“I approach my role behind the camera as a visual anthropologist, traveling to tell stories and to have unspoken connection with my subjects. Rooted deep in the craft of the photographic process,

I use my lens to draw in the light surrounding my subjects as well as the ‘light’ within them.”

— Michelle

About Michelle /

My unique creative process guides me to intuitively visually communicate for my clients and their brand or concept to their audience.

My journey to becoming the artist and person I am today has been a winding path of rich experiences that I continue to build on. I forged a path for myself guided by intuition and hard work. My father passed away when I was 13, and I realized I had to create the life I wanted. I supported myself through high school and paid for my own backpacking trip to Europe at age 16. I then traveled before college, venturing from Alaska to Eastern Europe to Kenya, to Egypt, then Brazil with my first camera, the Nikon FM2. Without any formal training, either in anthropology or art, I already knew this is what I was supposed to do: explore the diversity of the human experience and create art out of the beauty of life.

My time abroad opened my eyes and my mind to a much larger world and inspired my time at college, where I graduated with a degree in Anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley. After college I lived a year abroad in Madrid where I taught English at the Linguacentre Language Academy for Business. My time in Spain further expanded my love for art and photographing the human experience. I returned to the Bay Area to complete a program in photography at the Academy of Art, San Francisco and start my business.

In the years since, I have grown my practice, continued to travel, worked with celebrities, luminaries, and influential publications, raised a family, and have lived a life that adds experience and soul to my work today.

Education /

University of California, Berkeley
Bachelor of Science, Anthropology 1990–1993
Boston University
Photojournalism 1989–1990
Academy of Art University, San Francisco
Photography 1996–1998
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Spanish Language Certificate 1994–1995
Academy of Intuition Medicine
Masters Certificate 2013

Experience /

Michelle Susoev Photography
Owner, 1998–present
People Magazine
Picture Researcher, Dec 1995–Aug 1996
Sierra Magazine
Picture Editor and Researcher, Sep 1992–Nov 1995

Awards and Exhibitions /

First place in the Professional Portrait Category
International Black &White Spider Awards 2025
Previously nominated in both the Professional Fine Art
and Children of the World Categories, 2024
Exhibition, Year of the Dragon , Aluminum metal print
Peak Design, San Francisco, Fall 2024 to Spring 2025
Artist Talk, Visual Anthropology
Peak Design, San Francisco, February 2025

Clients /

The San Francisco Examiner
Martha Stewart magazine
Town and Country
APA News Magazine
The Lost Years, Kristina Wandzilak and Constance Curry
Peter Coyote
Tara and Billy Beane
Jin Wang Couture
The California Academy of Sciences
Slide Ranch

*Unedited Raw Contact sheet / Madrid, Spain*

Film /

Zen & the art of analog photography.

Although digital photography has become mainstream, I am grateful I began my career making images with film. The process of photographing with film and printing the final product was and still is meditation for me. I consider myself a hybrid photographer where both film and digital can stand alone and can also be woven together.