H. Jennings Sheffield was born in Richmond, Virginia. She received her BFA in photography and digital media from the Atlanta College of Art and her MFA from the University of Texas at San Antonio in photography and new media. Her core research is inspired by memory, moment, and time, and often utilizes familial imagery to convey both the intimacy and the diverse roles and relationships individuals play over time. The methodologies utilized to create her work can take up to two years to complete. As a result, Sheffield periodically takes on landscape-driven projects that deal with climate change. They begin with just her responding to the landscape. She is interested in landscapes that tend to be fleeting. Similar to her core research, Sheffield approaches the landscapes by looking for and observing changes over time.

Sheffield is an Associate Professor of Art at Baylor University and serves on the board of Texas Photographic Society. Her work has been widely exhibited internationally and nationally and is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Art Houston, Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, Capital One, several private collections, as well as in the special collections at William and Mary, University of Virginia, Baylor University, University of North Texas, and Virginia Commonwealth University.

In addition to her research, Sheffield provides workshops and lectures over the United States and Europe on topics including her artistic practices and methodologies, digital techniques in photography, and considering the image in a new context outside of the traditional roles.