Susan Mikula: The Conventional Photographer and The Vintage Artist
Olivia Shea
Published Apr 11, 2026
Read everything about a photographer and artist from the United States, Susan Mikula, whose photographs are created with old and outdated equipment like Pinhole cameras and Polaroid cameras.
Who is Susan Mikula?
Susan Mikula is known across America as an artist and photographer. But behind closed doors and in her personal life, she enjoys a quieter life with her longtime political commentator partner, Rachel Maddow. Maddow is renowned for her show, “The Rachel Maddow Show” on MSNBC, and has a notable following in America.
This is due to her being the first openly lesbian anchor in the US to host a major prime-time news program. Susan Mikula’s work has been purchased by the United States Embassy Art in Embassies for their Permanent Collections.
The Transcend into Recognition
Susan Mikula, having birthdates of March 7, 1958 and 63, launched her solo career with her first step taken in 1998 when she had her firstborn photography exhibition. Specializing and known for her traditional usage of vintage technology such as pinhole and polaroid cameras, Susan was raised in New Jersey.
She has had a relatively steady career since then while maintaining her unique style using instant films. Mikula has also released series on the matter such as Susan Mikula: Photographs, 2008, the 2013 series Susan Mikula: u.X, which is inspired by the Lascaux cave paintings, a three-part industrial landscape series titled Susan Mikula: American Bond, and Photo Book in 2015, which is a series of psychologically enigmatic pigment prints.
Her unique style encompasses of taking clicks by using an Sx-70 Polaroid camera – the last camera produced in 2007. Her work is a testimony to a creative and innovative mind. Behind the lens, she favors conventional methods and doesn’t hold back.
She avoids compromises in her methods and does not use artificial lights or filters. She scans and produces the Polaroid print, which is a further testament to her art jury background.
Her artworks and creations mainly comprise landscapes, which have garnered high praise and have secured publishing and display in several cities such as New York City, Miami, San Francisco and Los Angeles. All her collections have both been displayed in solo and group exhibitions.
Early Childhood
Standing tall with a 5ft. 6inch height and weighing around 70kg, Susan belongs to white ethnicity. She has Pisces as her Zodiac sign and moved to New Hampshire along with her family while she was young. Having grown up with her younger sister who also is a medical photographer, Mikula taught herself photography.
Since that very young age, she had a tendency and disposition towards art and photography, and as a result, she decided to join Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. She graduated in 1976, having completed courses in color theory.
“The center of my universe” – Susan Mikula and Rachel Maddow
The year was 1999 when hiring for her yard work, Susan Mikula and Rachel Maddow met each other when Rachel was working on her doctoral dissertation. Before becoming partners, they went on their first date at the National Rifle Association sponsored event “Ladies Day on the Range”.
Rachel told New York in 2008, “When I met her, she had her initials in metal leaf on the door of her jeep,” She added, “So hot. So hot.” Since then, they split their time between their farmhouse in Western Massachusetts and an apartment in the West Village, Manhattan. It is to note that the couple are not married, till date.
The MSNBC political host has admitted her struggle with depression for much of her life. Maddow told CBS News in 2016 that Susan Mikula plays a vital role in her life as she often aids her when she’s struggling with her mental wellbeing.
“The time when it’s hardest is when I have forgotten that this happens to me and so I don’t know what it is and she will say, ‘You are depressed,’ and just being able to identify it and then knowing that it’s not going to be forever and that it will pass and that it will ease at some point, helps,” she confided to CBS.
A fun fact is that Susan has had a bit of a say in some of Rachel Maddow’s on-air fashion choices. Susan revealed to New York that she encouraged Rachel to wear make-up and had an influence on her attire. “At some point, we figured out that you could wear suits and they could be gray, or gray, or brown or black or gray,” she said. Maddow has alleged that her decision to embrace gray suits is highly based on no one commenting on what she wore when she donned it.
Susan Mikula’s Net Worth
Managing to come a long way up the creative ladder since the ’90s, Susan Mikula has had a lucrative career as an artist and photographer. She has gained prominence and has had quite a good and healthy earning over her decades-long career.
Her net worth is estimated to be around $5 million marks, based solely on her artworks and photographs. Her partner, Rachel Maddow on the other hand has her net worth to be around $20 million.
Susan Mikula Now (Present)
On 19th November 2020, it was confirmed that Susan Mikula got infected with the lethal COVID-19. The disease was so strong that people around thought “it might kill her.” Rachel Maddow called Susan the “center of my universe” and further confessed, “my relationship with Susan is the only thing at the end of the day that I would kill or die for without hesitation.”
Elaborating further, Maddow said, “She’s gotten sicker and sicker, while I tried to care for her while still staying physically apart from her,” Maddow said of her partner. “And the bottom line is that she’s going to be fine, she is recovering, she’s still sick but she’s going to be OK.” However, Susan has since then recovered from the virus and is doing fine.
