Our Board
Below you will find the officers and staff of Treasure Coast Photography Center, Inc. These officers and staff make TCPC run smoothly and seamlessly, but we are always looking for new people to add to the team.
You will find descriptions underneath the staff and can click on the links if you need to email our staff for any reason.
Officers
Robbie Sheets
Mark Smith
I love art, and photography is certainly a part of that. I have been drawing for as long as I can remember. I have degrees in both commercial and fine art from JCA in New York. I have completed 5 years of evening photography classes at IRSC including intermediate and advanced classes. I shoot with a Nikon 5500, 5600, and 780. Both my art and my photography are very diverse. I love taking photos of landscapes, animals, architecture, weather, nighttime, still life and people. I am vice president of the TCPC and in charge of the “Creative Alternative Artistic Photography.” My art photography can make you feel as though you could shut your eyes and envision the morning fog along the pond, a baby black bear walking along the edge of the water, the dew on the beautiful flower petals. . . to sticking your finger in a light socket or getting hit in the head with a hammer.
All in all, when I looked inside myself, I loved what I saw. . . art, and some things that I cannot explain.
Facebook: Mark Smith
Instagram: Mart_Photography
Instagram: Dangerous_curves_art
Email: marks.art1212@gmail.cpm
Cell: 772 370-6347

Gwen Carden
Secretary
Gwen, a professional writer, became interested in photography in her mid-twenties after being hired for a PR job. She realized that being able to take good photographs would be a useful adjunct to her skill set, as they would improve the chances that the press releases she wrote and distributed to local media in Palm Beach County would be published. During those early years she met two Associated Press photographers who let her tag along on news assignments and informally taught her their craft. She received some formal photography education by attending two Nikon Schools. When she began writing freelance articles for national publications, Gwen learned that her stories would be easier to sell, and the fees more lucrative, if they included photographs. Doing such assignments led her to further hone her photography skills. She found that she enjoyed doing portraits and did portfolio work for a number of aspiring male and female models. She acquired a portable studio setup and went to places of business, or where events were being held, and did on-site photo shoots. Several years ago, Gwen taught herself food photography and was engaged by the grocery chain Food Lion to showcase recipes for their recipe portal, including shots of the various steps of preparation. Gwen still works primarily as a professional writer and doesn’t consider herself a professional photographer but rather a serious amateur who primarily uses her photography skills and knowledge these days for enjoyment.
My first husband was stationed by the Army in Germany in the 70’s and I joined him after several months to have my first child. Every city over there had lots of parks, so their beauty (plus baby) inspired me to buy a 35mm camera at the PX to capture photos of ponds with swans and weeping willows and our son. Hubby left the camera in the cab heading back to the states.
The baby photos were ok, but the scenery shots were just snapshots, so I bought a Pentax K1000 back in the States and had a lot of fun, but even most vacation photos could only be called snapshots.
In 2000 I started working at the college, and shared a printer with Ceil across the hall, who previously had owned her own studio and had beautiful framed photos on her walls. Following her suggestion, I enlarged one of my favorite vacation photos and entered it into the Backus competition in 2004, and it was accepted. I also joined Indian River Photo Club but quit after several years because they all were doing digital and I was still doing film and didn’t fit in.
I joined Treasure Coast Photography club in 2006 but drifted away after a couple years. I came back in 2012, and became Treasurer in 2013, then added Field Trip Leader several years after that. I had to buy another camera in 2018, and got a Nikon D5500. I believe I have gotten so much out of classes, field trips, and workshops, and am truly passionate about my love of photography. Always learning!!