Statement of the Artist
I am a native and lifetime resident of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in English from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. For 20 years I have taught English at Milwaukee Area Technical College, where I undertook my formal training in photography.
My photography has been mostly organically grown. A long-nurtured appreciation for visual expression and composition, and a lifelong love of nature and gardening, provided a natural palette for my early work. Realizing the power of the photograph to capture natural imagery, I had cameras in my hands long before I could understand or appreciate their technical or artistic capabilities. I enjoy working in both digital and analogue modalities, and my film images range from 35mm to medium and large formats.
Over time I have come to believe that a real statement of an artist is found in their pictures more than their words. Ultimately I have come to trust my eye. I am a product of the diverse tapestry of my lifetime residency in Wisconsin, having explored the rough, gritty streets and soaring architecture of our largest city, Milwaukee; the magnificence of Lake Michigan’s waters and shorelines; the wide range of its flora and fauna. The overwhelming majority of my photographs are shot within a 10-mile radius of my home; some no further than my in-home studio and gardens.
Suzanne R. Stone