© Susan May Tell. All Rights Reserved.
Susan May Tell is known for her celebrated career in photography—as fine artist, photojournalist and photo editor. Identified as a “poet with a camera” she is a highly sought after speaker, portfolio reviewer (most recently at B&H’s BILD Expo in 2023), juror of fine art photography competitions as well as her support of emerging artists.
Tell has been an Artist in Residence at MacDowell, Yaddo and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. The Smithsonian Museum has included her work in its Samuel Wagstaff Collection, and Columbia University collected her Oral History and Catalog of Works. Solo exhibitions include the Museum of Art/Fort Lauderdale; Griffin Museum of Photography; Capital University; and University of California/San Francisco.
Her work continues to be exhibited in scores of brick-and-mortar galleries coast-to-coast, featured in ARTnews, New York Times, L’Oeil de la Photographie and many other influential publications.
Elizabeth Avedon included her work in “fossils of time + light” — a book she curated and designed for the Detroit Center for Contemporary Photography. Malcolm Daniel, then Director in Charge, Photography, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, awarded her First Place for an exhibition he curated for the Barrett Art Center.
During Tell’s exciting 25-year career as a photojournalist her clients included pre-eminent American publications such as the LIFE, TIME, Newsweek and the New York Times; her photos also graced their covers. Tell worked a decade overseas, first as the Middle-East photographer for Marcel Saba’s agencies based in Cairo, then as his European photographer based in Paris. After returning to her hometown, Manhattan, she spent a decade as staff photographer and photo editor for the New York Post. Her stories ran the gamut from the Women Fighters of the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front, Iran-Iraq war, NBA Finals and Egypt’s DEA to heads of state, actors, and celebrities.
Inexorably and irresistibly, Tell was drawn back to photographing personal work.
More about Susan and her work can be found at https://www.susanmaytell.com/
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About Garry Winogrand – 40 Over 40, curated by Elizabeth Avedon, SxSE, exhibition January and February 2024
ABOUT GARRY.
In February 1974 I bought a SLR and knew photography would be my life. I learned the rudiments of developing film and working in the darkroom.
In 1977 Garry was my first instruction in photography and boy, was I lucky!!!!!!!! It was a weekend workshop at the International Center of Photography (ICP) when it was on East 94th Street.
His words echo verbatim in my head ALL the time. As I said, I was LUCKY!!!!!!!
He showed a carousel of photographs, all taken by well-know/regarded photographers. AND then proceeded to explain when/why each photo worked. Or didn’t.
During a break we sat on a bench outside ICP. He generously looked through a box of 50 of my 8×10” work prints and was very encouraging.
The workshop included us, the students, walking and photographing with him down Fifth Avenue.
The photo of him in this exhibition was taken when a small group of us hung out at a restaurant at the conclusion of the workshop.
Some months later I saw him at a photo opening at Light Gallery. When I tentatively said I was considering submitting for a National Endowment for the Arts grant, he said “Don’t talk yourself out of it.”
Again, as I repeatedly say and always think/believe: I AM SO LUCKY he was my first!!!!!!!!
Photo taken with Leica M2 Rangefinder, 35mm Summicron F2 lens, Tri-X
SUSAN MAY TELL
Photographs of Space, Silence & Solitude
Susan May Tell, Poet with a Camera
Guest Portfolio Reviewer, B&H BILD EXPO
FIFTEEN (15) EXHIBITIONS since January 2023
Please contact for password access to new, lyrical, color series
Susan May Tell, Curaror’s Choice, Nancy McCrary, SxSE PhotoMagazine
Susan May Tell, Curaror’s Choice, Molly Roberts, SxSE PhotoMagazine
WINNER, Single.Nature, JMC’s GALA AWARDS, 2023
L’Oeil de la Photographie Magazine: A Requiem: Tribute to the Spiritual Space at Auschwitz
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Artist-in-Residence, MacDowell, 2015, the Evelyn Stefansson Nef Fellow, 2015-2016
Artist-in-Residence, Yaddo, 2017
Artist-in-Residence, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, 2016
