After losing her father, District Court employee buys camera and begins traveling solo

A photo exhibit by Kelsey Bremer, administrative assistant in District Court’s Division 6, will be on display in the Judicial and Law Enforcement Center until the end of August. 

The exhibit is in honor of her father, DJ, who died by suicide on Dec. 22, 2020. Bremer said she tries to capture his free spirit in her photos. “He was one-of-a-kind, unique in a certain way,” she said. “There is not a day that goes by that I don’t think of him.”

A year after his death, she bought a camera and took a solo trip to Washington state. “Little did I know that my camera would pave a path I never knew I needed,” she said. “With each picture I take, I attempt to create still moments of beauty. As time progresses, I’ve learned it doesn’t get easier, you just learn to live with it.”

Since her father’s death, Bremer has taken photos in New York, California, Massachusetts, Vermont, Canada, Ireland and Scotland, and, of course, her home state of Kansas. She’s seen redwoods, the Golden Gate Bridge, wild elephant seals, sunsets, sunrises, castles, battlefield sites, beaches, the Cliffs of Moher, Edinburgh Castle, Niagara Falls, mountains, forests and the ocean. She had done much of her traveling alone.

“There is something freeing about learning to enjoy your own company,” she said.

Bremer said the exhibit is a reminder to those who visit that “you matter, and the world needs you.”

Her photos are displayed in various areas throughout the Judicial and Law Enforcement Center, 111 E. Eleventh St. in Lawrence, including the lobby, Self-Help Office, Clerk’s Office, District Attorney’s Office, and court offices.