Shannel Resto is a Puerto Rican international multidisciplinary artist residing in Atlanta. Her work explores the performing arts and fashion photography, transforming motion into visual poetry. As the founder and creative force behind SJR Photography, she fuses her background as a dancer and storytelling to craft imagery that freezes and archives special moments.
Trained as a professional dancer at Boston Arts Academy, Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts, and Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London, Shannel approaches photography as choreography. Each frame is a composition of form, emotion, and intention. Since founding SJR Photography in 2013, she has photographed globally, including Paris Haute Couture Week, New York Fashion Week, and Atlanta Fashion Week, collaborating with celebrated designers and cultural influencers. Her performing arts portfolio includes work with New York City Center, Naturally Occurring Cultural Districts NY, and Emory University, among others.
Shannel’s photography has been featured in The New York Times, Forbes, Dance Magazine, Essence GU, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Evo House of Fashion and more. She was recently recognized by ARTS ATL’s “20 Photos to Watch” for capturing the pulse of Atlanta’s stages in 2024. Her work has been published in Life as Jpeg Volumes 1–3 a curation by Whitney Browne, On Both Sides of the Lens, an archival book documenting the Puerto Rican Diaspora, and Passionate Work: Choreographing a Dance Career by author Ruth Horowitz. She is also the author of Capture the Colors, a photography coloring book available on Amazon.
Most recently, Shannel served as the Atlanta Fashion Week x Bloomingdale’s Artist-in-Residence, presenting her exhibition Fashion Cartography, further expanding her exploration of fashion as a movement, and cultural mapping.
Shannel’s imagery invites viewers into a cinematic world where motion and stillness coexist where every photograph becomes a living archive of a story.
Shannel is amazing! She is so talented and both beautiful inside and out! Love her work always! Can’t wait to see what else she has in store.