Sue Abramson was born in Philadelphia. She studied at the Maryland Institute, College of Art in Baltimore, where she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1979. She later moved to Pittsburgh and worked as a photo lab technician at Westinghouse Electric Corporation from 1984 to 1987. She has been photographing in Pittsburgh since 1984. From 1992 to 1996, Abramson was project director of the Outreach Workshops of Silver Eye Center for Photography. A photography instructor since 1986 at Pittsburgh Filmmakers, she was appointed assistant to the director of education in 1995.

Abramson’s photographs have been widely exhibited throughout Pennsylvania. She has had twelve solo exhibitions since 1982, including shows at the Soho Photo Gallery, New York, 1988; Hiram College in Ohio, 1989; and a two-person exhibition, with Janyce Erlich-Moss, at Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art, Johnstown and Altoona, 1997. Abramson credits photographer Ray Metzker as the most significant influence on her work.