Category: Personal Project

The Art of the Personal Project is a crucial element to let potential buyers see how you think creatively on your own.  I am drawn to personal projects that have an interesting vision or that show something I have never seen before.  In this thread, I’ll include a link to each personal project with the artist statement so you can see more of the project. Please note: This thread is not affiliated with any company; I’m just featuring projects that I find.  Please DO NOT send me your work.  I do not take submissions.

Today’s featured artist: Emily Chalk

Snake Family, Marrakesh

Snake charming has been practised in Jemaa el-Fna for centuries, arriving in Morocco around 500 years ago. Today, only five families continue the tradition. The Sadik family is one of them.

I’m afraid of snakes. On my first day, I was left alone with a bag of live vipers while the charmer stepped away for the call to prayer. Every instinct told me to leave, but I stayed.

Over time, that fear shifted into fascination. As I spent more time with the family, trust built slowly, and I was invited into their homes and their lives. What began as fear turned into curiosity, and a need to understand what exists beyond the performance in the square.

To see more of this project, click here

Instagram

Suzanne Sease is a creative consultant and former ad-agency senior art buyer. She works with both emerging and established photographers and illustrators to create cohesive, persuasive presentations that clients can’t resist.

Suzanne offers something rare: an insider’s perspective on how client’s source creative talent. Her deep understanding of the industry is underscored by her impressive resume: 11 years as senior art buyer at The Martin Agency, seven years as an art producer for Capital One, and stints with the art-buying department at Kaplan-Thaler and the creative department at Best Buy, where she applied her expertise to reviewing bids to see which were most likely to come in on budget. Over the years, Suzanne has worked with a wildly diverse range of clients, including Seiko, Wrangler, Bank One, AFLAC, and Clairol Herbal Essence. Now, as a consultant, she is equipped to problem-solve for her clients from an unusually dynamic point of view.

As a longtime member of the photo community, Suzanne is also dedicated to giving back. Through her Art of the Personal Project column on the popular website aphotoeditor.com, she highlights notable personal projects by well-known and up-and-coming photographers. The column offers these artists excellent exposure while reflecting Suzanne’s passion for powerful imagery.

Instagram

 The Art of the Personal Project is a crucial element to let potential buyers see how you think creatively on your own.  I am drawn to personal projects that have an interesting vision or that show something I have never seen before.  In this thread, I’ll include a link to each personal project with the artist statement so you can see more of the project. Please note: This thread is not affiliated with any company; I’m just featuring projects that I find.  Please DO NOT send me your work.  I do not take submissions.

Today’s featured artist:  Howard Schatz

I have been working on a “Human Body” project that looks like body painting but isn’t. ⁠

⁠Body painting, when done well by a skilled and talented make-up artist working with airbrushes, body makeup and other tools often takes many hours, if not all day. The event ties up the studio so that not much else can be accomplished. Also, once a body is painted,

that’s it; further exploration and discovery, the essential seeds of creativity, are only minimally possible. ⁠

⁠For this current project, I’m the “painter.” Using post production techniques, especially Photoshop, I adorn and cover the body fitting my own creative tastes. Exploring and experimenting is “play,” and the possibilities infinite. Most “trials” don’t work: I move on, open to examining others. Working hard to create imagery to surprise and delight myself, never knowing if or when it will happen and on only rare occasions, the creative gods astonish and bless, generously. ⁠

To see more of this project, click here

Instagram

Suzanne Sease is a creative consultant and former ad-agency senior art buyer. She works with both emerging and established photographers and illustrators to create cohesive, persuasive presentations that clients can’t resist.

Suzanne offers something rare: an insider’s perspective on how client’s source creative talent. Her deep understanding of the industry is underscored by her impressive resume: 11 years as senior art buyer at The Martin Agency, seven years as an art producer for Capital One, and stints with the art-buying department at Kaplan-Thaler and the creative department at Best Buy, where she applied her expertise to reviewing bids to see which were most likely to come in on budget. Over the years, Suzanne has worked with a wildly diverse range of clients, including Seiko, Wrangler, Bank One, AFLAC, and Clairol Herbal Essence. Now, as a consultant, she is equipped to problem-solve for her clients from an unusually dynamic point of view.

As a longtime member of the photo community, Suzanne is also dedicated to giving back. Through her Art of the Personal Project column on the popular website aphotoeditor.com, she highlights notable personal projects by well-known and up-and-coming photographers. The column offers these artists excellent exposure while reflecting Suzanne’s passion for powerful imagery.

Instagram

The Art of the Personal Project is a crucial element to let potential buyers see how you think creatively on your own.  I am drawn to personal projects that have an interesting vision or that show something I have never seen before.  In this thread, I’ll include a link to each personal project with the artist statement so you can see more of the project. Please note: This thread is not affiliated with any company; I’m just featuring projects that I find.  Please DO NOT send me your work.  I do not take submissions.

Today’s featured artist:  Sara Swaty

A series of individual stories told in pictures and words, exploring the real lives behind the public conversation surrounding the death of Michael Brown, Fragments of Ferguson exists to advance both personal and societal understanding of the volatile conversation about race and ethnicity underway in cities all across the country. Perhaps no story is more emblematic of this moment than that of Ferguson, Missouri. As a St. Louis native now living in Los Angeles, Swaty is positioned as the ultimate Insider/Outsider — one whose perspective includes both the macro and microcosmic experience of the time and place where the story unfolds. “I feel like a St. Louis artist,” she says. “My heart lives there.”

The shooting of Michael Brown on August 9, 2014, inspired a sustained national civil rights and social justice movement — starting with #blacklivesmatter and then subsequently #handsupdontshoot, #icantbreathe, and #sayhername, the movement that started in Ferguson turned outrage and resistance to oppression into a political rallying cry.

Fragments of Ferguson recognizes the community of passionate and dedicated individuals who refused to be silent in the face of injustice — beyond the homicide and humiliation, but the subsequent lack of criminal accountability for Officer Darren Wilson. It takes communities from all walks of life to make change — activists on the streets and on social media, politicians, lawyers, artists, clergy, writers, musicians, and many more. People young and old are combining forces in the streets, courts, and online. No one can fight injustice alone. We all need allies.

Making big, broad ideas more accessible through the unique combination of visual art and the written word, Swaty’s documentary structure combines fine art portraiture with a set of questions whose answers become the captions, pairing moving artistic portraits with perspectives told in their own voices.

To see more of this project, click here

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APE contributor Suzanne Sease currently works as a consultant for photographers and illustrators around the world.  She has been involved in the photography and illustration advertising and in-house corporate industry for decades.  After establishing the art-buying department at The Martin Agency, then working for Kaplan-Thaler, Capital One, Best Buy and numerous smaller agencies and companies, she decided to be a consultant in 1999.  Follow her on Instagram

The Art of the Personal Project is a crucial element to let potential buyers see how you think creatively on your own.  I am drawn to personal projects that have an interesting vision or that show something I have never seen before.  In this thread, I’ll include a link to each personal project with the artist statement so you can see more of the project. Please note: This thread is not affiliated with any company; I’m just featuring projects that I find.  Please DO NOT send me your work.  I do not take submissions.

Today’s featured artist:  Brian Pineda

My Airports series is an intimate look at the heart of global transit, born from the experience of travel and my love of architecture. I spent time in airports around the world, drawn to the clean lines and the constant movement within these terminals. I have always been interested in the scale of the architecture—how the sunlight and shadows interact with the people moving through these massive hubs.

The way the natural light catches the glass and steel, along with the quiet moments of travelers in motion, creates a unique atmosphere in every terminal. This project is my personal tribute to the experience of travel and what airports can represent—a gateway to a new destination and the start of a journey. I hope these photographs invite others to find wonder in the vast scale and the stories that unfold within an airport.

To see more of this project, click

Suzanne Sease is a creative consultant and former ad-agency senior art buyer. She works with both emerging and established photographers and illustrators to create cohesive, persuasive presentations that clients can’t resist.

Suzanne offers something rare: an insider’s perspective on how client’s source creative talent. Her deep understanding of the industry is underscored by her impressive resume: 11 years as senior art buyer at The Martin Agency, seven years as an art producer for Capital One, and stints with the art-buying department at Kaplan-Thaler and the creative department at Best Buy, where she applied her expertise to reviewing bids to see which were most likely to come in on budget. Over the years, Suzanne has worked with a wildly diverse range of clients, including Seiko, Wrangler, Bank One, AFLAC, and Clairol Herbal Essence. Now, as a consultant, she is equipped to problem-solve for her clients from an unusually dynamic point of view.

As a longtime member of the photo community, Suzanne is also dedicated to giving back. Through her Art of the Personal Project column on the popular website aphotoeditor.com, she highlights notable personal projects by well-known and up-and-coming photographers. The column offers these artists excellent exposure while reflecting Suzanne’s passion for powerful imagery.

Instagram

The Art of the Personal Project is a crucial element to let potential buyers see how you think creatively on your own.  I am drawn to personal projects that have an interesting vision or that show something I have never seen before.  In this thread, I’ll include a link to each personal project with the artist statement so you can see more of the project. Please note: This thread is not affiliated with any company; I’m just featuring projects that I find.  Please DO NOT send me your work.  I do not take submissions.

Today’s featured artist:  Tash Hopkins

Qawiyah

I was the child that loved horses and constantly asked my parents for one so last year when I was researching the culture of Morocco to make a personal project, I discovered Tbourida and was hooked.

Five weeks later I was the only foreigner in the baking heat of a tiny town in Essaouira being crowded by 350 unpredictable horses and breathing in clouds of dust.
Born from the battlefields of ancient Morocco, Tbourida is a loud and adrenaline fuelled spectacle, like a modern-day Narnia but one with deep familial and spiritual roots. Histories are written in the saddles and every rider carries a miniature copy of the Qur’an.

A team of 10 to 25 riders thunder 200 metres down an arena then come to a screeching halt and single-handedly fire gunpowder filled rifles. It’s deafening and riders can lose their limbs or even their lives.

Until recently it was restricted to men only but now women have entered the fray, riding stallions and carrying guns to challenge stereotypes and change the face of tradition.
But like many women’s sports they have a lot to contend with behind the scenes. They have to dig deep to overcome resistance from their families, bans from sporting bodies and opposition from men’s teams who don’t want them to compete.

To see more of this project, click

Suzanne Sease is a creative consultant and former ad-agency senior art buyer. She works with both emerging and established photographers and illustrators to create cohesive, persuasive presentations that clients can’t resist.

Suzanne offers something rare: an insider’s perspective on how client’s source creative talent. Her deep understanding of the industry is underscored by her impressive resume: 11 years as senior art buyer at The Martin Agency, seven years as an art producer for Capital One, and stints with the art-buying department at Kaplan-Thaler and the creative department at Best Buy, where she applied her expertise to reviewing bids to see which were most likely to come in on budget. Over the years, Suzanne has worked with a wildly diverse range of clients, including Seiko, Wrangler, Bank One, AFLAC, and Clairol Herbal Essence. Now, as a consultant, she is equipped to problem-solve for her clients from an unusually dynamic point of view.

As a longtime member of the photo community, Suzanne is also dedicated to giving back. Through her Art of the Personal Project column on the popular website aphotoeditor.com, she highlights notable personal projects by well-known and up-and-coming photographers. The column offers these artists excellent exposure while reflecting Suzanne’s passion for powerful imagery.

Instagram

The Art of the Personal Project is a crucial element to let potential buyers see how you think creatively on your own.  I am drawn to personal projects that have an interesting vision or that show something I have never seen before.  In this thread, I’ll include a link to each personal project with the artist statement so you can see more of the project. Please note: This thread is not affiliated with any company; I’m just featuring projects that I find.  Please DO NOT send me your work.  I do not take submissions.

Today’s featured artist: Flint Chaney

One of the greatest things about photography is being in the right place at the right time. Sometimes that means chasing light, or waiting for a scene to reveal itself. And sometimes, it means noticing when something ordinary is about to turn into something unforgettable.

That morning in Chicago, I had no idea I was about to photograph a moment that would stay with me. I was staying at a friend’s place when I looked out and saw a crew of window washers making their way down the building across the parking lot. The scene grabbed me immediately. I’ve always wanted to photograph window washers, and this felt like one of those rare moments when timing hands you exactly what you’ve been hoping for.

I’ve always had a deep respect for window washers. They’re suspended high above the city, doing a job most of us wouldn’t dare attempt, just so the rest of us can enjoy the view from behind clean glass.

So I waited.

I told myself I wasn’t leaving that spot until they made their way to our side of the building. About an hour and a half later, the ropes finally dropped from the rooftop. That’s when I got pumped. As one of the workers lowered himself in front of my window, I asked through the glass if it was okay to photograph him. He looked over and gave me a thumbs up.

From that point on, I simply observed. I gave him no direction and just watched him do what he had clearly done thousands of times before. Fourteen stories above the ground, he moved with a kind of calm precision and confidence. It was remarkable to watch.

As he worked, the soap began creating these beautiful, almost abstract patterns across the glass. At times, it was hypnotic watching the suds slide and reshape themselves.

In the end, the whole moment lasted about five minutes. That’s how long it took him to clean the window. I hoped I made the most of those five minutes.

Photography often asks for patience. Sometimes you wait a long time for a single moment. But when it finally happens, when everything comes together, it’s one of the greatest feelings in the world.

Flint

To see more of this project, click here

Instagram

Suzanne Sease is a creative consultant and former ad-agency senior art buyer. She works with both emerging and established photographers and illustrators to create cohesive, persuasive presentations that clients can’t resist.

Suzanne offers something rare: an insider’s perspective on how client’s source creative talent. Her deep understanding of the industry is underscored by her impressive resume: 11 years as senior art buyer at The Martin Agency, seven years as an art producer for Capital One, and stints with the art-buying department at Kaplan-Thaler and the creative department at Best Buy, where she applied her expertise to reviewing bids to see which were most likely to come in on budget. Over the years, Suzanne has worked with a wildly diverse range of clients, including Seiko, Wrangler, Bank One, AFLAC, and Clairol Herbal Essence. Now, as a consultant, she is equipped to problem-solve for her clients from an unusually dynamic point of view.

As a longtime member of the photo community, Suzanne is also dedicated to giving back. Through her Art of the Personal Project column on the popular website aphotoeditor.com, she highlights notable personal projects by well-known and up-and-coming photographers. The column offers these artists excellent exposure while reflecting Suzanne’s passion for powerful imagery.

Instagram

The Art of the Personal Project is a crucial element to let potential buyers see how you think creatively on your own.  I am drawn to personal projects that have an interesting vision or that show something I have never seen before.  In this thread, I’ll include a link to each personal project with the artist statement so you can see more of the project. Please note: This thread is not affiliated with any company; I’m just featuring projects that I find.  Please DO NOT send me your work.  I do not take submissions.

Today’s featured artist: Stefan Falke

Personal projects are the backbone of my work. The topics usually find me, there is very little thinking or planning involved, they usually start with a visual impulse. I often work on some new series between my assignments as a professional photographer; sometimes the paid work leads to a project which in return could – and have – lead to paid work. I published 4 books about my personal work so far, two with publishers (“MOKO JUMBIES: The Dancing Spirits of Trinidad” and “LA FRONTERA: Artists along the US-Mexican Border”, and the latest two self published (“Keep Going New York !!” and “Reflecting New York”). Since most publishers demand the full costs for printing and layout etc these days before they commit to publishing your book I switched to self-publishing my books on the print-on-demand platform Blurb.com.

REFLECTING NEW YORK:

It started with a series of photographs I took from my window, year in year out, of Hudson Yards with an overlaying reflection of clouds or sunsets – or both – in the window I shot through. One day I used a mirror to make that photo more interesting and multi layered. It didn’t really work, but I took the mirror to the street to see what else I could with it. Long story short, using the hand held mirror in locations around my chosen hometown New York I invited distant buildings, structures or other nearby scenes into the main photo to create a viewing experience that requires a second look. My goal is to visually loosen up the obvious, to create images that often surprise me as much as I hope they will surprise and intrigue the viewer. It took me most of 2024 to finish this series in New York.

I started working on REFLECTING DUBAI last year too but I need to secure more funding to finish that book project.

Photos from REFLECTING NEW YORK were published in WIRED online, chosen by American Photography, featured by LensCulture and received The Award of Excellence from Communication Arts for books in 2025.

The book is available here:

Regular soft cover (10×8 in): https://www.blurb.com/b/12090895-reflecting-new-york

Collectors extended hard cover (13×11 in): https://www.blurb.com/b/12276784-reflecting-new-york-collectors-edition

To see more of this project, click here

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Suzanne Sease is a creative consultant and former ad-agency senior art buyer. She works with both emerging and established photographers and illustrators to create cohesive, persuasive presentations that clients can’t resist.

Suzanne offers something rare: an insider’s perspective on how client’s source creative talent. Her deep understanding of the industry is underscored by her impressive resume: 11 years as senior art buyer at The Martin Agency, seven years as an art producer for Capital One, and stints with the art-buying department at Kaplan-Thaler and the creative department at Best Buy, where she applied her expertise to reviewing bids to see which were most likely to come in on budget. Over the years, Suzanne has worked with a wildly diverse range of clients, including Seiko, Wrangler, Bank One, AFLAC, and Clairol Herbal Essence. Now, as a consultant, she is equipped to problem-solve for her clients from an unusually dynamic point of view.

As a longtime member of the photo community, Suzanne is also dedicated to giving back. Through her Art of the Personal Project column on the popular website aphotoeditor.com, she highlights notable personal projects by well-known and up-and-coming photographers. The column offers these artists excellent exposure while reflecting Suzanne’s passion for powerful imagery.

Instagram

The Art of the Personal Project is a crucial element to let potential buyers see how you think creatively on your own.  I am drawn to personal projects that have an interesting vision or that show something I have never seen before.  In this thread, I’ll include a link to each personal project with the artist statement so you can see more of the project. Please note: This thread is not affiliated with any company; I’m just featuring projects that I find.  Please DO NOT send me your work.  I do not take submissions.

Today’s featured artist:  Adam Moran

To see more of this project, click here.

APE contributor Suzanne Sease currently works as a consultant for photographers and illustrators around the world. She has been involved in the photography and illustration industry since the mid 80s.  After establishing the art-buying department at The Martin Agency, then working for Kaplan-Thaler, Capital One, Best Buy and numerous smaller agencies and companies, she decided to be a consultant in 1999. She has a new Twitter feed with helpful marketing information because she believes that marketing should be driven by brand and not by specialty.  Follow her at @SuzanneSease.  Instagram

Success is more than a matter of your talent. It’s also a matter of doing a better job presenting it.  And that is what I do with decades of agency and in-house experience.

The Art of the Personal Project is a crucial element to let potential buyers see how you think creatively on your own.  I am drawn to personal projects that have an interesting vision or that show something I have never seen before.  In this thread, I’ll include a link to each personal project with the artist statement so you can see more of the project. Please note: This thread is not affiliated with any company; I’m just featuring projects that I find.  Please DO NOT send me your work.  I do not take submissions.

Today’s featured artist:  Todd Antony

Buzkashi, meaning “goat pulling” in Persian, is the wild, brutal sport of Tajikistan and its neighboring ‘Stans.’ Think polo – but with a headless, eviscerated goat standing in as a ball, hundreds of riders, and no formal teams. Rooted in the nomadic cultures of Central Asia and played for hundreds of years, riders, or chapandaz, battle for control of the goat while dodging rivals (and the occasional whip or elbow) in scenes reminiscent of a Napoleonic battle painting. The rule book is less of a book and closer to a couple of sentences, with the match often overflowing into the fleeing crowd (something I can testify to firsthand) games can last for hours until one rider hauls the goat across a hay-marked goal line in the dirt. Once a pastime of the steppes, Buzkashi is now a beloved spectacle at festivals and major gatherings such as weddings.

Watching Buzkashi matches was often like stepping directly into famous Napoleonic battle paintings. A seething morass of fighting players and horses, kicking up clouds of dust and visceral noise. I wanted some of the images from the project to take on the visual cues of those old paintings. Idealized in the middle of what is an otherwise brutal moment.

To see more of this project, click here

Instagram

Suzanne Sease is a creative consultant and former ad-agency senior art buyer. She works with both emerging and established photographers and illustrators to create cohesive, persuasive presentations that clients can’t resist.

Suzanne offers something rare: an insider’s perspective on how client’s source creative talent. Her deep understanding of the industry is underscored by her impressive resume: 11 years as senior art buyer at The Martin Agency, seven years as an art producer for Capital One, and stints with the art-buying department at Kaplan-Thaler and the creative department at Best Buy, where she applied her expertise to reviewing bids to see which were most likely to come in on budget. Over the years, Suzanne has worked with a wildly diverse range of clients, including Seiko, Wrangler, Bank One, AFLAC, and Clairol Herbal Essence. Now, as a consultant, she is equipped to problem-solve for her clients from an unusually dynamic point of view.

As a longtime member of the photo community, Suzanne is also dedicated to giving back. Through her Art of the Personal Project column on the popular website aphotoeditor.com, she highlights notable personal projects by well-known and up-and-coming photographers. The column offers these artists excellent exposure while reflecting Suzanne’s passion for powerful imagery.

Instagram

The Art of the Personal Project is a crucial element to let potential buyers see how you think creatively on your own.  I am drawn to personal projects that have an interesting vision or that show something I have never seen before.  In this thread, I’ll include a link to each personal project with the artist statement so you can see more of the project. Please note: This thread is not affiliated with any company; I’m just featuring projects that I find.  Please DO NOT send me your work.  I do not take submissions.

Today’s featured artist:  Stephen Wilkes

“To me, every hour of the day and night is an unspeakably perfect miracle”.

-Walt Whitman

Day to Night is a 16 year personal journey to capture fundamental elements of our world through the hourglass of a single day.  It is a synthesis of art and science, an exploration of time, memory, and history through the 24- hour rhythms of our daily lives.

I photograph from locations and views that are part of our collective memory.  Working from a fixed camera angle, I capture the fleeting moments of humanity and light as time passes. After photographing as many as 1500 single images, I select the best moments of the day and night.  Using time as my guide, all of these moments are then seamlessly blended into a single photograph – a visualization of our conscious journey with time.

In a world where humanity has become obsessively connected to personal devices, the ability to look profoundly and contemplatively is becoming an endangered human experience.  Photographing a single place for up to 36 hours becomes a meditation.  It has informed me in a unique way, inspiring deep insights into life’s narrative, and the fragile interaction of humanity within our natural and constructed world.

-Stephen Wilkes

To see more of this project, click here

Instagram

To purchase “Day to Night Monograph, Taschen, click here

Suzanne Sease is a creative consultant and former ad-agency senior art buyer. She works with both emerging and established photographers and illustrators to create cohesive, persuasive presentations that clients can’t resist.

Suzanne offers something rare: an insider’s perspective on how client’s source creative talent. Her deep understanding of the industry is underscored by her impressive resume: 11 years as senior art buyer at The Martin Agency, seven years as an art producer for Capital One, and stints with the art-buying department at Kaplan-Thaler and the creative department at Best Buy, where she applied her expertise to reviewing bids to see which were most likely to come in on budget. Over the years, Suzanne has worked with a wildly diverse range of clients, including Seiko, Wrangler, Bank One, AFLAC, and Clairol Herbal Essence. Now, as a consultant, she is equipped to problem-solve for her clients from an unusually dynamic point of view.

As a longtime member of the photo community, Suzanne is also dedicated to giving back. Through her Art of the Personal Project column on the popular website aphotoeditor.com, she highlights notable personal projects by well-known and up-and-coming photographers. The column offers these artists excellent exposure while reflecting Suzanne’s passion for powerful imagery.

Instagram

The Art of the Personal Project is a crucial element to let potential buyers see how you think creatively on your own.  I am drawn to personal projects that have an interesting vision or that show something I have never seen before.  In this thread, I’ll include a link to each personal project with the artist statement so you can see more of the project. Please note: This thread is not affiliated with any company; I’m just featuring projects that I find.  Please DO NOT send me your work.  I do not take submissions.

Today’s featured artist:  Cade Martin

The Chelsea.

An eclectic and electric icon in a city brimming with icons.

Written. Wolfe. Twain.

Shouted. Vicious. Pop.

Whispered. Keroac. Cohen.

Sang. Dylan. Hendrix.

Too alive with tall tales, deep secrets and notable guests not to photograph.

New York City. Even in the most seen city, there is adventure in chasing a what-might-be-around-the next-corner feeling. My favorite work is often something that catches me in the moment, scratching the itch of the unexpected in an obscure corner of an unknown town, or on the west Side of Manhattan. I wasn’t planning on it, but the Chelsea was spinning tales that I had to listen to.

– Cade Martin

To see more of this project, click here

Instagram

APE contributor Suzanne Sease currently works as a consultant for photographers and illustrators around the world.  She has been involved in the photography and illustration advertising and in-house corporate industry for decades.  After establishing the art-buying department at The Martin Agency, then working for Kaplan-Thaler, Capital One, Best Buy and numerous smaller agencies and companies, she decided to be a consultant in 1999.  Follow her at @SuzanneSease.  Instagram

The Art of the Personal Project is a crucial element to let potential buyers see how you think creatively on your own.  I am drawn to personal projects that have an interesting vision or that show something I have never seen before.  In this thread, I’ll include a link to each personal project with the artist statement so you can see more of the project. Please note: This thread is not affiliated with any company; I’m just featuring projects that I find.  Please DO NOT send me your work.  I do not take submissions.

Today’s featured artist:  Kate Medley

This body of documentary photographs examines the role of gas stations throughout the South, using these spaces as a lens to study this complex region, the people who live here, and how the populations and priorities of these people are shifting. In a time when our politics are increasingly polarized, our neighborhoods segregated, and our rhetoric strained, still nearly everyone regularly passes through these same commercial spaces. We come together here almost out of necessity, or at least convenience. My images give particular due to the culture and people in these communities—the workers who sustain these gas stations and the customers who rely on them for fuel, food, essential goods, and community. This project puts expressed emphasis on emerging immigrant foodways launching from gas station kitchens—the cuisines of one’s native country and how that is merging with more traditional flavors of the American South, shifting the very definition of what is Southern food. I highlight the egalitarian nature of the gas station, integral to the lives of people in every socioeconomic bracket in the South, especially in rural areas. Spanning more than ten years, this project touches down in 11 southern states, documents more than one hundred gas stations, and features a diverse mix of portraits, scene-setters, details, and documentary images.

To see more of this project, click here

Available for purchase, click here

Instagram

I feature personal projects so your work can be seen.  It is so nice to see this project get so much press (I found her in a CNN article and reached out to her). This is the press she has gotten already for this personal project https://www.katemedley.com/news  

APE contributor Suzanne Sease currently works as a consultant for photographers and illustrators around the world.  She has been involved in the photography and illustration advertising and in-house corporate industry for decades.  After establishing the art-buying department at The Martin Agency, then working for Kaplan-Thaler, Capital One, Best Buy and numerous smaller agencies and companies, she decided to be a consultant in 1999.  Follow her at @SuzanneSease.  Instagram

The Art of the Personal Project is a crucial element to let potential buyers see how you think creatively on your own.  I am drawn to personal projects that have an interesting vision or that show something I have never seen before.  In this thread, I’ll include a link to each personal project with the artist statement so you can see more of the project. Please note: This thread is not affiliated with any company; I’m just featuring projects that I find.  Please DO NOT send me your work.  I do not take submissions.

Today’s featured artist:  Sean Scheidt

The term liturgy comes from the Greek leitourgia, originally referring to public service or work performed for the good of the community. Over time, it came to signify the structured worship of the Church. In this ongoing series, I explore how faith takes shape in communal life through the “public work” of Saint Thomas the Apostle, Hollywood—through its people, its sacred objects, and the rhythms of the church calendar.

To see more of this project, click here

Instagram

Suzanne Sease is a creative consultant and former ad-agency senior art buyer. She works with both emerging and established photographers and illustrators to create cohesive, persuasive presentations that clients can’t resist.  Suzanne offers something rare: an insider’s perspective on how client’s source creative talent. Her deep understanding of the industry is underscored by her impressive resume: 11 years as senior art buyer at The Martin Agency, seven years as an art producer for Capital One, and stints with the art-buying department at Kaplan-Thaler and the creative department at Best Buy, where she applied her expertise to reviewing bids to see which were most likely to come in on budget. Over the years, Suzanne has worked with a wildly diverse range of clients, including Seiko, Wrangler, Bank One, AFLAC, and Clairol Herbal Essence. Now, as a consultant, she is equipped to problem-solve for her clients from an unusually dynamic point of view.

As a longtime member of the photo community, Suzanne is also dedicated to giving back. Through her Art of the Personal Project column on the popular website aphotoeditor.com, she highlights notable personal projects by well-known and up-and-coming photographers. The column offers these artists excellent exposure while reflecting Suzanne’s passion for powerful imagery.

Instagram

The Art of the Personal Project is a crucial element to let potential buyers see how you think creatively on your own.  I am drawn to personal projects that have an interesting vision or that show something I have never seen before.  In this thread, I’ll include a link to each personal project with the artist statement so you can see more of the project. Please note: This thread is not affiliated with any company; I’m just featuring projects that I find.  Please DO NOT send me your work.  I do not take submissions.

Today’s featured artist: Richard Radstone

Every moment of every day… your individual influence truly does matter

to someone else in the world.

— Richard Radstone

It all started in 2011 when, during a time of personal crisis, I challenged myself to blog the experience of approaching, photographing, and interviewing a stranger every day for 365 consecutive days. When WordPress featured the project as one of the top ten daily blogs to follow, the stories and the audience went global.

Hundreds of unique encounters with people from all walks of life, who, as I dropped my walls, invited me into their lives. And the more I submitted to the project, the more I realized how much I needed their stories. I grew to call everyone I met strangers-now-friends. I became more than a visual storyteller. I became a story seeker. Someone paying closer attention to things we don’t notice at first glance.

What followed was a natural evolution. Photography, blogging, and essay writing led me into documentary filmmaking. Then to speaking, from there to podcasting, and now to becoming an author and observer of human behavior. All of it, a body of work and outreach that I have titled Sidewalk Ghosts. A message shaped by the belief that when we pause long enough to look beyond what we first see, to listen closer, and to feel a little deeper, we can better find the truths that connect us: to ourselves and to each other.

It is strange to think that a difficult year and an experiment in letting go have become a lifelong journey. Yet here I am, still guided by the same simple realization. Inside every person lives a story we do not know, and when those stories are shared, we are encouraged to more fully appreciate the values we hold, allow others to do the same, and discover how much possibility lives in the space between us.

Sidewalk Ghosts: How to more fully love yourself, see others, and navigate this polarized world.   Cat: Chapter Nine — “You are what you choose to do.

Ray, Quite and loving greatness: Day 173 of the daily blog.

JJ, Just Livevil: Day 142 of the daily blog.

Kimberly, Whispering Angels: Podcast Episode 3 and day 42 of the daily blog.

Mark, Be Good and Do Good: Day 142 of the daily blog.

Justin, To Walk With Them As The Same: Day 123 of the daily blog.

Ben with Friend Taylor: Chapter Two — Ripples, wakes, and storms.

To see more of this project, click here

Podcast

Book

Suzanne Sease is a creative consultant and former ad-agency senior art buyer. She works with both emerging and established photographers and illustrators to create cohesive, persuasive presentations that clients can’t resist.

Suzanne offers something rare: an insider’s perspective on how client’s source creative talent. Her deep understanding of the industry is underscored by her impressive resume: 11 years as senior art buyer at The Martin Agency, seven years as an art producer for Capital One, and stints with the art-buying department at Kaplan-Thaler and the creative department at Best Buy, where she applied her expertise to reviewing bids to see which were most likely to come in on budget. Over the years, Suzanne has worked with a wildly diverse range of clients, including Seiko, Wrangler, Bank One, AFLAC, and Clairol Herbal Essence. Now, as a consultant, she is equipped to problem-solve for her clients from an unusually dynamic point of view.

As a longtime member of the photo community, Suzanne is also dedicated to giving back. Through her Art of the Personal Project column on the popular website aphotoeditor.com, she highlights notable personal projects by well-known and up-and-coming photographers. The column offers these artists excellent exposure while reflecting Suzanne’s passion for powerful imagery.

Instagram

The Art of the Personal Project is a crucial element to let potential buyers see how you think creatively on your own.  I am drawn to personal projects that have an interesting vision or that show something I have never seen before.  In this thread, I’ll include a link to each personal project with the artist statement so you can see more of the project. Please note: This thread is not affiliated with any company; I’m just featuring projects that I find.  Please DO NOT send me your work.  I do not take submissions.

Today’s featured artist: Melissa Ann Pinney

Becoming Themselves’ is a seven year and ongoing project that focuses on student life in several Chicago Public Schools. What started as a conventional photography project has grown into a document of identity, community and urgent social issues. The work evolved through a global pandemic, escalating racial and gender inequities and continuing gun violence.

I am interested in what I consider to be real pictures—images that attend to the complex scenes and surprising, unrehearsed moments created by the students. These moments are rich opportunities to reveal the underlying mysteries and meanings of ordinary life. My aim is to capture genuine connections, spontaneous gestures, and fleeting glimpses of emotion and interaction. As I’ve developed connections to students over a period of years, the pictures reflect both the growth of the students and the breadth of the work.

I never know what the students will do next; their beauty, their compassion and their conflicts are unrehearsed. The teens collaborate in the art-making by welcoming me into their world. I’m interested in the sense of possibility and transformation that characterizes adolescence. As my ties to the community have deepened, I’ve come to understand the meaning this project holds for me and for the students themselves, who tell me they feel truly seen by participating.

Tragically, eight students I photographed have been shot and killed since 2019, devastating families, school and faith communities. I intend my photographs to witness, celebrate and commemorate these students. In continuing this work, I am committed to encouraging a deeper consideration and appreciation of the radiant young people in our public schools.

Hireath

Asmah & Arshia

Jael

Jordan

Lizzie

Angelina

Haziz & Caleb

Coach Kenny and the Flag Football Players

To see more of this project, click here

Instagram

Suzanne Sease is a creative consultant and former ad-agency senior art buyer. She works with both emerging and established photographers and illustrators to create cohesive, persuasive presentations that clients can’t resist.

Suzanne offers something rare: an insider’s perspective on how client’s source creative talent. Her deep understanding of the industry is underscored by her impressive resume: 11 years as senior art buyer at The Martin Agency, seven years as an art producer for Capital One, and stints with the art-buying department at Kaplan-Thaler and the creative department at Best Buy, where she applied her expertise to reviewing bids to see which were most likely to come in on budget. Over the years, Suzanne has worked with a wildly diverse range of clients, including Seiko, Wrangler, Bank One, AFLAC, and Clairol Herbal Essence. Now, as a consultant, she is equipped to problem-solve for her clients from an unusually dynamic point of view.

As a longtime member of the photo community, Suzanne is also dedicated to giving back. Through her Art of the Personal Project column on the popular website aphotoeditor.com, she highlights notable personal projects by well-known and up-and-coming photographers. The column offers these artists excellent exposure while reflecting Suzanne’s passion for powerful imagery.

Instagram

The Art of the Personal Project is a crucial element to let potential buyers see how you think creatively on your own.  I am drawn to personal projects that have an interesting vision or that show something I have never seen before.  In this thread, I’ll include a link to each personal project with the artist statement so you can see more of the project. Please note: This thread is not affiliated with any company; I’m just featuring projects that I find.  Please DO NOT send me your work.  I do not take submissions.

Today’s featured artist:  Howard Schatz

More than almost any other sport, football has specific functions at every position that, in general, require an “ideal” physical structure to perform well in each of the roles filled by offensive and defensive players.

Two examples: An offensive lineman’s main purpose is to create a wall to protect his quarterback or to open lanes for running backs. They must be very large, often 300 pounds or more, with the power necessary to prevent equally large defenders from breaking through the offensive line.

Defensive backs must be lightning split-second quick and able to run backwards and sideways almost as fast as forward.  They are powerful and fast.

My goal is to show, dramatically and artistically, how an individual player’s physique uniquely suits the specialized demands of his position. The nature and nurture of an athlete’s body to “fit” a sport’s physical requirements fascinates me.

NFL Blessuan Austin -Cornerback

NFL  Chris Conley -Wide Receiver

NFL JGillan – Punter

NFL Nathan Shepard -Denensive End

NFL Ty Johnson – Running Back

To see more of this project, click here

Instagram

Suzanne Sease is a creative consultant and former ad-agency senior art buyer. She works with both emerging and established photographers and illustrators to create cohesive, persuasive presentations that clients can’t resist.

Suzanne offers something rare: an insider’s perspective on how client’s source creative talent. Her deep understanding of the industry is underscored by her impressive resume: 11 years as senior art buyer at The Martin Agency, seven years as an art producer for Capital One, and stints with the art-buying department at Kaplan-Thaler and the creative department at Best Buy, where she applied her expertise to reviewing bids to see which were most likely to come in on budget. Over the years, Suzanne has worked with a wildly diverse range of clients, including Seiko, Wrangler, Bank One, AFLAC, and Clairol Herbal Essence. Now, as a consultant, she is equipped to problem-solve for her clients from an unusually dynamic point of view.

As a longtime member of the photo community, Suzanne is also dedicated to giving back. Through her Art of the Personal Project column on the popular website aphotoeditor.com, she highlights notable personal projects by well-known and up-and-coming photographers. The column offers these artists excellent exposure while reflecting Suzanne’s passion for powerful imagery.

Instagram

The Art of the Personal Project is a crucial element to let potential buyers see how you think creatively on your own.  I am drawn to personal projects that have an interesting vision or that show something I have never seen before.  In this thread, I’ll include a link to each personal project with the artist statement so you can see more of the project. Please note: This thread is not affiliated with any company; I’m just featuring projects that I find.  Please DO NOT send me your work.  I do not take submissions.

Repeating this beautiful personal project as we go in to Thanksgiving next week.

Today’s featured artist: Deanna Dikeman

Relative Moments, a series I began in 1986, chronicles ordinary moments of my extended family’s activities. I am interested in the significance of the commonplace routine of their lives—the personal moments that define for each of us a sense of home, security, and belonging. I began by photographing my parents’ home in Iowa. It was a personal documentary effort, starting when my parents sold the house we lived in when I was a child. They moved, and subsequently I realized that their new house was now home. So, I took pictures of that. My scope expanded as I started taking pictures of my aunts and uncles and their houses and yards. After my son was born, he appeared in the images too. Although the project started out as nostalgia and documentation, I discovered that the pictures comment on more: a glimpse into an intimate detail of an everyday world that otherwise might go unnoticed. This project captures a visual history of one family’s life, yet I feel there is an ongoing narrative embedded in these photographs that conveys larger, more universal truths about American culture, familiarity, and the endless source of everyday wonder that surrounds us.

To see more of this project, click here

To purchase the book “Relative Moments” click here

And is endorsed by Vanity Fair purchase through Amazon link

Instagram

NOTE:  I featured Deanna “Leaving and Waving” in 2022 on this forum.  It found its way recently on to an Instagram reel and went viral on TikTok, Reddit and Facebook.

She was recently featured on CBS Nightly News and Inside Edition.  This is why personal projects are so important.

APE contributor Suzanne Sease currently works as a consultant for photographers and illustrators around the world.  She has been involved in the photography and illustration advertising and in-house corporate industry for decades.  After establishing the art-buying department at The Martin Agency, then working for Kaplan-Thaler, Capital One, Best Buy and numerous smaller agencies and companies, she decided to be a consultant in 1999.  Follow her on Instagram