one photo at a time

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[kelseykremer]

Oh hey, tumblr. 

It's been a bit since I've posted anything. Spring is slowing turning in to summer here in Des Moines and I think I like it. 

[kelseykremer]

A year ago on the list of things I did not know how to do was edit a video or use any kind of video editing software. Today I edited together a total of 86 videos down to one two minute video. I am also proficient in three different video editing softwares. #humblebrag

But, really ... I can't believe how far I've come as a multimedia journalist in the past year. I do believe that a huge part of that is being surrounded by such talented journalists. I am thankful everyday for the amazing photojournalists, reporters and editors I get to work with. They make me a better person.

Check out my new, less than a year old, better person skills in this video I edited together for the RAGBRAI 2014 route announcement this weekend.

P.S. I am extremely impressed with how easliy Brightcove videos embed in to Tumblr. #daymade

[kelseykremer]

2013 was a pretty great year, I graduated from Iowa State, had an awesome internship at The Gazette, then got a real job at the Des Moines Register. I also took some photos along the way. Here's a collection of a few of my favorites from the year.

[kelseykremer]

There's something about this exact spot in a hay field at the top of a hill in the north east corner of Iowa, the starts are magnificent.

I still remember the day I first noticed just how good the view was, since then all I've ever wanted was a photo like this to capture that.

I finally have a good enough camera and enough know how to make it happen.

[kelseykremer]

It's been a while sine I've last updated my blog and in that time I've had a huge life development.

I got Instagram.

I've always had a great appreciation for the impact phone photography and apps like Instagram have made on the world of visual communication. So much so that in my senior year of college I wrote a 3,000 word trend story on phoneography for a feature writing class. We can save that for another blog post ... 

Have a suggestion on great Instagrams that are worth a follow, let me know. In the mean time, check out my Instagram (kelsey_kremer) and give me a follow. You can expect many 'grams of shenanigans from inside the Des Moines Register newsroom, assignments I'm working on and other photogenic moments in my life. 

[kelseykremer]

It's like a right of passage for all young journalists .. the big project. The in-depth reporting. The story you go back to day after day.

As I got close to the end of my internship I was encouraged to come up with a story idea that I could spend several days working ... a big project. I was terrified. While in college I took several stabs at a "big story."

Those stories were OK, but I was never very happy with the result. I spent so many days on those projects and they just never turned out the way I expected them too.

The thought of going through all of that again was hard to deal with, until I found this video from the Pioneer Press, a behind the scenes look at Target Field. (http://photos.twincities.com/2013/07/18/video-a-day-behind-the-scenes-at-target-field/)   

I knew I could recreate that. I pitched the idea, got in touch with the general manager of the minor league Twins affiliate the Cedar Rapids Kernels and I was off and running. 

The Kernels staff was so kind and very accommodating. It made the three very long days of shooting not seem so bad. After those three days of filming and about three days of editing I finished a "Day in the Life of Veterans Memorial Stadium" on the very last day of my internship.

I'm really happy with how it turned out. Click here to check it out. 

[kelseykremer]

I recently returned from a week at Camp Tahigwa in which I only made these three photos. I fear something may be wrong with me, maybe I am getting sick? When I was last on staff at camp two years ago my entire job was to take photos. 

Though I only have these three images to show for my few days in some of the most unique landscapes of Iowa I do think these images show some of my favorite things about Tahigwa. 

The bottom image is from my favorite spot in camp the upper meadow. It's really just a hay field but upper meadow sounds like a much bigger deal. The meadow is lined by large pine trees and sits near the peak of one of the hills surrounding camp.

Camp also taught me to appreciate natural light in nature. There is just something about the way the sunlight filters through the trees and down the hills that just makes everything light up in glorious ways. 

[kelseykremer]

There are few better ways to spend an afternoon than at my cousin's coffee shop. I stopped by to take some photos of Em's Coffee Co. a few weeks ago here are a handful of those images. 

My cousin Em's story is a pretty great one. No one would have ever expected her to be a business owner by her early 20s except for my family and they made it happen. 

That's the short version of the story, click here for a video that explains it a bit better.

The most important part is that my cousin Em also makes the best white chocolate vanilla mocha so I'll keep coming back. 

[kelseykremer]

Last week was the Freedom Festival in Cedar Rapids, which meant there were a whole bunch of fun events happening in town. One of those events was called Chalk on the Walk.

It was held outside Smulekoff's in downtown. People registered for a space on the sidewalk and then drew what ever their heart desired. I spent almost the entire day there shooting photos and video.

I also manged to end up with chalk all over my feet and legs. It only reminded me that I can't even be near arts and crafts with out getting dirty.  I really enjoyed this assignment because I decided to use still images in my video for a change. Taking time to really focus on making photos for a few hours was really nice. 

This was also the first time I pulled in music for my video that was not a part of the natural sound of the event and I taught myself a few other new editing tricks. I'm chalking this one up as a success.  

Click here to check out the video. 

[kelseykremer]

'Tis the season for fireworks. They are one of my favorite things about the summer. 

[kelseykremer]

I've recently departed on a new journey to a very scary but also very exciting world also known as a multimedia internship at The Gazette in Cedar Rapids this summer. 

In the past three weeks I have made videos for The Gazette and KCRG-TV9's website, I've shot b-roll for TV, I've written for print and online, I've made photos, I've live blogged and I've tweeted. I don't think there is any media left. 

At the same time I started working at The Gazette Cirque du Soleil came to the U.S. Cellular Center. It ended up being one of the few stories I've spent time on that in no way has anything to do with a flood or a tornado. 

Click here to see the video I made from Cirque's opening night. It's probably the most polished piece of work I've put together for my internship so far, I'm happy with how it turned out. 

By the way, this photo is also from Cirque's opening night. 

[kelseykremer]

I took a photo of the Cedar River at the Highway 150 bridge in Vinton yesterday at 7 p.m. and then took another one today at the same time. The river has definitely gone up.

The Cedar River at Vinton is currently expected to crest at 20.5 feet Saturday evening. 

[kelseykremer]

Last Friday myself and some of the Iowa State Daily photographers learned to be light ninjas with the help of Dan McClanahan during Daily summer training. I was back in Ames for a few days working with the photographers but also learning things about working with flash from Dan. He is seriously super cool and great, check out his website. It was a great learning experience and playing around in the studio with photographers is always a good time. Hopefully I'll get to give my new skills a workout this summer at my internship with the Cedar Rapids Gazette. Here are a few photos from the afternoon. 

[kelseykremer]

A few weeks ago I got another shot at fashion photography making the cover image for the Daily's The Nightlife magazine. Last time it was kind of a catastrophe, I had no idea what I was doing with the studio lights ... posing people, haha. OK. Oh, and saving the images right so, you know, they actually make it from the memory card to the computer was not a thing. But, I once again channeled my inner America's Next Top Model fan girl and I think these photos turned out nicely. 

Here is the link to the PDF of The Nightlife.

[kelseykremer]

Last week I celebrated my last Veishea as an Iowa State student. But, really the only slightly Veishea related thing I did was take photos of the concerts. I had the opportunity to shoot Grouplove and B.o.B's sets. Here is one of my better shots from the night.  Here is the link for all of the Daily's Veishea photo coverage. 

[kelseykremer]

Biggest take away from First Amendment Day 2013: The state of First Amendment rights on college campuses is a concern of the entire nation because college students play a vital role in reporting today's news. 

Last Thursday was First Amendment Day at Iowa State. FAD is an annual tradition at the journalism school that I have had the fortune of being a part of for three years.

The keynote this year was delivered by Executive Director of the Student Press Law Center Frank LoMonte. I have gotten to hear LoMonte speak on First Amendment topics a handful of times during my college journalism career and he never fails to disappoint.

In his talk titled "Social Media and the First Amendment" LoMonte said something that really hit home, the gap between students’ rights on a college campus and those not is as wide as it has ever been.

"Students are the one demographic group in America whose constitutional rights are worse today than they were 40 years ago," LoMonte said. 

And here is why this is important: "While the traditional media adapt to their changing circumstances, student journalists are playing a more vital role than ever before. Campus-based publications, and student collaborations with professional news outlets, are filling in gaps created by the traditional media's decline," according to an article co-written by LoMonte and Jonathan Peters in The Atlantic. 

College students working for their campus publications are able to take more risks, try new things, and fail or succeed in ways professional journalists can’t. Everything we do is meant to teach us to be better journalist, without the risk of losing a paycheck.

That is the vital role college student’s play and if our speech is suppressed and our ability to publish news is challenged, everyone should care. 

Here are some links to more information that LoMonte shared with me: The Atlantic article quite above.

A story from the Knight Foundation. 

And a study from the New America Foundation.

And, as always, if you would like to see more photos from First Amendment Day at Iowa State click here to see the Iowa State Daily's collection of images.

[kelseykremer]

One of my favorite moments to capture as a photojournalist is laughter. I absolutely love being around happy people. It often seems to turn out that when I am covering an event, no matter what it is I make photos of people looking generally happy.

Luckily I work with some pretty hilarious people and a simple game of parking lot wiffle ball results in a lot of laughing people.