October 2020 – Monthly Meeting + Virtual Competition

On Wednesday, October 28, 18:15 PM, IPS is honored to host Sharon Farmer for a presentation of her extensive career accomplishments, followed by our monthly virtual photo competition (Open Theme). The competition follows our EIC guidelines – please refer to http://www.imfwb-ips.org/eic-guidelines/ if you would like additional details.

Sharon Farmer is a photojournalist and lectures extensively on photography and photojournalism. Farmer’s photographic work was recently exhibited at the Annenberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles entitled “Not an Ostrich.” She exhibited with the ExposureGroup at the Candy Factory in Manassas, Virginia and at the Tolbert Bing Gallery on the Artswalk in D.C.’s Brookland community. She also paired with noted abstract artist Joyce Wellman at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C.  Farmer’s most recent solo exhibits were held at the Africa House in Lynchburg, Virginia and the National Democratic Women’s Club in Washington, DC. Formerly an assignment editor for the Associated Press, she was part of the A.P. team in 2003 that covered the Super Bowl in San Diego, California.  Ms. Farmer was the campaign photographer for Sen. John Kerry’s presidential election campaign in 2004.

She has been a judge for three panels for the D.C. Arts & Humanities including the Art Bank with the newly created Washingtonia Collection, the Visual Arts Fellowship Program and the Public Art grants.  For many years Farmer has enjoyed participating with the Shootoff Visual Media Workshops as a judge and as a mentor the last two.  In 2016, Farmer received the Karsh Award at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The award was present by Estrellita Karsh, the widow of noted portraitist and photographer Yousuf Karsh.

Farmer served as Director of the White House Photography Office from 1999-2001. A White House photographer since 1993, she documented the Clinton-Gore Administration at it’s beginning.

Ms. Farmer has been a professional photojournalist and exhibition photographer for more than 45 years, shooting news stories, political campaigns, cultural events, conferences, and portraits. Over the years she has photographed for The Washington Post, the Smithsonian Institution, The American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the National Urban League, the Brookings Institution, and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. to name a few.

Ms. Farmer has taught and lectured extensively on photography and photojournalism at the National Archives, American University, the Smithsonian Institution, Mount Vernon College, The National Geographic Society, Eddie Adams Workshop, the Women in Photojournalism Conference, Western Kentucky University, Indiana University; Louisville, Kentucky’s Frazier Museum, University of Miami, the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ), University of Arkansas Pulaski Technical College, the Federal Reserve, and the History Makers education series.  She lectured in five cities for the “Flying Short Course” sponsored by the National Association of Press Photographers.

Her photographic work resides in the collections of the Clinton Presidential Library, the U.S. National Archives, the Library of Congress, Howard University’s Moreland-Spingarn Collection, The District of Columbia Government; The Anacostia Museum and the National Museum of African American History & Culture of the Smithsonian Institution; The King Arts Complex in Columbus, Ohio; The South African Museum in Pretoria and in private collections.

.Sharon Farmer majored in photography and minored in music at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree.