Portrait Commissions

For people inspired to celebrate and commemorate special moments and transitions in their lives with a Soul Portrait, and to see what gift of grace comes through the synergy of their unique individual essence, the natural environment and Susan's lens, Susan executes personal commissions on an "as available" basis.

Susan's Soul Portraits are a wonderful gift to yourself to capture and honor the essence of significant moments and new trajectories in your soul's journey ♦ including marriage, pregnancy and birth, changing careers and new directions, journeys of healing, the "glory of age." For people who have special bonds with their horses as soul companions, portraits of these spirit beings are also deeply inspiring.

The first exploration for anyone contemplating a soul portrait commission with Susan is what images do you find yourself drawn to, and why?  Samples from past portrait commissions are displayed on this website to give ideas of diverse styles:  black and white, sepia toned, color, layered images (both intentional and "accidental"), straight images, abstracted images, etc.

The second exploration is one's degree of openness and willingness to enter into the unknown!  Each portrait is an emergence of unique soul essence, and cannot be visualized in advance.  What comes through is a function of the individual's essence, the natural location chosen, and the photographer's synthesis.  Thus portraits, like individual souls, are completely unique, never a duplication of one another.

The Soul Portrait process has several distinct parts:  1)  a dialogue to begin the relationship between model and photographer, and to determine number of days photographing (from 1-2 days to 1 week) and location (either in Santa Fe or other chosen destination); 2) the experience of the photographic journey/time together; 3) Susan's creative synthesis and the client's selection process; and 4) production of the final product(s), which may include fine art photographs, an exquisite custom photographic book, and DVD slideshow.

Timing of the portrait is determined by process and end product.  It is a labor of love on both sides, with high quality brought to details throughout (patience required!).  The time frame to execute a portrait start to finish generally runs from 1-4 months.

Please contact Susan to discuss your interest in a Soul Portrait.