Patch Talk: Photographer Cheryl Sackett on Vision, Shots, Exhibit and Tours

If it weren’t for her husband, Cheryl Sackett would not be on exhibit in the Mook Gallery at the Center Place Fine Arts & Civic Association, the site of her first exhibit ever.

“He asked me if I wanted to do a show over here and I said, ‘No,’ ” Sackett said. But “no” was not the answer her husband, Charles “Chuck” Sackett, wanted to hear, so he persisted.

“He brought my photographs over here anyway,” Sackett said, which led to the approval of Center Place Executive Director Dawn Galia, who booked Sackett for the Mook Gallery’s next available opening.

Now, through the first month of 2012, more than 60 of Sackett’s photographs are on display for public viewing, from 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday through Friday, at Center Place, which shares space with the Brandon Regional Library in the Sandy Rodriguez Center, at 619 Vonderburg Drive.

Sackett works as a nurse manager at the nearby Brandon Surgery Center, and finds in her photography “a very nice hobby for a career that can be very tense sometimes.”

This is her first time exhibiting her work for a public viewing.

“I talked to her about it and for three years and she said, ‘No,’ ” said Chuck Sackett, who knew full well why he didn’t stop asking.

“Because she takes good pictures and thousands and thousands of them,” he said. “So I snuck down here [to Center Place] one day when she wasn’t looking and I said, ‘I’m her husband, I think they’re really good, if they’re not really good, fine. But if they are really good, let us in.’ And they let us in.”

As for his assessment of his wife’s work, Sackett said he likes “the settings that she picks, and the colors.”

BRANDON PATCH talked with Sackett earlier this month at the reception for her show, "Cheryl's Journey."

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BRANDON PATCH: When did you start taking photographs?

• CHERYL SACKETT: About 12 years ago. I always liked taking pictures when I was a kid and then I got more serious about it. I went on a professional photography tour,  to Ireland, where you have a leader who gives you instruction and ideas. I was interested in Ireland and wanted to see what they could show me on a photo tour.

BRANDON PATCH: What do you like about photography?

• CHERYL SACKETT: I like to remember what I’ve seen visually. You see a big picture, but with a camera you separate it out and see the smaller ideas and different visions.

BRANDON PATCH:What’s your focus?

• CHERYL SACKETT: Mostly landscapes. But I’ve started to get into more people pictures, and especially photographs of people from different cultures. [Featured in the exhibit, shots from Ireland, Morocco, Italy, Tanzania and Greece.]

BRANDON PATCH: What do you shoot with?

• CHERYL SACKETT: Canon, mostly with a Canon Rebel.

BRANDON PATCH: What criteria did you use to select the photographs for your exhibit?

• CHERYL SACKETT: Just the ones that were my favorites, and that my husband liked.

BRANDON PATCH: What is it about a photograph that you like the best?

• CHERYL SACKETT: The colors. And to see things that other people will say, “I never saw that.”

BRANDON PATCH: Tell me about one of your favorite photographs.

• CHERYL SACKETT: “Serengeti Sunset.” At first I didn’t like this photograph because I thought the light was too bright. Then I looked at it more and it was very intense.

BRANDON PATCH: It looks like this photography sold for $225, and there are others that have sold as well. How does that feel?

• CHERYL SACKETT: Very good!