Based in Livingston, Montana, Susann grew up on the beaches of Southern California. She caught the photography bug at the age of 3 when her father's camera and cowboy hat ranked among her favorite toys and began looking at the world through the lens of a camera at the age of 7 when she received a Kodak Instamatic on her birthday. By the age of 13, she was developing and printing her own photographs.

Her photographic subject matter took a dramatic turn in 1999 from her "Images of the West" to fine art portraiture with the birth of her twins. Children, families and relationships between people became Susann's primary subject…In July, 2001, her first one-woman show "Neighbors and Friends, The Face of Livingston", a series of sepia-toned portraits of local folks, won critical acclaim. The Park County Weekly reported that "Saarel has the unique ability to capture the soul of her subjects." Saarel was featured on Livingston KPRK's "Talk of the Town" to discuss her work in portraiture and has been much in demand ever since.

Susann is listed in Martha Stewart Weddings as the Premier Photographer of the West for the state of Montana in addition to having her images published in numerous national publications including the Los Angeles Times, Montana Magazine, Range Magazine, TWINS Magazine and Southwest Art. Her work has been exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the West including the ProRodeo Hall of Fame and Museum of the American Cowboy in Colorado, the Hubbard Museum of the American West in New Mexico and the Old West Museum in Cheyenne, Wyoming. She is the recipient of numerous awards including the Fuji Masterpiece Award.

Saarel, her husband and their twins reside in their mountain-top log home high in the Bozeman Pass. Her fine art portraiture of children is exhibited exclusively at LillyLu in Bozeman, Montana. Her western fine art images are offered for sale at The Frame Garden in Livingston and at Willow Boutique in The Meadow at Big Sky.