David Sutton

As a very young animal lover, David Sutton wanted to be a veterinarian. By age nine, he had set his sights on becoming a photographer instead.

Little did he know then, that his ultimate calling would be a mash-up of these two great, early loves. The catalyst was a border collie mix named Zane! – a busy, busy dog fully worthy of the exclamation point in his name.

One day, after finishing some portraits for a business magazine, David called Zane! (who routinely kept him company at the studio) over to the backdrop and, using an ancient Rolleiflex camera and a roll of black and white film, shot twelve pictures. That spontaneous exercise launched a career that has spanned nearly three decades, delighting pet lovers, both local and national media, and David himself.

David’s commissioned portraits of people with their dogs, cats and families have been featured in the broadcast media, including NBC’s The Today Show, Animal Planet, 190 North, Art Beat and Wild Chicago. Print journalists at the Chicago Tribune, Dallas Morning News, Denver Post, Fort Worth Star-Telegram and the Chicago Sun-Times have also praised his work.

Active in his hometown of Evanston and the greater Chicago area, David’s charitable work has helped raise more than a million dollars for over a hundred animal and human welfare agencies during the course of his career.

Born and reared in South Bend, Indiana, David went away to college at eighteen. In an academic career charitably described as improvisational, David attended Indiana University, The University of Southern California, The University of California at Los Angeles, and Georg August Universität in Göttingen, [West] Germany, ultimately petitioning for and being granted a degree in German literature from UCLA.

In addition to being an accomplished photographer, David is a songwriter, singer, musician, essayist, cigar box guitar builder, and the author of three books, most recently a second edition called Obsessed With Cigar Box Guitars: Over 120 Hand-Built Guitars From The Masters, which is now available through Fox Chapel Publishing.