Susan McLean: Serving up photos with a side of humor

Susan McLean had her measuring tape in hand. She was trying to figure out how to squeeze a 36-inch-by-72-inch print into her SUV.

A customer saw one of her images for sale at the sea glass festival and decided to go big.

“Now I know that’s as big as I can transport in my 4Runner,” she said.

McLean has been trying to stuff a lot into her life for years. She has worked in banking, blogging and she is now one of Delaware’s most well-known landscape and wildlife photographers.

She did shoot the Northern Lights. She has not seen the spoonbill. McLean has also written humor and poetry.

She grew up in Wilmington, graduated from the University of Delaware and headed out into the world.

“I went to UD, studied psychology and did nothing with it. I went right into working for MBNA, like everybody else,” she said.

Then life really came along. McLean became a stay-at-home mom with three young kids

“One day, my ex-husband came home from work and I said, ‘If I watch one more episode of Elmo, my brain is going to melt out of my head.’ He said, ‘I don’t know why you don’t do a blog,’” she said.

So, she started a blog called “Divine Secrets of a Domestic Diva.” She later changed it to “No Domestic Diva” after people started expecting to see recipes.

“My tagline was, ‘Not everything is a Hallmark moment,’” she said.

McLean started to get internet traction when she became a freelance contributor for Nickelodeon. She also contributed to the Huffington Post and was featured in a Redbook magazine article.

“Not that I didn’t like staying home with the kids, but it was a lot having a 4-year old, a 2 year-old and an infant all at once,” McLean said. ”It was just kind of an outlet to connect with other people.”

Her work caught the eye of Dr. Oz, another native Delawarean. Oz invited her on his national talk show in 2012 to discuss how she used the internet to build community.

“I was making light of the everyday stresses that a lot of people go through. He read a bunch of my tweets. He asked me a question. I make a joke. The whole audience laughed. And we had to do it twice because I turned around and was so surprised to hear these people laughing,” McLean said.

Her social media following took off. She said she went from 50,000 followers to more than 500,000. Her 15 minutes of fame lasted about, well, 15 minutes.

“I was still a full-time mom, so I wonder where it would have gone if I had more time to do it,” she said.

McLean found an audience for her humor when she was published in a best-selling New York Times anthology. In fact, she considers herself a humorist first. But, it’s complicated.

“I love getting a new audience. Otherwise, I would just be a goofball annoying the same family and friends,” McLean said.

She recounted a recent 17-hour road trip to Savannah with her boyfriend, who was a captive audience.

“I told him, ‘here is the list of things we’re going to talk about: our feelings, our future, mistakes he’s made, and more feelings,” she said.

McLean found photography through her blogging.

“Sony was a sponsor. They flew me to San Diego and I got to spend two weeks with mostly professional photographers and travel bloggers and work with the people who actually build the cameras. I left there with a lot of new equipment and a lot of opportunities,” she said.

No more point-and-shoots

“When I moved [to Sussex County] full time in 2017, I would walk on the beach and take pictures and people would say, ‘I’d buy that,’” she said.

She opened her first gallery in Lewes in 2019.

McLean and fellow photographer and business partner, Kim Johnson, will open their new gallery, Art Off the Avenue, at 33 Baltimore Ave., in Rehoboth Beach in January.

McLean said her photography is a much more personal and authentic experience than any joke she has ever told.

“I could not have cared less if somebody thought, ‘That’s not funny. ’But now, if somebody says, ‘I don’t like that picture,’ I cry,” she said.

The serious Susan 

McLean has had to navigate through serious life events.

“I’ve experienced enough loss that I really wake up and appreciate every day that I have,” she said.

McLean was assaulted by her former boyfriend in 2020. He later plead guilty and was sentenced to probation.

“That was not a good day. But, the silver lining was I got a lot of support from people,” she said.

McLean said she has gone through several years of therapy since that experience. She is now working with What is Your Voice, a nonprofit that provides support for women who have been victims of domestic violence.

“Last October for Domestic Violence Awareness Month, I was able to raise $1,200, and I’ve given them four-dozen pieces of art for their four emergency shelters,” she said. 

“I will literally go with you to a police station, if you need someone to walk through the door with you,” she said. “This is something I never would have chosen to go through, but to be able to turn it around and help other people, it’s got a little more purpose and meaning.”

McLean said she also donated to the Cape Henlopen Education Foundation, the Marine Education Research and Rehabilitation Institute and Children’s Beach House.

She said she donated a large photo to Surfgimp, the group that supports individuals with disabilities who require assistance to pursue an active lifestyle.

“They put my piece in a live auction with a guitar signed by U2 and a trip to Venice. I asked them to put mine with regular stuff, because it stressed me out. But it sold for three times what it would have sold for in the gallery. I cried,” McLean said.

McLean can be found on the trails and beaches, with her Canon in hand, creating new photos to help give back.

“I try to follow my heart, not always most lucrative or smartest. I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing and hope tomorrow brings something new to take a picture of,” she said.