Suzanne Gorman (born June 8, 1962) is an American photographer based in

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

. Her client list includes former President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

, former

First Ladies First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non-monarchical head of state or chief executive. The term is also used to describe a woman seen to be at the t ...

Barbara Bush Barbara Pierce Bush (June 8, 1925 – April 17, 2018) was First Lady of the United States from 1989 to 1993, as the wife of President George H. W. Bush, and the founder of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy. She previously was ...

and

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

, and sports and entertainment personalities such as

Nelly Cornell Iral Haynes Jr. (born November 2, 1974), better known by his stage name Nelly, is an American rapper, singer, actor and entrepreneur. He embarked on his music career with the hip hop group St. Lunatics in 1993 and signed to Universal ...

Cory Spinks Cory Spinks (born Cory Calvin; February 20, 1978) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1997 to 2013. He held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the undisputed welterweight title from 2003 to 2005, ...

Bob Costas Robert Quinlan Costas (born March 22, 1952) is an American sportscaster who is known for his long tenure with NBC Sports, from 1980 through 2019. He has received 28 Emmy awards for his work and was the prime-time host of 12 Olympic Games from 19 ...

Ozzie Smith Osborne Earl Smith (born December 26, 1954) is an American former professional baseball player. Nicknamed "the Wizard of Oz", Smith played shortstop for the San Diego Padres and St. Louis Cardinals in Major League Baseball, winning the National ...

Jackie Joyner Jacqueline Joyner-Kersee (born March 3, 1962) is a retired American track and field athlete, ranked among the all-time greatest athletes in the heptathlon as well as long jump. She won three gold, one silver, and two bronze Olympic medals in tho ...

Stephanie Patton Stephanie Patton (born August 13, 1969) is a contemporary multimedia artist whose work crosses the realms of photography, sculpture, painting, installation, performance, video, audio and text. Life Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, Patton received ...

, and

Kathryn Sansone Kathryn Demmas Sansone (born 1962) is an American homemaker and personal trainer, best known for being celebrated by Oprah as an "unforgettable mom". Sansone went from being a member of Oprah's audience to being a featured guest on The Oprah Win ...

. She has also photographed

Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil (, ; "Circus of the Sun" or "Sun Circus") is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 Ju ...

and hip-hop and musical artists such as

Destiny's Child Destiny's Child was an American girl group whose final line-up comprised Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland, and Michelle Williams. The group began their musical career as Girl's Tyme, formed in 1990 in Houston, Texas. After years of limited ...

and

Sting Sting may refer to: * Stinger or sting, a structure of an animal to inject venom, or the injury produced by a stinger * Irritating hairs or prickles of a stinging plant, or the plant itself Fictional characters and entities * Sting (Middle-eart ...

Biography

Gorman was born in

in 1962. Her father Charles David Gorman was a professor of mathematics and her mother Gong Shu a

psychodrama Psychodrama is an action method, often used as a psychotherapy, in which clients use spontaneous dramatization, role playing, and dramatic self-presentation to investigate and gain insight into their lives. Developed by Jacob L. Moreno and ...

therapist. Gorman attended University City High School, graduated at the age of 16, and then enrolled in Fontbonne College, receiving a degree in fine arts in 1983. Her interest in photography did not start until college, when she inherited her father's Leica camera after he died, at which point she took her first ever photography class. In 1981 she worked for St. Louis Mayor

Vincent C. Schoemehl Vincent C. Schoemehl, Jr. (born October 30, 1946 in St. Louis) was the 42nd mayor of St. Louis, Missouri, serving three terms from 1981 to 1993. At the time of his first election, he was one of the city's youngest mayors. In 1992, Schoemehl was def ...

, and in 1982 she became an intern for

Rick Gould Rick may refer to: People *Rick (given name), a list of people with the given name *Alan Rick (born 1976), Brazilian politician, journalist, pastor and television personality *Johannes Rick (1869–1946), Austrian-born Brazilian priest and mycol ...

, a local fashion photographer. She cites

Richard Avedon Richard Avedon (May 15, 1923 – October 1, 2004) was an American fashion and portrait photographer. He worked for ''Harper's Bazaar'', ''Vogue'' and ''Elle'' specializing in capturing movement in still pictures of fashion, theater and danc ...

as one of her major influences and respects the work of

Annie Leibovitz Anna-Lou Leibovitz ( ; born October 2, 1949) is an American portrait photographer best known for her engaging portraits, particularly of celebrities, which often feature subjects in intimate settings and poses. Leibovitz's Polaroid photo of Jo ...

Reception

The ''St. Louis Post Dispatch'' in 1995 started its article about Gorman with, "Suzy Gorman looks tough, talks gruff and acts rough. Is it ''shtick'' or is it Suzy?" and concludes that "it" is in fact Suzy. She is known for dismissing clients, instructing them to lose weight, and she is equally direct about telling people to change everything from their hair to their teeth.

References

* ''St. Louis Business Journal'', August 5–11, 2005
"St. Louis Character: Suzy Gorman"
* ''Alive'' magazine, September 2005, "Girl talk: Photographer Suzy Gorman Shoots from the Hip." *

KTVI KTVI (channel 2) is a television station in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside CW owned-and-operated station KPLR-TV (channel 11). Both stations share studios on B ...

Channel 2 News, February 2005, "Photographer with tales to tell about some of the big stars" * ''Seen'', May 1992, "That Gorman girl shoots anything that moves (especially her mouth)"
''From the Halls of Fame''
2005, ''St. Louis Commerce Magazine'' * ''

St. Louis Post Dispatch The ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' is a major regional newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri, serving the St. Louis metropolitan area. It is the largest daily newspaper in the metropolitan area by circulation, surpassing the ''Belleville News-Dem ...

'', February 23, 1995, "Suzy Gorman, photographer to the stars"

External links

Official Suzy Gorman website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gorman, Suzy American photographers Fontbonne University alumni Artists from St. Louis 1962 births Living people American women photographers 21st-century American women