Richard Swan has been a photographer since high school when he discovered the book "The Decisive Moment' by Cartier Bresson in the school library. His senior year he won the Kodak Scholastic Art Award for best photography portfolio for the state of Indiana. He then studied Fine Art Photography at Indiana University with Henry Holmes Smith and Reginald Heron. After I.U. he worked as the City Photographer for Mayor William Hudnut in Indianapolis and photographed many luminaries including Gerald Ford, George H. Bush, Jimmy Carter, Billie Jean King, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, Bruce Price and Cab Calloway. After the city stint he worked for Underwood Studios before embarking on his own as a free-lance photographer.

He attended the Winona School of Photography, the Maine Photographic Workshops, where he studied with National Geographic photographers Bill Allard and Bruce Dale and he attended the Country Photography Workshop conducted by Chicago photographer Peter N. Gold. He now specializes in portraiture and weddings.