Date: Fri 30-Aug-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Illustration: C

Location: A11

Quick Words:

Sheron-photographer-master's

Full Text:

(update/story on photographer Georgia Sheron/8/30/96)

Georgia Sheron: A Master of Her Craft

(with photos)

By Shannon Hicks

OAKVILLE - Photographer Georgia Sheron received her masters certificate from

the International Professional Photographers Association at its 105th annual

convention in Orlando in July. The association is for photographers who have

studios and work primarily with portrait photography or weddings. Georgia

Sheron specializes in children's portraiture, although there are a number of

weddings and executive portraits in her portfolio. She also dabbles with

infrared and Polaroid transfer pieces.

For the Oakville-based photographer, the certificate was not only a

recognition from her peers of accumulating merits through print competition on

an international basis and her hours put into taking classes and/or lecturing,

but also a personal accomplishment the 61-year old photographer wasn't sure

she would have a chance of receiving when she launched Georgia Sheron

Photography ten years ago. She has worked from her Main Street studio since in

Oakville since day one.

In the world of professional photographers who are members of the

International Professional Photographers Association (IPPA), the oldest

photographic organization in the world (founded in 1880), there is a series of

certificate-type degrees one can earn as a photographer improves his or her

craft.

Out of 250 IPPA members in Connecticut, only 22 currently hold masters

certificates. The association is headquartered in Atlanta, GA.

For the master's degree, photographers need 13 competition merits ("credits"),

which can be earned at the international competition level. Held once

annually, photographers can enter up to four prints at an international

competition. If a print scores eighty points or above, the print can be

included in the competition exhibition and the photographer earns one merit.

So a photographer can earn up to four credits in one year, which means at the

minimum it will take four years to earn the required merits.

Competition is not easy, of course. Of the 6,000 entries received, only fifty

percent - or 3,000 photos - will score eighty or above. From those accepted,

the 400 creme de la creme prints are selected for the Loan Collection, an

exhibit which travels around the world. A Loan Print selection gives a

photographer two merits instead of one.

In 1992 and 1994, Sheron had three of her competition prints selected for the

Loan Collection.

"That earned me six merits, so I got a jump on it," she said. "And that helped

me a lot to establish the required number of competition merits that I

needed."

Photographers need an additional 12 merits acquired through continuing

education (once a year, Sheron attends a week-long class sponsored by the New

England Institute of Professional Photographers, studying with a master

photographer) or through attending one- and two-day seminars.

"I go to those all the time," she commented.

The third way to get merits is when photographers begin to be invited to

lecture or judge at other state conventions. In the last two years, says

Sheron, she has started to do "a lot of that." She has been a judge in Maine

and Vermont twice, along with a visit to Rhode Island. Judging earns one merit

per event, regardless of an event's importance.

Presenting a program also earns a merit, and when photographers are asked to

judge a show, Sheron explained, the invitations are usually accompanied by a

request to present a program, which earns another merit.

Last year, Sheron was asked to be a speaker at the annual convention of the

Professional Photographers of New England. Attended by professional

photographers from six states, Sheron offered a program on the use of color

for photographers, "Color As A Compositional Tool."

Once a photographer is named a master, they receive a blue ribbon with a medal

on it they are required to wear to all future IPPA events. When a photographer

receives their masters medal, they need a sponsor to present them with their

medal at a formal induction ceremony. Sheron chose Jay Stock, a former teacher

of hers and a fellow of the British Society of Photographers and the American

Society of Photographers, for her sponsor. (Sheron was chosen to be a sponsor

for a friend of hers who received her craftsman medal this year.)

For the ceremony honoring all new medalists, Sheron's daughter arranged to

have Sheron, herself, Sheron's mother (who lives in Virginia) and her aunt

(who came in from California) all flown in for the black-tie affair. It was

all a surprise to Sheron.

"That was the most special thing in the world," the photographer said, looking

over photos from the big event. "It was great. It was very exciting."

Long before being named a master photographer, people were noticing Georgia

Sheron's work. By pushing her own parameters, she has discovered new ways to

present images on paper for viewers. Two or three times a year, she has shows

at Beaux Arts Gallery in Southbury, the gallery which represents her. Michael

Coleman is the gallery's curator.

"Her technique is probably no different than a lot of others' but what she

captures is great," said Coleman, who owns one of Sheron's Polaroid transfers

himself. "Her work is heads above other people."

"It's not just her technique, but also the personal expression she puts into

[every image]," he continued. "People stop, and they are intrigued by them.

They attract people who are looking to think when they look at art."

Having been recognized a master, Sheron now has to enter competition as a

master, a separate category where she will find herself competing only against

other masters.

"From that point on... it gets harder," she said. "It will be harder and

harder for me now to get competition points, or merits, and where I will need

those is when you go for the degree after craftsman."

Sheron needs seven more credits in order to become a recognized Craftsman, the

next certificate in the series. She figures it will take one to two years to

become a craftsman.

Once achieving the craftsman certificate, the next level is to become an

associate of the American Society of Photographers. A photographer needs 25

competition merits for that distinction.

The be-all, end-all is to become a fellow at the ASA. For this, a photographer

must write a thesis and be able to present a portfolio with 25 prints that

scored eighty or more in competition. This year there were ten applicants. One

was accepted.

"That's not even a consideration right now. I won't live that long," Sheron

laughed. "But that's what the schedule is, if you're serious about pursuing

it. But they keep making it harder every year to get to the next two levels.

They keep upping the ante. Bigger glass mountains.

"I'm just thrilled having a masters. If I were able to eventually get my

craftsman in a year or two, that would be great. Having my masters, it's an

accomplishment in my own mind."