Long before digital took over the photography world, Carol Shelton saw life through the lens of a camera.
“When I was a kid, I was in the backseat of the car going out in the country to visit my grandmother, and I would look up over the edge of the car and see a barn and a field and my brain would just go off like a shutter,” Shelton said. “I literally think I was born to be a photographer. I would see rust on something, and everybody would think that was ugly, but all I saw was color.”
Shelton began submitting her photography work and winning competitions while a student at Pine Forest High School. She was fortunate to attend a school that actually had a dark room, and she credits her art teacher who saw the potential in Shelton.
“She always told me she expected to see me published one day. I had a lot of good teachers that believed in me and a lot of people that stood behind me,” Shelton said, adding that she even won a scholarship to an art school. “God had different plans for me, though. I got on a plane and moved to Italy at 19 to a tiny little sea village out in the middle of nowhere.”
Shelton learned to speak Italian on the streets in a small village where there was only one phone in the whole village, and she had to get her water out of a well. She learned the language while watching the fisherman bringing in their catches each day. She says that every year she visits her Italian family which is still in the village and is still like family to her.
The new experiences and great opportunities for unique photography helped give Shelton a rich palette. Developing photos, however, was cumbersome and very expensive. She had to mail off her film to get developed. Still, she shot and shot and shot.
When Shelton returned to the United States, she became a Navy wife and moved many times. Still, she honed her craft.
“When we lived in San Diego, I sold my work to the Hotel del Coronado in the gift shop for years and all around that area,” she said. “And then we moved to D.C., and I sold at the White House gift shop.”
While meeting with a client at the Willard Hotel in D.C., President Sarkozy of France walked into the lobby and saw Shelton’s cherry blossom canvases lying on the table. He walked up and asked who the artist was, then said that he wanted to buy the canvas. He went up to his room and got the money, returning downstairs and purchasing the canvas right off of the table.
Between again living abroad with her husband and traveling around the world, Shelton had many opportunities to continue her photography work, including a champagne series she did in France.
Today, Shelton splits her time between Pensacola and Viera, Florida. Most of her canvas work can be found in Haus of Hue on Ninth Avenue, as well as some acrylics. Even though she initially fought digital and missed the days of developing her own film — she even worked at the first one-hour photo place in Pensacola years ago — she got on board and changed her mindset.
“I don’t change a lot of my color, though. I’ve very big on leaving my color like it is and I don’t change a lot of my work. I wait hours sometimes for the right color. I try to keep that in my style because I feel like if I let go of that it won’t be my photography anymore.”
From her high school art teacher to getting on that plane to Italy to her other travels to being embraced by the owners of Haus of Hue, Shelton appreciates everything and everybody that has led to where she is now.
“I’ve been blessed. I’ve had a lot of great opportunities. And I honestly feel like I’ve had a guardian angel. Ever since the day I got on that plane and left and moved to Italy, I feel like I’ve had an angel looking over me.”
