Obituary: 'Life was an adventure' for photojournalist

Bridget O'Brien, a former Carmichael resident and a promising photojournalist who covered stories around the world for major U.S. newspapers, died Thursday. She was 26.

She was killed while driving on a turnpike near Cleveland when she swerved to avoid a deer, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol. Her Chevrolet sport-utility vehicle hit a guardrail, overturned and struck a concrete barrier, officials said.

The crash also killed her husband, Hayden Sweeney, 24, who was touring the United States with his Australian rock band, Electric Jellyfish. Three band members were injured in the crash. All the vehicle occupants were wearing seat belts, the Highway Patrol said.

News of the crash stunned family and friends from California to New York and Australia, where Ms. O'Brien lived since 2006 in Melbourne with her husband, whom she married in April. She was photographing the band on its first American tour.

She and Sweeney were "soulmates" who "wanted to travel and be in Australia for several years, then move to the states for several years and then maybe live in Munich," said her father, Kevin O'Brien. "What inspired Bridget was discovering things in new places and learning about new people."

Ms. O'Brien aspired to be a professional photojournalist since taking photography classes and shooting pictures for the student newspaper at Rio Americano High School, where she graduated in 1999. At UCLA she worked as a copy editor, photographer and photo editor for the campus paper, the Daily Bruin.

Besides college events and athletics, she photographed major news stories in Los Angeles, including protests at the 2000 Democratic National Convention and Sept. 11 memorial events. She won a national photography award at the Daily Bruin and was named most valuable staff member for two years, former editor-in-chief Kelly Rayburn said.

Before graduating in 2003 with a bachelor's degree in geography, she spent her last quarter at UCLA living in the camper of her 1988 Toyota pickup so she could use her rent money to buy camera equipment and a plane ticket to Nicaragua.

She lived for several months with coffee bean growers in Managua for a photo story on coffee farming and free trade that was published in USA Today.

Ms. O'Brien, who became fluent in Spanish while studying in Chile during college, "put people at ease and made friends easily," said Rayburn, an Oakland Tribune reporter. "She just always wanted to see more and do more and go more places."

She went to New York and freelanced as a photographer for Newsday for about a year before spending six months in Australia. She worked in Paris for six months before returning last year to Melbourne, where she worked at a photo studio while freelancing for the New York Times.

She was a talented professional who never turned down an assignment and "was enterprising in coming up with her own photo ideas," former Newsday photo editor Jane Hwang said. She had a good eye for detail and a gift for endearing herself to people she photographed.

"She had a blast with every assignment and enjoyed everything she did," Newsday photography director Jeff Schamberry said. "She was serious about her work, but she was very bubbly and always had a smile. She was such a sweet kid."

Bridget Colleen O'Brien was born in 1981 in Las Vegas to her father, a radio industry consultant, and mother, a senior staff geologist for Wallace-Kuhl and Associates Inc. She was the oldest of three children in a close-knit family that lived in San Jose, Denver, Tucson, Ariz., and Reno before moving to Carmichael in 1996.

Friends recalled a cheerful, outgoing girl who played softball at Rio Americano and loved outdoor activities, including hiking, backpacking, playing volleyball and rafting with friends on the American River. An independent woman who cared little for material possessions except her camera and lenses, she was full of enthusiasm for life and dreamed of a career as a photographer for a major newspaper or National Geographic magazine.

"The status quo wasn't enough for her," said friend Lindsey Cooper, a Rio Americano classmate. "To Bridget, life was an adventure to be lived, and she just wanted to make the most of her adventure."

About the writer:

• Call The Bee's Robert D. Dávila, (916) 321-1077.