Sharon Fuente started as a Fine Art and Landscape photographer in 2009, participating in art shows and craft fairs. Although she sold some of her work, it wasn’t generating enough income. Her first paid photography position was in 2010, taking newborn photos at the hospital and is one reason she loves newborn photography. She then worked for Lifetouch taking school yearbook photos. After that, she spent a couple of years branching out on her own as a part-time professional photographer and then went full-time in 2017. In 2018, she opened her studio in Adairsville where she offers in-studio and on-location sessions.

Sharon has been a member of GPPA for 3 years and says her membership has helped her grow in almost every aspect of her photography, including technique, business, and competition. She earned her CPP in 2020. The biggest benefit of membership for her has been interacting with people who have become both friends and mentors, people who have helped her without hesitation, and given her confidence. She loves her GPPA family!

While she specializes in maternity, newborn, and family photography, she also enjoys miniature photography. She calls them ‘tiny people’, but they are actually HO scale train figures, which are 1/87^th to scale, which she sets up in whimsical situations. Sharon also enjoys nature photography, fine art photography, and pushing the creative envelope with different techniques.

The pandemic had her business totally shut down for 3 months, but overall, it gave her time to learn some new techniques as well as work on personal photography projects. IPS via Zoom became vital to her sales when she wasn’t able to sit in a room with her clients.

Sharon finds inspiration from many places. Her inspiration for how she lives her life comes from her parents. She was always inspired by their generosity and willingness to help others, and their work ethic. The inspiration for her art is drawn from everyday objects as well as the most celebrated artists and photographers. Often when she needs inspiration, she looks at past IPC Loan books and Professional Photographer magazines.

She’s been married to her husband, Robert, for 10 years. They have a blended family which includes 6 children, 7 grandchildren, and a terrier mix rescue dog. Her husband also likes photography, and much of their free time is spent enjoying photo adventures. They bought a camper last year with the hopes of future travels with their dog. Any other free time is spent with family, especially her youngest grandchild. She also loves to read and recently started taking yoga classes.

Many of us may not know that Sharon can throw pottery on the wheel, uses a kiln to create hot glass items, creates fine art silk screen prints and linocut prints. She also enjoys knitting and drawing. She is truly an artist with many talents!

In the 2020 GPPA Photographic Competition, Sharon received 1^st place in Illustrative/Commercial for “Soul Food”, as well as a Distinguished Award in the same category for “Stacked”; Distinguished Award in Illustrative/Fine Art for “Rebuilding”; Judges Choice Award for “Soul Food” and “Rebuilding”; and was a Top Ten GPPA photographer for 2020. Her award-winning images are shown here in the blog.

Sharon’s Facebook: lifesongartandphoto

Sharon’s Instagram: @life_song_photo and @love_tiny_life

Sharon’s Website: www.lifesongphotography.net

This year’s GPPA Photographic Competition judging is on July 7 and entry is now open to enter! Go here to learn more: GPPA Photographic Competition