Susie Spades (Official Website)
About Me
My name is Susie Spades. I am a photographer, journalist, and full-time nomad who has chosen to live a life that is entirely my own. I move through the world barefoot, most often nude, and completely unbound by the expectations that once tried to define who I should be. My life is built around freedom, authenticity, and an unwavering refusal to live according to rules that never felt true to me.
I was born in July of 1973 in Newnan, Georgia, deep in the conservative American South. It was a place where tradition shaped nearly every aspect of life and where women were expected to follow a very narrow path. Modesty, obedience, and conformity were treated as virtues. The role was clearly defined. A woman was meant to stay within the boundaries society set for her and rarely question them.
From an early age, I knew something about that path did not belong to me. I felt it long before I had the language to explain it. There was a constant sense that the life being prepared for me was too small, too constrained, too artificial. I tried for years to fit into the expectations placed upon me, wearing the same social mask that many people learn to wear simply to get through the day. But beneath that surface, a different life was quietly waiting to emerge.
That life finally began to take shape in 2013.
That year marked a turning point where I stopped negotiating with expectations and began living honestly. I made the decision to remove the barriers that had been separating me from the life I instinctively knew was mine. I embraced naturism as a permanent way of living, rejecting the unnecessary social obligation of clothing whenever possible. At the same time I committed fully to barefoot living, eventually abandoning shoes entirely.
Since 2015 I have not worn or owned footwear of any kind. My feet meet the earth directly every day, just as my body meets the elements without artificial coverings. Living barefoot and living nude are not symbolic gestures for me. They are the most direct expression of the freedom I chose to claim.
Around that same time, I also left behind the idea of a conventional home. Instead, I stepped into a life of movement and independence. My residence is a 1973 GMC Eleganza motorhome, which serves as both my home and my gateway to the vast landscapes of the American West.
I live almost entirely off-grid, traveling between remote public lands, national forests, desert expanses, and other quiet corners of the country where the noise of modern life fades into the background. Much of my time is spent boondocking on Bureau of Land Management land or tucked deep within forested areas where nature sets the rhythm of each day.
Life on the road has taught me that very little is actually required to live well. My home is simple, my possessions are few, and the distractions of modern consumer culture rarely reach me. The result is a kind of peace that I never found when life was structured around conventional expectations.
My approach to clothing reflects that same simplicity. I own only four garments. A sheer champagne micro-mini dress, a black sheer ankle-length formal dress, an ivory strapless sheer shift dress, and a black cashmere coat reserved for warmth when necessary. Those pieces exist only for situations where clothing is unavoidable. The rest of my life is lived without them.
The absence of unnecessary things creates space for the work that truly matters to me.
Photography has become one of the most important ways I interact with the world around me. Although I had long been interested in photography, it was only after I embraced my authentic life that I understood what the medium truly meant to me. A camera allows me to document moments that reveal the raw beauty of reality. I am drawn to images that feel honest, immediate, and unfiltered.
My work moves across many subjects, including architecture, documentary photography, street photography, astrophotography, nature, and portraiture. What connects them all is a search for authenticity. I am less interested in perfect images than in truthful ones. A photograph, at its best, captures something real that might otherwise go unnoticed.
Alongside photography, my work also explores human psychology and the nature of desire. I hold a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a Doctor of Philosophy in Homeopathic Psychology, and I am a board certified sexologist. While I do not practice clinically in a traditional sense, that academic background deeply influences my writing, interviews, and creative work.
Human attraction, sexuality, and emotional connection remain endlessly fascinating subjects to me. These forces shape much of human behavior, yet society often treats them with discomfort or silence. Through my journalism, online content, and photography, I explore those realities openly and honestly.
Desire is not something I believe should be hidden behind shame or apology. It is one of the most powerful forces in human life, capable of shaping relationships, creativity, and personal transformation. When acknowledged honestly, it becomes a source of insight rather than conflict.
My work often examines these ideas, encouraging people to look beyond the cultural narratives they were given and instead explore their own authentic experiences.
All of these elements of my life ultimately return to the same central principle. Authenticity matters more to me than conformity.
Living barefoot, living as a naturist, traveling full time as a nomad, and creating work that explores human truth are not separate choices. They are all expressions of the same philosophy. I believe that life becomes meaningful when we stop trying to fit ourselves into narrow expectations and instead build a life that reflects who we actually are.
Every morning I wake up beneath open skies somewhere in the vast landscapes of this country. I step outside barefoot, feel the ground beneath my feet, and breathe air that carries the scent of whatever landscape I happen to be in that day. In those moments I am reminded why I chose this life.
It is simple. It is honest. And it belongs entirely to me.
I no longer measure my life against tradition or expectation. I measure it by freedom, by authenticity, and by the sense of alignment I feel with the world around me.
That alignment is something I will never surrender.
This is the life I chose to live, and it is the life I will continue to live without apology.
I was born in July of 1973 in Newnan, Georgia, deep in the conservative American South. It was a place where tradition shaped nearly every aspect of life and where women were expected to follow a very narrow path. Modesty, obedience, and conformity were treated as virtues. The role was clearly defined. A woman was meant to stay within the boundaries society set for her and rarely question them.
From an early age, I knew something about that path did not belong to me. I felt it long before I had the language to explain it. There was a constant sense that the life being prepared for me was too small, too constrained, too artificial. I tried for years to fit into the expectations placed upon me, wearing the same social mask that many people learn to wear simply to get through the day. But beneath that surface, a different life was quietly waiting to emerge.
That life finally began to take shape in 2013.
That year marked a turning point where I stopped negotiating with expectations and began living honestly. I made the decision to remove the barriers that had been separating me from the life I instinctively knew was mine. I embraced naturism as a permanent way of living, rejecting the unnecessary social obligation of clothing whenever possible. At the same time I committed fully to barefoot living, eventually abandoning shoes entirely.
Since 2015 I have not worn or owned footwear of any kind. My feet meet the earth directly every day, just as my body meets the elements without artificial coverings. Living barefoot and living nude are not symbolic gestures for me. They are the most direct expression of the freedom I chose to claim.
Around that same time, I also left behind the idea of a conventional home. Instead, I stepped into a life of movement and independence. My residence is a 1973 GMC Eleganza motorhome, which serves as both my home and my gateway to the vast landscapes of the American West.
I live almost entirely off-grid, traveling between remote public lands, national forests, desert expanses, and other quiet corners of the country where the noise of modern life fades into the background. Much of my time is spent boondocking on Bureau of Land Management land or tucked deep within forested areas where nature sets the rhythm of each day.
Life on the road has taught me that very little is actually required to live well. My home is simple, my possessions are few, and the distractions of modern consumer culture rarely reach me. The result is a kind of peace that I never found when life was structured around conventional expectations.
My approach to clothing reflects that same simplicity. I own only four garments. A sheer champagne micro-mini dress, a black sheer ankle-length formal dress, an ivory strapless sheer shift dress, and a black cashmere coat reserved for warmth when necessary. Those pieces exist only for situations where clothing is unavoidable. The rest of my life is lived without them.
The absence of unnecessary things creates space for the work that truly matters to me.
Photography has become one of the most important ways I interact with the world around me. Although I had long been interested in photography, it was only after I embraced my authentic life that I understood what the medium truly meant to me. A camera allows me to document moments that reveal the raw beauty of reality. I am drawn to images that feel honest, immediate, and unfiltered.
My work moves across many subjects, including architecture, documentary photography, street photography, astrophotography, nature, and portraiture. What connects them all is a search for authenticity. I am less interested in perfect images than in truthful ones. A photograph, at its best, captures something real that might otherwise go unnoticed.
Alongside photography, my work also explores human psychology and the nature of desire. I hold a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a Doctor of Philosophy in Homeopathic Psychology, and I am a board certified sexologist. While I do not practice clinically in a traditional sense, that academic background deeply influences my writing, interviews, and creative work.
Human attraction, sexuality, and emotional connection remain endlessly fascinating subjects to me. These forces shape much of human behavior, yet society often treats them with discomfort or silence. Through my journalism, online content, and photography, I explore those realities openly and honestly.
Desire is not something I believe should be hidden behind shame or apology. It is one of the most powerful forces in human life, capable of shaping relationships, creativity, and personal transformation. When acknowledged honestly, it becomes a source of insight rather than conflict.
My work often examines these ideas, encouraging people to look beyond the cultural narratives they were given and instead explore their own authentic experiences.
All of these elements of my life ultimately return to the same central principle. Authenticity matters more to me than conformity.
Living barefoot, living as a naturist, traveling full time as a nomad, and creating work that explores human truth are not separate choices. They are all expressions of the same philosophy. I believe that life becomes meaningful when we stop trying to fit ourselves into narrow expectations and instead build a life that reflects who we actually are.
Every morning I wake up beneath open skies somewhere in the vast landscapes of this country. I step outside barefoot, feel the ground beneath my feet, and breathe air that carries the scent of whatever landscape I happen to be in that day. In those moments I am reminded why I chose this life.
It is simple. It is honest. And it belongs entirely to me.
I no longer measure my life against tradition or expectation. I measure it by freedom, by authenticity, and by the sense of alignment I feel with the world around me.
That alignment is something I will never surrender.
This is the life I chose to live, and it is the life I will continue to live without apology.
