Sue studied painting and photography at Hornsey College of Art. Her career as a freelance photographer began in 1972. In 1980 she became a features photographer for the Observer whilst also regularly working for Time Out and the Radio Times.

“For 25 years I have been privileged to be asked to photograph many of the world’s artistic and creative elite. The commissions took me to 25 countries on four continents. But for me, the real privilege was that although I was told who to photograph, I was never told how to photograph them. The freedom to interpret each subject in my own way was so liberating. I also applied that same freedom to my performance work where, once again, the images were of the most visually dramatic moments of performance rather than the dramatic musical peaks which, when stripped of sound and movement, do not necessarily make visually exciting imagery.

Awards (Arts Photographer of the Year, twice), exhibitions and books are wonderful and vindicating but, capturing that elusive ‘moment’, whether it be during a portrait session, buried in a dress rehearsal or during a pause in filming, is, for me, what makes my continuing pursuit of ‘the image’ so unendingly exciting.”
Sue Adler has lived and worked in Australia since the late 1990s.

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