About Me blog post for my Video Production Class

My name is Brooke and I was born in Arlington, Texas but I spent most of my teenage years in Northern Virginia. Then I went to college at Shepherd College in West Virginia and got a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree with a concentration in Photography. I moved to Fayetteville 8 years ago when I got a job as a staff photographer at the Northwest Arkansas Times. After 6 years at the Times I went out on my own as a freelance photographer and wanted to broaden my skills to video. That's why I am pursuing a M.A. here in the journalism department.

Photography is what I have been doing since I was 14. I took a black and white darkroom photography class in the 8th grade and was hooked after that. Since then I have interned at multiple newspapers and done all sorts of freelance jobs. It's been so much fun but I look forward to expanding my skills to video production and editing.
These days I am married to a guy I met after I moved here, live in West Fork, which is 20 min. south of Fayetteville, and have a freelance photography business. http://www.facebook.com/brookemcneelyphotography
My goals for this class is to learn how to shoot video and edit it. Another thing I look forward to learning is how to better plan and write out projects. As a photojournalist I just show up to situations without a plan and just let things happen in front of me. Sometimes when I get to the editing part if a video project I wish I had filmed more. I'm excited to learn it all!
As for my final project I have few ideas but my favorite would be finding someone at the Fayetteville Animal Shelter and do a short documentary about their daily routine and what goes into taking care of so many animals. While at the Times I went to the shelter weekly and am still amazed by the amount of work that goes into taking care of all the dogs, cats and occasional hamsters.
If that doesn't work I have some other ideas but I'm a sucker for the animals.