Meet Susannah Dowell | Photo Documentary Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Susannah Dowell and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Susannah, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
Risk taking has been monumental for me.

An incredibly impactful therapist I had in my young years put it to me like this: life is a giant set of monkey bars. Grab whatever comes next. It will appear as soon as you need it – just keep moving forward.

The risks I’ve taken have led me down a truly rewarding career path. At the advice of this therapist, I took a hiatus from my awful, boring desk job working for the department of defense at 26 years old to go west to Wyoming and work as a cook for an elk hunting outfitter and get some awesome new imagery of the wild west. I thought – if I had to spend another 6 months behind a desk working on excel files, I may not make it to my next birthday.

Taking that risk threw me into a powerful trajectory. Upon returning home – actually being forced home – DoD called and said, “if you dont make it back here by Christmas, you’re losing your job”… I had a newfound energy and belief in myself. It led me to quit my job as a DoD contractor and work full time in television, at an NBC affiliate, where I had been interning on the weekends.

Everyone (especially my dad) thought I was nuts – leaving a full time, salaried job with benefits to work for $11/hour part time in TV? With shifts beginning at 3am for the morning news?

“You’re crazy.”

However. That television job led me to a part time gig at CBS News (national) in Washington DC, running camera and news clip collection for Face the Nation. After a few months, I was at the White House in the West Wing helping the lighting crew, and riding around in the presidential motorcade as GW Bush transitioned out, and Obama came in. Was I winning at the game of life? I sure thought so.

I will never forget the night of Obama’s inauguration – rushing around from party to party with the President – and working alongside another photographer who was complaining of the long hours (we worked 23 hours straight that day and actually could not have left the White House or motorcade even if we had wanted to – locked in for security purposes).

I thought to myself – “I’ve made it and I’m 27. And this guy’s made it- he’s at the top – and he’s complaining.”

While I was at CBS News, I met a ton of fascinating people. I landed a job interview with National Geographic – with the same guy that produced David Attenborough’s “Planet Earth” – while I was sitting in the interview, there were 6 Emmys staring me down on the desk while we chatted about me being a gopher on wildlife productions.

However – again! Another opportunity presented itself – another monkey bar appeared – this time, to work as a contractor for NATO at a small US military intel base in England, just outside of Cambridge. I snatched that one, and off I went to the UK.

I had the funny thought while on the plane from the US to Europe – it was the dead middle of the night, and I had just sold my little townhouse and car, and while everyone was sleeping around me, I thought to myself: “I have keys to nothing right now.” Incredibly scary, but also exhilerating, as I swung off to my next major risk and opportunity.

While I was shooting for NATO and traveling to Belgium to their headquarters to cover engagements, I was picked up by US Africa Command, traveling all throughout Africa, covering US military training African military on how to use comms equipment.

Boy was that eye opening. I went to 17 different countries in 5 years throughout Africa and had some of the most unique and interesting experiences of my entire life.

My career has been a series of lucky breaks, hard work, and insane amounts of wild times and amazing opportunities. I know in my gut that what set me on this trajectory was taking that first risk to take a few months off from my DoD behind the desk snooze-fest job and get out into the wild mountains of Wyoming to push myself to do something completely different and out of my comfort zone. I’ve been rewarded with that ability to just go for it time and time again and am a strong believer that big risks can, and usually do, equal big rewards.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’ve been shooting since I was literally 6 years old. I come from a family of artists, so it’s not so much what I’ve always WANTED to do – but just what I’ve always done. I have grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins who produce beautiful art in the form of watercolor, architecture, graphic design, tattoo ink, pen and ink, and all sorts of other mediums, but photography for me has always been the easiest and quickest medium to express myself.

I shoot because it gives me a sense of peace. I love being in nature and capturing landscapes that soothe me and my viewers. I’ve been told I have a gift and people like purchasing my fine art because it gives them a sense of calm in their homes and offices.

I shoot a lot of other genres of photography: mainly boudoir at the moment, which is also fun and expressive. With that work, I love showing women who they are at their core, and the beauty in themselves that may have been lost or temporarily forgotten.

But fine art landscapes will always be my first love.

I was told at a young age not to pursue art or photography because there’s no money in it. And I have to say I disagree. If your imagery resonates with your audience, there’s plenty to be made.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’d love to thank my family of course – my husband who met me on the job in England, and saw me professionally working before we ever became partners, and who knows how dedicated I am to my work, and how it literally gives me life.

Website: susannahdowell.com

Instagram: susannahdowellphotography or susannah_dowell_boudoir

Facebook: susannah dowell