Meet Suzanne Sahakian | Photographer

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

Hi Suzanne, can you share a quote or affirmation with us?
I love this short poem entitled ‘Three Things To Remember’ by Mary Oliver:

As long as you’re dancing, you can
break the rules.

Sometimes breaking the rules is just
extending the rules.

Sometimes there are no rules.

It speaks to me not only because I started out to be a ballet dancer, but also because I’ve always been a bit rebellious and irreverent when it comes to rules. Although I practiced law, full of statutes and rules, for 26 years, the rules I apply to myself in my life emanate from an energy and place where I want to push the limits, where I want to run out the door and keep running when I feel constrained, and where I trust my own guidance. For me, life is a dance – flowing, extending, emoting, evocative, playful. One uses rules for structure, but once you know the rules, you can go beyond them, you can ignore them, you can create and live freely.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am a fine art photographer. For me, photography is a way of capturing and presenting a certain essence of life, defining an energy, highlighting a juxtaposition of details that might otherwise go unnoticed. My photographs are colorful expressions of life as I see it, a way of looking at something ordinary and making it extraordinary, a way of getting into the middle of things, whether urban scenes, landscapes, macro blooms or photo collages, working to replicate what I saw and felt when I took the shot, the energy conveyed, and the details discovered upon closer inspection. The results are edgy, vibrant statements of everyday places locally and abroad (Tucson, Santa Fe, Paris, Scotland, to name a few), natural backdrops, blooms and butterflies that we sometimes pass by without really seeing. I like to think my photos are optimistic and compelling, providing a calm against the backdrop of daily routine, a ‘visual vacation’ and a reminder of the inherent and poignant possibilities of everyday life. Many of my photos are mistaken for paintings.

I continue to grow as a photographer, trying new techniques, lenses, papers, cameras. I print, mat and frame all my photos in a home studio in Tucson. For showing and selling my work, I have a studio in the Steinfeld Warehouse Community Arts Center, located in downtown Tucson’s historic Warehouse Arts District, and will start displaying my work in February at the SAAG (Southwest Arizona Arts Guild) Gallery in La Encantada, an outdoor mall in the Catalina Foothills of Tucson.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Places to stay are the Armory Park Inn, a charming Bed & Breakfast with home-made scones, nestled in a neighborhood in historic Armory Park and close to downtown Tucson, or The Arizona Inn in mid-town Tucson with its beautiful gardens and lovely rooms. Have a drink at the Owls Club on Scott Ave and dine at the Cup Cafe at Hotel Congress, or Maynards across the street. Try Lemongrass (Thai and Nepalese) on N. 4th Ave, Coronet Market Cafe on S. Meyer Ave or Five Points Market & Restaurant on S. Stone Ave for breakfast or lunch, the Audobon Room at Arizona Inn, Terraza Patio at Hacienda del Sol, Cafe a la carte, Ceres, or LoCo near the Tucson Museum of Art in the El Presido District and Tumerico for Mexican veggie/vegan fare.

Some of my favorite places to hang out with my camera are the Tucson Botanical Gardens, the Yume Japanese Gardens, DeGrazia Gallery In the Sun, Sabino Canyon for hiking, people watching and exploring on 4th Ave and Congress Street, Art Walk on 1st Saturdays of the month at Steinfeld Warehouse, 101 W 6th Street featuring art, music, food and open studios,

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I dedicate my shoutout to the art of ballet, which instilled in me a lifelong discipline, some grace and a love to strive for perfection. This includes all the dance instructors I had over the years in Michigan and in New York City who stuck it out with me during my rebellious high school years, to my parents who were forever supportive in anything I wanted to do, to the dancers at University of Michigan who helped me illustrate my honors thesis on Dance and Poetry in an evening performance, to my thesis advisors, who helped me understand how all the arts are inextricably linked, to my friend Bonnie Donaghy, who got me to the Greenleaf Art Center in Chicago after I took early retirement from the law to focus on my photography, and finally to WAMO (Warehouse Arts Management Organization), which allowed me to rent a space in the Steinfeld Warehouse, where I show and sell my photos, and gave me the support to create the Steinfeld Gallery.

Website: www.suzannesahakianphotography.com

Instagram: @suzannesahakianphotography

Facebook: SuzanneSahakianPhotograpy