Profile: Suzanne Maitland by Harvey Goldstein
Shoot From the Heart

In late 2001, Suzanne Maitland was happy living in Marietta, Georgia, as a wife and the mom of two young boys. She had worked as a copywriter out of college and later as a freelance writer. She had never been a photographer. Like most moms, she took pictures of her boys as they grew. She may have been just an amateur with a camera, but she knew even then that it wasn’t the equipment, but the photographer that made those early photographs above average. Suzanne has only recently discovered that she is an artist. She has always been a lover of beautiful things and the arts but until recently, thought that she had no creativity. Suzanne has transformed from a novice to a well respected photographer in less than three years.

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With no training or understanding of the business of photography, Suzanne began her education in the winter of 2002 when she happened upon www.zuga.net/, a web site for professional photographers. Intrigued with the level of caring and guidance the photographers on the site shared with others, Suzanne was excited about taking her photography to a higher level and enrolled in a weeklong class with Monte Zucker. Beginning with Monte’s course, she discovered the talents and creativity she previously thought didn’t exist within her. Now armed with confidence, she began her new career, creating beautiful photographs.

When asked what inspired her, Suzanne responded that in addition to Monte and the other photographers who shared their expertise so freely, she was inspired by two teachers who left secure jobs to become writers and a superb graphic designer who was not only her boss but also a friend—three people who followed their hearts to do something different. Suzanne believes that when you discover a talent within yourself, you alone will determine where it will lead. She took the major step to start her own business and pushed herself to grow. She kept in touch with Monte, continued to visit Zuga.net, listened to other leaders of the industry, and learned her craft.

Suzanne has recently switched cameras, from the Canon D60 to the Canon EOS 1D Mark II. She relies on two lenses, a 28–135mm, f/3.5–5.6 IS and a 50mm, f/1.4. She photographs using all natural light with reflectors and gobos with no flash or strobes. She uses window light indoors and utilizes overhead cover and light coming from one direction to achieve lighting outdoors. She studies her subjects to see where the light falls and the pattern it creates and makes adjustments throughout the session as the light changes. She processes and retouches all of her work in Adobe Photoshop and does all of the artwork herself.

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Suzanne is rapidly becoming noted for her fine art interpretations, which she features on her web site and discusses with her clients. Many times these interpretations are conceived because she sees the image’s potential as a painting. Suzanne specializes in photographing children, babies and families. Extended families are challenging, but often quite lucrative—she gets a thrill documenting multiple generations.

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Suzanne has been a professional photographer for less than three years and continues to find the process of creating captivating and meaningful images for families exciting. With each new idea that develops, she looks for ways to create that vision. She feels there is so much more to learn.
When this recent novice photographer was asked for words of wisdom for other aspiring photographers, she answered, “Shoot from the heart.”

Suzanne goes on to suggest that one should pour their heart and soul into what they do. Share your knowledge with others. As Monte and his colleagues shared their knowledge to put Suzanne on the path to success, she now reciprocates by sharing her newfound knowledge with others.

Suzanne has also found success by giving back to her community. She has donated her talents to many causes, but in November 2003 found a true connection. Working with a dance studio on the Historic Marietta Square, she had the opportunity to display her photography in their windows. Her initial thought was to show her regular portrait work, but she quickly realized that by displaying dance images, both the dance studio and her studio would benefit. By displaying photographs like “Golden Dancer” (page 81) and those shown on these pages, she captured the attention of the public and the city of Marietta praised her and the dance studio.

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Suzanne’s mission is to show the everyone’s special qualities through photography. Her goal is to connect with people and show them their inner beauty. She wants people to look at her work and feel that it is real. Because her work comes from her heart, she can achieve a simple elegance in her photographs.

Suzanne has gained a vast amount of knowledge and has achieved so much success in such a short time. She is an example to everyone that career changes are always possible and the most important aspect in life is to follow your heart. This will bring you the true success you seek.
Monte looks with pride at his student. He sums up his appraisal of Suzanne’s work succinctly, “You keep going, girl. Your work is never boring and always REAL!”

Visit Suzanne’s web site at www.suzanneportraits.com/.

Harvey Goldstein from Branford, Connecticut has been in the photographic industry for more than 30 years. He is a former studio owner and presently edits numerous association newsletters and magazines, as well as being a freelance writer.

Captions:

1. “Daughter of the Desert”—This image was created toward the end of a session at the family’s home. The mid-day sun was streaming in the window above the foyer door. Suzanne whispered to the little girl to walk toward the light, twirl, take her skirt and dance. As the child approached the edge of the muslin, Suzanne did not want to break the flow of the child’s movement, knowing that she could use Photoshop to alter the backdrop. In the end, that sliver of light became an integral element in the final image.

2. “Lucy “—Suzanne describes the capture of this little girl as “simple, sweet, real.” She used a Canon D60, 50mm f/1.8 lens with window light only.

3. “Golden Dancer”—This painting was created from a photograph of a five-year-old dancing in her parents’ bedroom. The room contained a bank of windows. The furniture was moved into the hallway and the bed to the back of the room. The little girl played some music on her toy cassette recorder and danced for Suzanne. “When I saw this image I knew it was ‘the one.’ I had to make it into a painting. The Giclée on watercolor paper was framed beautifully and hangs in the entry of their home.” This image is one of a few images Suzanne has begun offering as limited-edition prints. It is also featured on note cards and jewelry in Suzanne’s new line of gift items. She created this image with the Canon D60 and EOS 50mm lens. The ISO was 200 and the exposure was 1⁄1000 at f/1.4.

4. “Gotta Dance” was created after a family session at the children’s home. Suzanne directed the boy to stand in the corner and lean on the wall as his sister danced. Suzanne captured this image with her lens nearly wide open to capture movement in low light. This is a straight photograph with the saturation lowered to the point just before it loses all color. Doing this allowed the hint of pink in her tutu and the hue of the terra cotta tiles to come through, but not overpower. Suzanne created this image with her Canon D60 and 50mm lens at 1⁄45 at f/2 at ISO 200 with only ambient light.

5. Suzanne loves to photograph Indian families in their traditional dress. She feels that the richness of the fabrics in both color and texture is a visual feast. This family portrait was photographed in their home. The tall ceilings give the impression that the room was large, but in actuality, it was very small. There were two large windows to the left of the camera. Suzanne opened the door behind and to the left of her camera to let in more light. She also propped a 4x6-foot collapsible white background against the staircase wall to bounce more light onto the group. She used a Canon D60, 28–135mm f/3.5–5.6 lens set at 28mm, ISO 200.

6. Because our own kids are quite often our models for photographic experiments, they get to the point where they see the camera and run! Suzanne requested that her sons pose with their cousin for their aunt. She later cloned out the image of the cousin when she saw how much she liked the image of her sons.