‘[Susannah] has this ability to create stories through everyday objects that really speak to the viewer, and a real eye for composition, light, color, and beauty. Her photos are very transporting.’ ~ Holly Becker, decor8

I’ve been taking photographs all my life, but the first roll of film I shot with any artistic intention was developed in 1992. I was 19 years old and for the next three years I locked myself in the darkroom, practising my craft at art school. I tried fashion shoots, portraits, reportage and self-portraiture, the latter the form that most inspired me. I never went anywhere without my Canon AE-1 or a (borrowed) Hasselblad and took part in group exhibitions in London and Lisbon.

Between then and now there have been many cameras, many rolls of film and many years in the pursuit of other paths. Finding my way back to the camera as I healed through bereavement has been life-changing. It’s my curiosity about the world, and my understanding of my place in it, that now informs my work.

I shoot Polaroids and film using my collection of vintage cameras; I use the camera on my iPhone like a notebook. I’m drawn to beauty and asymmetry, decay and whimsy. I explore how the world around us holds memories and familiarity, the ever-present backdrop to our individual stories. I shoot to tell those stories. I shoot to record the magic I see around me, often in the most unexpected places. I shoot because I bloody love it – it’s like breathing to me.

My timeline of photographic rediscovery:

The first self-portraits after loss | July 2006
Opening my eyes in Seattle | November 2006
Dreams for photography | December 2006
The hunger for life returns | January 2007
Doors open | July 2007
The first Holga shots | August 2007
The year of pro photography | December 2007
Trying a new style | June 2008
The blogger as a 22-year-old girl | July 2008
Finding my focus as a photographer | November 2008
Falling in love with a Hasselblad (again) | November 2008
Polaroid weekend | June 2009
The Polaroid collaboration | June 2009
Slow down | August 2009
Montreal in Polaroids | September 2009
The Year of the Polaroids | December 2009
Teaching my first in-person photography class | September 2010
Shooting strangers in NYC | October 2010
The Polaroid portrait | October 2010
Introducing Photo Meditations | September 2011
Instant Love: the book! | November 2011
My Photography Manifesto | December 2011
First copy of Instant Love arrives! | January 2012