Meet Susan Ruach
Susan W. N. Ruach began her love of photography about 28 years ago as a way to share the beauty she saw on her travels around the world. Her photographic art has developed also to include abstract photography, macro work and nature images as a way to invite the viewer to deeper reflection.
Recently Susan received the Award for Excellence in Composition and Design in the Stillpoint Art Gallery online exhibit “The Time for Home” which includes being a Gallery Artist on website for a year.
In both 2017 and 2018 she was one of the Top Ten Photographers of the Tennessee Professional Photographers Association.
She received a Judges Award and a Best in Show in Illustrative Category at the 2016 Tennessee Professional Photographers Association Competition
In 2015 she received First Place in the Abstract area as well as a Distinguished Award at the 2015 Tennessee Professional Photographers Association Competition.
Fifty-three of Susan's photographs have been published in Journeying Through the Days, 2006, a calendar and journal for personal reflection, and she was the featured photographer in the national magazine "Alive Now" for its May-June 2009 issue. She also teaches workshops on Spirituality and Photography to explore the connections between nature and spirit, and how photography can be a part of one’s spiritual journey.
Her images have been seen in exhibits in Indianapolis, IN; Nashville, TN; online in Shanti Arts exhibits and in Still Point Arts Quarterly. In 2014, she won the Honorable Mention award at the Chromatics Gallery exhibit “The Built Environment”. She is a frequent contributor to “Sight Psalms” a free, daily, online photo devotional found at www.sightpsalms.org .
Susan has photographed in France, Canada, Peru, Ecuador, China, Korea, Nepal, Israel, England, Scotland, Mexico, Spain, Nicaragua, Zimbabwe, and South Africa, and in almost every state in the U.S.
Susan has studied with photographers Dewitt Jones, Freeman Patterson, Andre Galliant, Byron Jorjorian, Mark Lissick, Pam Hawkins and others.
Artist Statement
My name might help others understand my photography. Many married couples consider keeping their own names or hyphenating their names. Richard and I decided to choose a new name. We chose “Ruach” – which means “breath, spirit, or wind.”
My images invite viewers to breathe more deeply, to go beneath the surface, to feel and think more deeply, to wander inside their own souls seeking their spirit, and to touch the Mystery.
A friend once emailed me a stunning image of mountains and a lake. When I saw it, my whole body relaxed. Some images have the power to change us: to reduce stress, to inspire us, to teach us, to energize us, to heal us, to be a “thin place” in the Celtic sense or even to connect us to our soul.
Photography helps me switch perspectives. When I zoom a lens in or out, or take two steps a different direction, my perspective changes. This is great practice for me in my spiritual journey, because what I am trying to do is switch from my own perspective to Divine perspective. Photography also teaches me how to shift my attitude, my understanding of the world and others, my place in the universe and to see the world differently.
Photo courtesy of H James/Punk Rock Photography
All images © Susan W. N. Ruach. All rights reserved. Copyright Notice