VERMILLION, S.D.—Since she was a little girl, South Dakota sophomore guard
Jaycee Bradley has been expressing her creativity through photography.
At home in Norfolk, Neb., a younger Bradley begged her mom, Crystal, for a digital camera. With the camera between her fingertips, Bradley was set to explore the world through the lens.
"I have an artsy side to me," Bradley said. "I have had it since I was a kid, but I have never been great at drawing or painting. Photography's my little niche. I can visualize something in my head and actually create it through taking photos.
"I always love printing off photos. Every picture I took, I had to print it off and put it into an album."
While Bradley's a nursing major who plans to continue down that career path, she has also taken a few electives in the fine arts department at the University of South Dakota.
"I really wanted to take a photography class," Bradley said. "I saved up my money to purchase a pretty decent camera and took my first photography class online last spring."
The instructor would assign projects each week and Bradley would explore Vermillion to capture photos for the assignment. On days off from practice, senior teammate
Abigail Fogg would tag along to capture photos for her own film photography class.
Bradley's favorite subject to shoot is people, which means other teammates such as sophomore forward
Megan Bonar and junior center
Kate Liveringhouse have become the subjects in her pieces. Bradley has also taken senior photos, family photos and was the second shooter at a wedding over the summer.
"This fall I took family photos of coach Russ [Rose], his wife Shannon and their son Cam," Bradley said. "It was pretty fun to work with them."
Bradley's camera also made the trip down under on the team's foreign tour to Australia.
"It was great to snap photos of anything and everything I wanted to remember," Bradley said. "I plan to bring my camera along for more road trips this year, because I want to document a lot of different things with a better quality photo than what my phone can provide."
The sophomore guard came in as a reserve to an experienced squad a year ago. Bradley has earned a spot in the starting lineup this fall, averaging 14.5 points, two assists and 1.5 steals after opening weekend. She's shooting 50 percent from the field and 33.3 percent beyond the arc.
South Dakota begins a four-game road stretch tonight at Arkansas before facing Tulsa on Sunday.
