About

“I’m intrigued by the strangeness of the world and photography’s ability to capture that.” –Alex Webb

Susan West is a Berkeley, California, photographer of urban environments. She looks for moments of magic, surprise, and strangeness, finding them all the time and everywhere. For her, these are glimpses of other worlds, other possibilities, other ways of being. She is particularly drawn to night photography, street photography, and trying to see the multiverse.

Susan fell in love with photography in college, when she was chosen as editor of the yearbook and took a summer course to prepare for the job. Most of her serious training in the craft took place during the early 1990s at the University of California Berkeley extension, where she had the good fortune to study with the master printer and documentary photographer Frank Espada, among others. In 2017, Susan’s artistic life took a huge leap forward with the first of many classes from the peerless photographer and teacher Sam Abell. She has also taken workshops and classes from Peter Turnley, George Nobechi, and Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb, among others.

In January 2018, Ann Jastrab, now executive director of the Center for Photographic Art in Carmel, CA, awarded Susan’s image “Thank You, Tim” second place in FotoFoto Gallery’s 13th National Photography Competition, calling the photo “a flawless picture.” In November 2018, Eve Schillo, assistant curator for photography at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, gave an award of merit to “Burning Bush,” at Carmel’s Center for Photographic Art. In October 2020, the photo, “Early Morning Market, San Miguel de Allende,” was chosen from 11,500 entries to be included in a show of Bay Area artists at San Francisco’s de Young Museum. In July 2023, Susan received Honorable Mentions in five categories of the 20th Julia Margaret Cameron competition. The 11 honored photographs were shown at FotoNostrum in Barcelona, Spain, in April 2024.

Susan is part of a loose confederation of night photographers called Studio Nocturne SF with whom she has participated in San Francisco’s Open Studios. She is also a member of Center for Photographic Art in Carmel, CA, and the East Bay Photo Collective. She exhibits in galleries, art centers, and other venues both nationally and internationally. Her photos are in private collections in the Bay Area, New York, Paris, and elsewhere.

Recent Shows

2025

• April: Gray Loft Gallery, Oakland, CA. “Purple!” Jurors: Jan Watten and Ann Jastrab

2024

• November: Art Works Downtown, San Rafael, CA. “Small Works.” Juror: Paul Mahder.

• November: Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA. “International Juried Exhibition,” online gallery. Juror: Elizabeth Avedon

• April: Fotonostrum, Barcelona, Spain. “20th Julia Margaret Cameron Award for Women Photographers.” Jurors: Elizabeth Avedon, Ann Jastrab, and Elizabeth Krist. Honorable Mentions in Architecture and Interiors; Culture and Daily Life; Fine Art: Single; Fine Art: Series; Women Seen by Women.

• April: Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA. “Members’ Juried Exhibition.” Juror: Catherine Couturier

• January: Gray Loft Gallery, Oakland, CA. “Pretty in Pink.” Jurors: Jan Watten and Ann Jastrab

2023

• June: Convento della Maddalena, Castel di Sangro, Italy. “L’arte della Pesca – la Pesca nell’arte.” Juror: Stephen DiCerbo.

• April: Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts. “Ninth International Photography Exhibition.” Juror: Paula Tognarelli.

• April: Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA. “Members’ Juried Exhibition,” online gallery. Juror: Hamidah Glasgow.

• March: FotoFoto Gallery, Huntington, NY. “18th National Photographic Exhibition.” Juror: Alex Ferrone.

• January: Belvedere-Tiburon Library Gallery, Tiburon, CA. “Connections: Art & Music.” Jurors: Richard Rozen & Sandra Wolfson.

2022

• December: Gray Loft Gallery, Oakland, CA. “Shades of Gray.” Jurors: Jan Watten and Ann Jastrab

• December: New York Center for Photographic Art, New York, NY. “Black and White 2022.” Juror: Dan Burkholder. Honorable Mention for “Via San Donato.”

2021

• November: Gray Loft Gallery, Oakland, CA. “Yellow!.” Juror: Ann Jastrab

• October: San Francisco Open Studios, with Studio Nocturne SF.

• October: SOMARTS Cultural Center, SF Open Studios Exhibition.

2020

• October: de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA. “The de Young Open.” Jurors: Hung Liu, Mildred Howard, Enrique Chagoya

• September: Gray Loft Gallery, Oakland, CA. “The Meaning of Green.” Juror: Ann Jastrab

Information about previous shows is available on request.