Thursday, February 03, 2005

Rick Gershon (1982 - ):  2004 CPOY

Rick Gershon was born in Mount Pleasant, Michigan in 1982. He moved to Pilot Point, Texas when he was three. There, he excelled at sports and lettered in football, basketball, track, golf and baseball. His wide receiver skills got him onto the University of North Texas (UNT) football team as a red-shirt freshman.

His mother, Cathy Bell, got him a freelance sports assignment at The Pilot Point Post Signal, a local weekly newspaper. His assignment was to write a story about a basketball team. He was also required to turn in some photos. His mother quickly taught him how to operate a manual focus camera and sent him to the assignment.

After his first year at UNT, he realized his passion for photojournalism and dedicated himself to his training.

He was recently named as the 2004 College Photographer of the Year as part of the Pictures of the Year, international (POYi) competition through the University of Missouri. It's his first major competition win.

Earlier this year he married his high school sweetheart Nicolle, who is an account sales representative for American Airlines. They started dating during Rick’s sophomore year of high school, and both went to UNT. They currently live in Carrollton and have no children.

Please see Part A and Part B of his interview.

Enough for now,

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