Suzanne Sahakian

Suzanne is a fine art photographer who started out to be a ballet dancer, earned a B.A.

in English from the University of Michigan, an M.A. from Bryn Mawr College, worked

briefly in publishing, and then went on to become a lawyer, practicing commercial

litigation for 26 years in Detroit and Chicago. At the end of 2010, she retired early from

law in order to focus on her creative passions, including photography.

She has working studios in Tucson and Santa Fe and a studio to show and sell her

work in the Steinfeld Warehouse in Tucson’s downtown historic Warehouse Arts

District, where she is the Director of the Steinfeld Gallery & SIDETRACK. She also

shows her work at the Southern Arizona Arts Guild (SAAG) Gallery in Tucson and the

Zimmerman Gallery in Tubac.

For Suzanne, photography is a way of capturing and presenting life around her as she

sees it, defining an energy, highlighting details that might otherwise go unnoticed. Her

photos and photo collages are colorful and vibrant reflections of urban scenes, natural

landscapes and botanic blooms. She likes to think her photos are optimistic and

compelling, providing a calm against the backdrop of daily routine - 'a visual vacation’

as one viewer described it, and a reminder of the inherent and poignant possibilities of

everyday life. Suzanne prints her own work on various printers, including a new Canon

iPF Pro-2600, using Hahnemühle FineArt Baryta Satin paper, 300 gsm, and she mats

and frames her photos, many of which are mistaken for paintings. Her photos hang in

private collections throughout the country and businesses in Chicago and Tucson.