{"id":9396,"date":"2016-02-10T15:55:00","date_gmt":"2016-02-10T15:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thomasbruce.com\/website_1d889e57\/?p=9396"},"modified":"2025-05-10T17:27:02","modified_gmt":"2025-05-10T17:27:02","slug":"celebrating-a-career-milestone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thomasbruce.com\/website_1d889e57\/celebrating-a-career-milestone\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating a Career Milestone!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I am so proud to announce that on Tuesday, January 12th of this year I achieved a career high by being presented with my Master of Photography Degree from the Professional Photographers of America! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This prestigious degree represents the highest standards in the art of professional photography. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is awarded for superior photographic skills\u2014demonstrated through the PPA International Photographic Competition, advanced education and service to the industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thomasbruce.com\/website_1d889e57\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Masters-Degree-official-photo_crop-300x225-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9400\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thomasbruce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Masters-Degree-official-photo_crop.jpg\"><\/a>&nbsp;PPA President Michael Timmons, me and my daughter Lexi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thomasbruce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Masters-Degree.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thomasbruce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Masters-Degree.jpg\" alt=\"Master of Photography medallion\" class=\"wp-image-3212\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When my friend and mentor \u201cPapa\u201dBruce Evensen asked me if I wanted to get my Masters one\u00a0day, I told him I couldn\u2019t imagine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During the last 10 years, he\u2019s been my harshest critic, my greatest supporter and my \u2018surrogate\u2019 father. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And like my own father, he has guided me, corrected me, and when the time was right, let me fly on my own to heights I never dreamed I could reach. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For you Bruce: for helping me reach the stars; for my Mom, for believing I could do it all along; for my daughter Lexi for sharing this unbelievable achievement by flying to Atlanta to present me with my degree at the awards ceremony; and for my daddy, who I know had a hand in this somehow from above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thomasbruce.com\/website_1d889e57\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Bruce-Carol.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9398\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thomasbruce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/DSCN0261.jpg\"><\/a>\u00a0Bruce and me<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"218\" src=\"https:\/\/thomasbruce.com\/website_1d889e57\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Bobby-Nikki-Carol.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9399\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thomasbruce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/DSCN0271.jpg\"><\/a>&nbsp;My sister-in-law, Nikki and brother Bob also flew up to Atlanta to celebrate with me!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13033,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[273],"tags":[291],"class_list":["post-9396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-photographer","tag-professional-photographer-in-greater-tampa-bay-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasbruce.com\/website_1d889e57\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasbruce.com\/website_1d889e57\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasbruce.com\/website_1d889e57\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasbruce.com\/website_1d889e57\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasbruce.com\/website_1d889e57\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9396"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thomasbruce.com\/website_1d889e57\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9396\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9401,"href":"https:\/\/thomasbruce.com\/website_1d889e57\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9396\/revisions\/9401"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasbruce.com\/website_1d889e57\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasbruce.com\/website_1d889e57\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasbruce.com\/website_1d889e57\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasbruce.com\/website_1d889e57\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}