convey a complete range of emotions expressed by
the models. It is intriguing to delve into the process of
decoding these emotions and witnessing the artistic
and technical expertise of Duncan, an artist that
manages to handle figurative photography in a
profoundly bold way.
In essence, Suzanne Duncan is an artist that offers to
the fine art audience a rich body of work which is both
refreshing and challenging. She is a photographer that
draws inspiration from the very roots of the artistic,
cultural heritage that represent and reforms it into a
contemporary concept elegantly and masterfully.
Whatever can be said though about an artist, nothing
can be more enlightening and valuable than the artist
explaining the full scope of her artistic expression.
Enjoy this personal interview, which will reveal even
more aspects of Suzanne Duncan's work as an artist.
Tell me a little about yourself, where you live and
how you started in the craft of photography?
Hello, Everyone! For those of you who don’t know me,
I am Suzanne Duncan, and I come from Sydney,
Australia. My journey started ten years ago when I had
the ambition of being a wedding planner many years
ago! After I saw that movie, "The Wedding Planner," I
thought – Yes that is for me. Fortunately for me. It
didn’t work out that way for me. A friend of mine
wanted to become a makeup artist and asked me if I
was interested in joining her course. Never had the
intention of being a makeup artist. I ended up coming
out of in with a kit and business cards; I started
shooting my portfolio, and in 3 weeks I appeared in my
first magazine. Fashion has always been a passion of
mine. Six months after finishing my course I landed my
first front page cover! From that, I still had my
ambition of being a wedding planner. I would get into
charity work to get more experience. At the time we
were organizing a fashion show. I had a clash with a
male photographer on set. We didn't agree on what
being “sexy” represents for a woman. We saw the idea
from two different sides of the coin. I got so mad at
that moment because I knew that he thought being
"sexy" meant for women to show more skin. What men
see as sexy (and I am not saying all men) versus
women to think what is sexy are two different things.
So that didn’t sit well with me. That was my turning
moment. I wanted to learn photography. Not thinking I
would ever become a photographer, but I wanted to
understand angles. I looked at the directory and saw a
private tutor or school. Went with the private tutor, had
two lessons and afterward, I practice loads to try to
understand what I was doing! I had good access to
models since I had been working as a makeup artist.
This one-day was different when I organized a shoot,
this time I was directing and being behind the scenes. I
always wanted the other photographers to see my
potential and ideas and to credit me. And not to take
the credit just because I was the makeup artist and I
was younger. After my very first photo shoot, I took
them to my wonderful mentor Coral Johnston. I
showed her everything, all my pictures, good, bad,
ugly! I was nervous and asked her what she thought?
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