[1] When he was in the 3rd grade, his family moved from Harlem to the Parkway Gardens neighborhood of Greenburgh, New York.
[1] He went on to win Scholastic's photography competitions for children and be exhibited in Grand Central Terminal while in his teens.
[1] After graduating from high school, he enrolled at the Rochester Institute of Technology, but dropped out in order to do photography full-time.
[4] Shearer was a recipient of the 2019 Trailblazers Award bestowed by the African American Advisory Board of Westchester County.
[1] According to Abigail Abrams in Time, his favorite project was a story for Life about the Reapers, a gang in the South Bronx.