother who he calls "Mom" live in Bowling Green, Ky. and have been a family for thirteen years now. In addition to high school and JROTC, Robbie serves as a sort of caregiver for Karen in her old age. I'm hoping to continue documenting their story, but for now here are a few shots I got in my first couple weeks with them. :) #ilovepeople

Track!

Here are a few frames I got while I was shooting track a few weeks ago that I am just now putting up :) 

Picture Stories Week 10

This week I started photographing the story of Tralaima Anderson. She is a single mother of three, a student, and is working a job to support her family. She blows my mind. I cannot believe she is able to handle all the different aspects of her life, but she does and she does very gracefully. I've only been able to shoot a little bit so far, but here are a few frames--more to come next week! #ilovepeople

In addition to that, I shot Spring Sing, a step show that the fraternities and sororities here put on as a part of Greek Week. This is probably one of my favorite things to shoot, so I had a lot of fun! :)

Finally, this week I continued on my journey to becoming a better sports shooter. It turns out if you understand a sport, it's much easier to shoot the sport. Surprise surprise :P Thank you mother-of-the-other-team's-catcher for explaining so much to me! I'll get better at this whole sports thing, one step at a time. This weekend I get to shoot track and hockey, which are two of my favorite things to watch so shooting should be fun!

Picture Stories Weeks 8 and 9

So over the past couple weeks (actually past couple months, really) I've been working on some portraits of the people who live at Bowling Green Towers. The people there are incredible and have some really unique stories. I've been around these people for a few months now, so photographing them was a lot of fun.  I also included a few shots from a story I am shooting for the yearbook here about a student who is also a hockey player/farmer. Enjoy! #ilovepeople

Sharon Graham gets some fresh air outside her home, a place that was once associated with smoking. Graham celebrated one year of not smoking two days before. She smoked for 35 years until her granddaughter was born and smoking prevented her from seeing the child. "I made up my mind that I had to see her and have her in my life. That's what got me going to quit smoking," she said. "I've got a little one I have to live for and she's special to me." 

15-year-old Robbie Stevens lives at Bowling Green Towers with his grandmother who he calls, “mom.” “At the age of three I was adopted by her. I never really knew my real mom. We are pretty close. I try and take care of her every day,” he said. Stevens is currently part of JROTC at Bowling Green High School and hopes to go into ROTC and someday the military. “I want to join the army because I think I could be able to do better for this country.”  

Four years ago, 25-year-old Tyler Byrd was hit head-on by an 18-wheeler, leaving him with massive head trauma and amnesia. “Family, friends, childhood, favorite foods, favorite places to go, I completely forgot I had a girlfriend at the time,” said Byrd, who has spent the past several years working to relearn his past. Right after the accident he lived with his parents, but has been living independently for the past year and is hoping to return Western Kentucky University for the fall 2014 semester. “When I get all my memories back, I’m going to go back to college, get my automotive mechanics degree, move out of the towers, get a nice house, maybe get married and just be happy.” 

Kevin Cross stands in the hallway of his home at Bowling Green Towers. Cross has been all over the country working various jobs including traveling with the circus, being a bar bouncer, and DJing. He finally came to Bowling Green to move closer to his girlfriend. "How you are doing depends on your view of the grass: you're either looking down at the blades or up at the roots," he said. 

Tony Lam sits in his apartment preparing to take his ex-wife to a doctor appointment. Originally from Hong Kong, Lam came to the United States to attend Western Kentucky University where he met his wife. The two were married for 38 years before Lam's interest in gambling became a problem. "I made a big mistake," he said. They divorced in 2002, but remain friends. 

Oscar Donelow spent many years as a truck driver all over the United States, but during his off time he would work on a very different kind of project. “Whenever I was driving truck and I didn’t have a load, I’d go in the truck stops and sit at the counter and crochet stuff. I had many guys say, ‘you’re gonna make somebody a good wife someday.’ And I’d turn around and say, ‘look at all the women who are coming and looking at the stuff I do,’” said Donelow. He likes to crotchet as well as sews quilts and has been doing so for the better part of his life. “When I was nine-years-old I was in foster care and these two little ladies were crocheting. I asked them to teach me. So they gave me a little wooden crochet stick and a ball of yarn so I’ve been doing it almost 40 years.” 

March 28, 2014

This past week was super fun! I've been working on several stories so it's been pretty busy. Here are some shots I got from a story about speech pathology and a story about an inline hockey player/coach. More to come, and enjoy!

Spring Break and a frame

Here are a couple frames I shot while I was playing in Knoxville, Tenn. over spring break and one frame from a story I'm working on. I've learned a lot about the legal end of photographing from this story and I'm still trying to figure it out, ha. I'll post more from Kaleb's story when I do!

Picture Stories Weeks 4 and 5

Over the past few weeks I finished up photographing Sandra Carter's story and started exploring a new story about WKU senior Morgan Gruner. Morgan is involved in a group here on campus called CORE that is basically all about encouraging students to visit nursing homes on a regular basis and hang out with the residents. It's been a really cool story to get involved in because a few of the students, including Morgan, have been visiting some of the senior citizens for several years now and have become quite close. So here are a few shots from Morgan and Sandra's stories! #ilovepeople

In addition to those stories, I've been trying to start shooting more sports. Sports are definitely not my strong point, so it's a work in progress--lots and lots of room for improvement! But here are a few attempts at basketball, softball, and baseball.