Susan Burnstine is a professional photographer originally from Chicago and currently living in Los Angeles. Her love for photography began at the age of eight when her mother gave her a vintage camera to play with. She was instantly hooked. From the early age of 14 until graduating college, Susan worked as an assistant to one of the top portrait photographers in Chicago, Joel Schachtel.
After graduating college with degrees in Film & Television Production, English Literature and Sociology, life lead her down a number of different creative paths, including; stand-up comedy, screenwriting and script consultancy. But after years in the entertainment business, Susan yearned for a new challenge. She returned to her first love--photography.
While working as a professional photographer, Susan started shooting and modifying inexpensive, plastic toy cameras for fun. Within less than a year, Susan’s work was exhibited in contests, magazines and galleries. In Spring 2005, she started building her own homemade lenses and cameras, primarily made out of plastic, vintage camera parts and random household objects. The result of this creative endeavor can be viewed in her series, On Waking Dreams.
Susan earned B&W Magazine's 2008 Portfolio Contest Spotlight Award (Issue #61, September 2008), B&W Magazine's Excellence Award for the 2006 Portfolio Contest (Issue #44, August 2006), the Silver Award for B&W's 2008 Single Image Contest (Issue #56, February 2008), she's been nominated for The 2007 Aperture West Book Prize, her portfolio was featured in Camera Arts (Issue 62, March/April 2008), PDN EDU Magazine (Spring 2008), Black & White Photography Magazine (Issue 54, Christmas 2005 & Issue 74, July 2007) and Shots Magazine Portfolio Issue (Issue #94, Winter 2007) and her work has also been seen in Professional Photographer Magazine (December 06), Kamera & Bild Magazine (December 2005), Shots Magazine (#91, Fall 2006, #93, Spring 2006, #94, Winter 2007,#96, Summer 2007, #99, Spring 2008) and Camera Arts (March/April 2008, Jan/Feb 2007, Nov/Dec 2006, May/June 2006).
Additionally, since being featured in Black & White Photography, Susan has become a contributing writer for the magazine.