Sandy Hersman

Biography:

I was born in New York City and moved with my family when I was five to a ranch in Granby, Colorado. Ranch life had a huge impact on me, as it has made me appreciate nature and the rural way of life. Horses became my main focus, and to this day I am involved with them everyday.

As a child of seven or eight, I remember asking for a camera for Christmas. What I received was not exactly what I had in mind, but it kept me busy for a long time. My step-father had taken a small square box, cut holes in the top and bottom, put a roll of toilet paper inside the box and ran a dole stick through the whole thing. Than he cut a slit on the side and pulled the toilet paper through. Finally he had written BROWNIE next to the hole in front, which served as the lens. I would have people hold still while I took their picture and than I would go off and draw their image on a section of toilet paper. This was my first camera!

I went to junior high and high school in California and Arizona and graduated in 1974. After high school I started working for Winter Park Ski Area, until 1989, when I moved to Preshana Farms in Carbondale, Colorado to work and train show horses.

In the spring of 1995 I decided to take a black and white photography class at Colorado Mountain College in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. I had played with a black and white darkroom before but didn't know much and thought it would be fun to try again. It didn't take long to be convinced that I should go into the Professional Photography program.

The route I chose may not have been the easiest, working and going to school at the same time, but probably the most beneficial and rewarding thing I've ever done in my life. When I graduate in May I want to continue to do fine art photography and environmental portraiture.