Susan Ledford

Mail carrier Susan Ledford recently launched a Web site - - to sell postcards and photos of Frederick scenery. She is also marketing a Frederick 2008 calendar.

This article was seen on the Business Watch page of the December 27, 2007 Gazette. Thank you Gazette. This, and word of mouth, is my best advertising.

This was Susan's contribution to the December Scrapbook page titled The Holidays. Frederick, MD is not in the holiday spirit without the lighted streets of Patrick and Market Streets. Thank you to the hard working gentlemen who put up and take down these lights every year.

Frederick, Maryland
79ºF SUNNY

Sun, September 21, 2008


Home > Art Life > Entertainment

Putting postcards in the hands of tourists
Originally published September 18, 2008


By Lauren LaRocca
News-Post Staff


Photo by Doug Koontz



Susan Ledford, who is a letter carrier, photographs local scenes in her spare time. She sells postcards of the Frederick images.




Susan Ledford drives down Church Street each morning on her way to work, arriving by 7:30 to begin her downtown route delivering mail. What she sees are endless photo possibilities -- shop windows and tree-lined streets; churches and parks. "I always find little niches," she said. "They see these things every day, but not everyone gets the chance to see them. I give people glimpses."
Ledford, a mail carrier for 21 years, began taking her photography hobby more seriously in the past few years.

"I noticed tourists would ask me where to find postcards of Frederick," she said from her home in Frederick. "I'd send them to the (Frederick) Visitor Center. There's really not many places downtown that have them."

So she began photographing things she thought tourists would want to see: City Hall, Barbara Fritchie House, Francis Scott Key Hotel, Francis Scott Key Memorial, En Masse Flower Shop on North Market, Carroll Creek Linear Park at night.

"I'm trying to put photos in the hands of the tourists," she said.

She lightens and darkens the photos but doesn't manipulate them in any other way. They get printed by Vista Print and sell for 50 cents a piece. They are currently available at Evangeline on West Patrick Street, where Ledford exhibited throughout June and July.

When she's not on the sidewalks snapping photos (usually on Saturdays -- her day off), Ledford shoots from the seventh floor of the Patrick Center at 30 W. Patrick St.

"They've let me take pictures from their balconies," she said. "The view's just gorgeous."

She's not only capturing beautiful shots but recording history in a very literal way.

"They're different views than they had five years ago," she said.

She has photographed buildings being erected and demolished, as the Frederick cityscapes change over the years. She has photos of Carroll Creek Linear Park throughout its stages of development, as well as old signage, either still intact or that has since been removed. She captures subtler differences, too, like the sun's changing light throughout the seasons, as its position shifts.

"I love the morning sunlight," she said, "so crisp and clear."

More obvious seasonal changes appear, too, when Baker Park is covered in snow in one photograph and cherry blossoms in the next.

In addition to selling her postcards in downtown Frederick, Ledford sells merchandise online -- coffee mugs, T-shirts, etc., that feature her work.

She entered photo contests at The Great Frederick Fair and came home with ribbons twice in the past decade.

"That kind of got my confidence up a little," she said.

More recently, she entered a photo contest sponsored by Frederick Magazine and took first place with her picture of a Halloween sunrise, enlarged and printed on a glossy magazine page.

The winnings inspired her to take her hobby more seriously.

"That started it off," she said.

Her Halloween sunset, taken on her way to work, was the first postcard made, and she hasn't stopped since.

"It's been pretty much trial and error," she said, then laughed. "A lot of errors."

She got her first camera when she was a little girl and would take photos of her stuffed animals, arranged on her bed. Meanwhile, when she went on family vacations back then, she found herself collecting postcards of all the things she didn't get photos of.


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slbledford




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1 comments

September 19, 2008 @ 05:24 PM: slbledford

Susan Ledford will have a booth at the Patty Pollatos Fund Family FUNomenon Fundraiser on September 28, 2008 from noon until 6:00 PM. Check out for more information. Susan Ledford will also have a booth at IN THE STREET on Saturday October 4, 2008. Come see me on the creek. You may also see me at the Frederick Arts Council building, at 13 North Market Street,on the last Sunday of the month. This will depend on my schedule. If you don't see me, check out the other wonderful artists and crafters that sell their wares there. Hope to see you soon. Susan




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Susan L.B.Ledford

slbledford*


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Look for postcards in local shops in downtown Frederick, MD. My goal is to update the postcards of downtown Frederick, MD. Frederick has had many changes in the past nineteen years, but the postcards have not changed with the times. I have lived and worked in Frederick since 1988, and have fallen in love with most everything about Frederick. Being a US Postal Service lettercarrier, and delivering mail in downtown Frederick, I have noticed a lack of postcards in the downtown area. Most merchants do not have postcards and many tourists do not go to the visitors center, where there are older postcards. With the help of local merchants, I want the tourist and the local to share what they love about Frederick, MD in the form of a postcard. I want people to see what wonderful things Frederick has to offer, and see how we have changed.

The photograph "Halloween Sunrise" has been published in the May 2007 issue of Frederick Magazine. Susan entered a photography contest in November of 2006, and won first place in the scenic catagory.