Award-winning Travel Photographer / Writer and Adventure Lover
Feb 5, 2016
Clearwater Gazette
Click here for article: Spring Break on Clearwater Beach
Click here for more Clearwater Gazette articles.
May 4, 2015
Apr 20, 2015
Miami Herald photo credit
Doug's article in the Miami Herald - one of my photos of hikers standing behind a grizzly bear.
Click here to read article.
Feb 28, 2015
Feb 27, 2015
Nov 30, 2010
Feb 24, 2009
Another Photo Win!
My photo, Conductor on Tracks, was one of 10 winners out of 510 entries in the 2009 Yukon White Pass Railroad Photo Contest. I won a $200 gift certificate for YWPR merchandise.
Traveling Sportsman's Publisher Passes Away
Traveling Sportsman's publisher, Hugh Oneal "Neal" Myers from Houston, TX, passed away unexpectedly on February 16, 2009. Unfortunately, this will mean the demise of Traveling Sportsman magazine (and my job as Managing Editor/Photo Editor). Our thoughts and prayers are with Neal's family in this difficult time.
Jan 14, 2009
Kelly Shannon Kelly Wins Wrangler Rugged Wear Adventures Essay Contest
Greensboro, N.C. (January 13, 2009) – Wrangler® today announced that Kelly Shannon Kelly, member and president of the Florida Outdoor Writers Association, won the monthly Wrangler Rugged Wear® Adventures Essay Contest in November with her account of a dangerous rescue after overturning a kayak in the murky Cape Fear River. Her winning essay, "Fear on the Cape Fear," earned the outdoor writer three jeans and shirt outfits from Wrangler Rugged Wear.
Kelly, a staff editor and writer with Traveling Sportsman Magazine, described how her paddling companions were able to keep her bright red shirt in sight as her kayak bounced from boulder to boulder and flipped repeatedly in level four rapids. Kelly writes she was black and blue for two weeks after the experience but credits red and blue – her red shirt and blue jeans – for working overtime that day in a daunting river.
“Fear on the Cape Fear” will be retired from the remaining 2008 competition along with the essay of the first two winners Niall Fink of Edmonton, Canada, and Lynne Friedmann of Solana Beach, Calif. To read Kelly’s winning essay, visit http://www.wranglerruggedwear.com.
"Fear on the Cape Fear"
By: Kelly Shannon Kelly, Clearwater, FL
President, Florida Outdoor Writers Association
When my fiancé suggested kayaking, I donned my favorite pair of rugged jeans and bright red shirt. The location? The Cape Fear River. The name struck a chord in me somehow. Maybe it was that scary movie with Robert De Niro… I worried about turning over the kayak and not being able to right it. "Oh, don't worry," the guides said. "That won't happen." One guide buttoned me into my kayak. I got about five feet and Bloop! I flipped. I took my paddle and tried to reach the bottom. Too deep. After over a minute had passed, I was still staring at the same murky silt far below. My fiancé was hollering for a guide to help. Soon I was flipped over, choking and splurting water. I switched to a sit-on kayak. Numerous times over the next four hours, I capsized in the Level Four rapids and was flung against one boulder after another like a human pinball. My companions could easily follow my red shirt. I was almost entirely black and blue for two weeks, but it was definitely an experience to tell my grandchildren. And the jeans and shirt survived the trip!
"Fear on the Cape Fear"
By: Kelly Shannon Kelly, Clearwater, FL
President, Florida Outdoor Writers Association
When my fiancé suggested kayaking, I donned my favorite pair of rugged jeans and bright red shirt. The location? The Cape Fear River. The name struck a chord in me somehow. Maybe it was that scary movie with Robert De Niro… I worried about turning over the kayak and not being able to right it. "Oh, don't worry," the guides said. "That won't happen." One guide buttoned me into my kayak. I got about five feet and Bloop! I flipped. I took my paddle and tried to reach the bottom. Too deep. After over a minute had passed, I was still staring at the same murky silt far below. My fiancé was hollering for a guide to help. Soon I was flipped over, choking and splurting water. I switched to a sit-on kayak. Numerous times over the next four hours, I capsized in the Level Four rapids and was flung against one boulder after another like a human pinball. My companions could easily follow my red shirt. I was almost entirely black and blue for two weeks, but it was definitely an experience to tell my grandchildren. And the jeans and shirt survived the trip!
Nov 9, 2008
Traveling Sportsman Magazine #3
The third issue of Traveling Sportsman Magazine is due out on newsstands on December 1, 2008. It's even better than issues #1 and #2. If you haven't seen this new international travel/fishing/hunting magazine, visit our web site at the link above. Holiday gift subscriptions are on sale now. Traveling Sportsman is now in 20 countries and is creating a lot of buzz!
Hitched
I got married on August 21, 2008 to my long-time fiance (and Traveling Sportsman Magazine editor-in-chief), Doug Kelly. We honeymooned in the Tahitian islands. (Look for the article in the third edition of Traveling Sportsman.) Doug and I first met on November 30, 2002 and we were engaged a year and a half later. My name is now officially Kelly Shannon Kelly! (And yes, I LOVE my new name.)
Traveling Sportsman Magazine #2
Issue two came on newstands September 1, 2008. Traveling Sportsman expanded its sales to 17 countries. This issue was better than the first and highlighted fishing and hunting in Scotland, El Salvador, Alberta-Canada, Northern Territory-Australia, Alaska, Zambia and Arkansas-US. My feature article was Five-Star Fishing Resorts.
May 29, 2008
Traveling Sportsman Magazine
In December 2007, I became managing editor of a new brand-new travel magazine called Traveling Sportsman - Fishing and Hunting Destinations. It's been interesting learning about different aspects of the publishing world that I haven't dealt with before: layouts, web site, printing and circulation. The charter issue (shown above) has a distribution of 64,000 and will be sold in major bookstores and airports in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Japan, Australia and New Zealand! Look for it on June 3. I'm proud to be a part of such an exciting venture. Check out Traveling Sportsman Magazine at www.TravelingSportsmanMag.com.
Visit Florida: PowWow
Colors, beats, tribes and travelers blend in this universal coming-together.
Admittedly, I didn’t know what I was in for when I decided to attend an authentic powwow. So I called ahead to Big Cypress, the Seminole Indian reservation between Naples and Fort Lauderdale in South Florida, to find out everything I should know.
“There will be music, dancing and arts and crafts vendors,” the woman on the phone told me. (I was expecting all of that.)
“And a fashion show!” (Didn’t expect that.)
“It’s so much fun to be in the audience – you might even be invited to dance!” (Glad I called.)
But her parting words really piqued my curiosity: “You’ll leave with an enlightened heart,” she said.
Powwow Prep
As I learned, powwows may or may not match what you’ve always imagined. To start, they are specifically designed to give the public a view of Native American customs. That means that tribes from all over America gather, along with anyone who wants to observe, sing, dance and celebrate a mix of traditions. So, while you’ll see fashions and crafts indicative of individual tribes, the songs you’ll hear are “intertribals.” These are songs whose original lyrics have been replaced with “vocables,” non-language sounds created to carry melody so any attending tribes can participate. Intertribal dances exist as well. All songs and dances, even intertribals, carry meaning, though none are as sacred as the songs and dances of the individual tribes, which are performed only during closed ceremonies.
Showtime
The powwow opens with the Grand Entry, presenting all of the dancers from the Head Man and Lady (the lead dancers) to the princesses. The princesses are young women selected to represent their families and tribes. Their sashes display where they’re from, and their crowns make them easy to spot. During the powwow I attended, cameras clicked as one princess moved gracefully, her dark eyes and hair shining in the sun.
Visually, the powwow is a pageant of feathers, beads and, for the Seminoles, patchwork costumes of cotton and satin melding metallics and colors. They are contemporary versions of the handiwork displayed in the reservation’s museum. And the music? It was entrancing. The attending tribes form distinct drum sections, pounding out rhythms that are at times furious, at times languid, but always steady. It’s a kind of timeless beat that suggests you could just as easily be watching the dancers’ ancestors centuries ago.
Look for the blanket dance (you’ll know it’s time when the dancers enter the arena carrying a blanket). Place a dollar bill, or more if you wish, on the blanket and dance the rest of the song. If you don’t want to dance, ask a dancer to place the money on the drum for you.
I didn’t dance. But I did rejoice in being part of the cultural survival of this people. And I understood why the voice on the phone that day had grown progressively more passionate as she described what I would experience.
Call me enlightened.
Admittedly, I didn’t know what I was in for when I decided to attend an authentic powwow. So I called ahead to Big Cypress, the Seminole Indian reservation between Naples and Fort Lauderdale in South Florida, to find out everything I should know.
“There will be music, dancing and arts and crafts vendors,” the woman on the phone told me. (I was expecting all of that.)
“And a fashion show!” (Didn’t expect that.)
“It’s so much fun to be in the audience – you might even be invited to dance!” (Glad I called.)
But her parting words really piqued my curiosity: “You’ll leave with an enlightened heart,” she said.
Powwow Prep
As I learned, powwows may or may not match what you’ve always imagined. To start, they are specifically designed to give the public a view of Native American customs. That means that tribes from all over America gather, along with anyone who wants to observe, sing, dance and celebrate a mix of traditions. So, while you’ll see fashions and crafts indicative of individual tribes, the songs you’ll hear are “intertribals.” These are songs whose original lyrics have been replaced with “vocables,” non-language sounds created to carry melody so any attending tribes can participate. Intertribal dances exist as well. All songs and dances, even intertribals, carry meaning, though none are as sacred as the songs and dances of the individual tribes, which are performed only during closed ceremonies.
Showtime
The powwow opens with the Grand Entry, presenting all of the dancers from the Head Man and Lady (the lead dancers) to the princesses. The princesses are young women selected to represent their families and tribes. Their sashes display where they’re from, and their crowns make them easy to spot. During the powwow I attended, cameras clicked as one princess moved gracefully, her dark eyes and hair shining in the sun.
Visually, the powwow is a pageant of feathers, beads and, for the Seminoles, patchwork costumes of cotton and satin melding metallics and colors. They are contemporary versions of the handiwork displayed in the reservation’s museum. And the music? It was entrancing. The attending tribes form distinct drum sections, pounding out rhythms that are at times furious, at times languid, but always steady. It’s a kind of timeless beat that suggests you could just as easily be watching the dancers’ ancestors centuries ago.
Look for the blanket dance (you’ll know it’s time when the dancers enter the arena carrying a blanket). Place a dollar bill, or more if you wish, on the blanket and dance the rest of the song. If you don’t want to dance, ask a dancer to place the money on the drum for you.
I didn’t dance. But I did rejoice in being part of the cultural survival of this people. And I understood why the voice on the phone that day had grown progressively more passionate as she described what I would experience.
Call me enlightened.
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