Meet Kat Conn, this week’s campus celebrity, and a girl whose amazing eye captures the many faces of UConn!
Name: Kat Conn
Year: Sophomore
Major: Communications (Possibly Human Rights)
Hometown: Bloomfield, CT
What office do you work for on campus?
I work for the University Communications Office.
What does your job entail?
Right now, I work with my manager and we do all the social media accounts; so I help her with picking out Instagram pictures, posting them, tweets, Facebook posts, and most recently portraits of students.
Can you talk more about your most recent portrait project for UConn?
My [manager] wanted a way to incorporate students onto the [Facebook] page to get more traffic, so I was thinking the idea of humans in New York and portraits was really cool and would get more people to look at the page. We created this portrait project and it went through a lot of drafts and finally this was the one [my manager] liked the most, where it is mostly the picture and just a small blurb about their major and things so that people find out more about them. I really like it.
How did you get started in photography?
I started sophomore year of high school. I bought one of those DSLR cameras for myself, it was like $200 or something. I had that for about six months then switched to the one I have now. I was involved in newspaper and yearbook; I was like the “photographer in chief”. I also did so much stuff for my high school, I barely went to class, and they would pull me from class to shoot different events and things. When I came here I didn’t know if I wanted to keep doing it, but I got the opportunity to work in the office because I made a video of the NCAA Championship win last year and my boss saw it, so she contacted me and created the job I have now. The position was unique and just for me, so it was really cool.
What subject matter do you like to shoot?
I like people, people are the best. After that, I like landscapes sometimes, but they have to be really cool. But people are definitely the best because they are unpredictable.
What setting do you like shooting in best?
I like outside during that time when it’s like the ‘golden light’. It’s right before sunset when it’s really yellow outside. That’s usually the best time because it makes people look the prettiest.
Do you have any future plans with photography?
As a career path I would love to work in social media or non-profit, so my future definitely includes photography.
What advice would you give other up-and-coming photographers?
I would say shoot every day. I didn’t during the summer and that’s kind of when my interest dwindled, but when I came here I have been shooting a lot and been getting to know a lot of people through it too. I think just taking pictures every day, as much as it is a hassle to bring your camera around everywhere, there could be something really cool and you’ll never know. So shooting everyday keeps your interest up, and you’re getting practice so your improving.
To see the first phase of Kat Conn’s Students of UConn portrait project, follow the link bellow and go to photo albums. Make sure to also Like the UConn Facebook page to help support Kat’s amazing work! https://www.facebook.com/UConn
If you would like to check out more of Kat’s personal work, visit her website at http://katconn.us/