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Rangefinder
Magazine First Recipient of the Hy Sheanin Scholarship: by Emily Burnett Last November marked the start of the Hy Sheanin Memorial Scholarship. The scholarship, in honor of the late Rangefinder Publishing Company founder and WPPI co-founder, Hy Sheanin, was created for people new to professional photography—assistants, recent graduates of photography programs or just those starting out in business.
J.B. Sallee was this year’s Hy Sheanin Memorial Scholarship recipient. In his resume Sallee says, “My objective in life is to do something I love, do it well and hope others are happy with what I do.” In pursuit of this objective, Sallee has begun his career in photography. Sallee recently graduated from Southwest Texas State University with a degree in fine art photography. In college he worked as a photography lab assistant, where he taught beginning black-and-white photography students how to compose, take, develop, print, and present their photographs. He found this experience rewarding.
He currently works at Fran Reisner Photography as Fran’s assistant. Through her, Sallee learned about the scholarship opportunity. He decided to apply for the scholarship since he had heard such good things from Reisner about WPPI and the Las Vegas convention. For the convention, Sallee chose to enroll in Anthony Cava’s WPPI Plus class about digital-style weddings and Bambi Cantrell’s MasterClass about photojournalism’s place in wedding photography. Sallee is already a member of the PPA and Dallas Professional Photographers Association. He now adds WPPI to that list of professional organizations. As for future plans, Sallee says he hopes to open his own portrait and wedding photography business soon. He knows that working as an assistant at Fran Reisner Photography will prepare him. He says, “I hope to absorb all I can, so that one day I, too, will run a smooth and successful photography business.” Sallee’s application showed not only an immense talent but also a love for photography. He tempers his pursuit of a career in his chosen field with a pursuit of knowledge about the field. And he rounds these qualities out with a sense of humor about where life has taken him and where it may take him in the future.
WPPI intends the Hy Sheanin Memorial Scholarship to encourage beginning photographers, like Sallee, in their love of photography. This scholarship opportunity for new photographers is meant to advance photographic excellence through education—a goal of Hy Sheanin’s that has been, and will continue to be, a tradition at Rangefinder and WPPI. WPPI hopes this scholarship will become an annual opportunity for the organization to continue that tradition, and an annual opportunity for beginning photographers to express their love of photography—and perhaps receive something in return.
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The number
of applications WPPI received for the scholarship was surprisingly high.
Each applicant had to submit a portfolio with 10 8x8 or 8x10 images,
a cover letter explaining why the applicant wanted the scholarship and
a brief resume. In addition to registration for the WPPI 2004 convention
and classes, the scholarship recipient received round-trip airfare to
Las Vegas for the WPPI 2004 convention, lodging for eight nights at BALLY’s—the
convention’s host hotel, a one-year membership in WPPI, and a one-year
subscription to Rangefinder Magazine.
For a while after graduation, Sallee
pursued his childhood dream of becoming a pilot for the United States
Air Force. But, when that didn’t
work out, he says he “walked away with a pilot’s license
and a new appreciation for photography.”
