By: Daiyu Tang, (Header Image: Daiyu)
Competition. Oh dear. Well, please don’t say that I don’t give everyone a chance, we’re all equal before my pen. Mostly (but if you’re in my shit list… you know why).
Anyway, today we feature Sam’s Snaps, a new business operating out of the Byrdi Apartments in Hathian.
Getting Snapped
There are many reasons a woman in Hathian might hesitate before knocking on a stranger’s door after being told a photographer works there. Look I’m also not being alarmist here, but I’ve *covered* kidnappings and worse at those apartments. It’s probably fair to say though that most photographers are sensible but there’s always a risk that the words “portfolio opportunity” are being used by men who should not own cameras and likely own a dungeon. At least this is Hathian not Laveau.
Fortunately, Sammael, who is a ‘Sam’ by the way, had a studio with tasteful prints on the walls, and the manner and air (and good looks) of someone more interested in photographs than whether he can take something that costs little on Bourbon Street for free.
Competition deserves investigation. As a photographer myself, I wanted to know whether Hathian had acquired another person with an eye, a camera, and enough nerve to point both at this city without immediately losing one of them, but it turned out, in short, that we aren’t quite operating in the same spheres.
Sam, has returned to Hathian after visiting once before and finding himself missing the place. That dear reader sound like a medical condition that should be treated with a good round of HGH ‘therapy’, but he actually seemed to mean it and said it plainly enough. After drifting through work that “paid the bills,” he showed a few photographs to a friend and was encouraged to set up properly.
A few weeks in, he says he already has models on his books, work lined up, and even a possible calendar project for a local bakery. Tsk. I can still do that…
Studio Sam
The studio itself is simple but serious: backdrop, lighting, prints, camera, screen and so on. Asked why anyone should seek out a photographer in an age of selfies, AI gloss and adult-site hustle, Sam gave the answer that made this worth writing up, or at least it does if you’re a fellow camera-head like I am.
“Sometimes, i’ takes a certain eye ta draw ou’ the inner self of a person,” he said. “Ta capture tha’ unguarded moment an ta feel comfortable enough ta do it.” His aim, he told me, is not porn and not the cheapest kind of Hathian attention. “I wanna show the soul of tha person I photograph. There, captured fa all ta see. Their true beauty.”
I gotta say my dears, that this is a brave promise in a city where many souls have teeth (not to mention many Hoppers, Rejects… etc… etc.)
Sam shoots with a manual-focus Nikon, keeps his editing light, and prefers to use what is already in the environment when working outside the studio. He joked that running around Hathian with a camera and a long lens might get someone shot, which is both funny and, annoyingly, a reasonable business risk assessment that I have to do daily at the Observer.
Otherwise, Sam mentioned active service, including tours in Afghanistan and I guess with his London accent, that makes him quite a curiosity. For once, this (now in competition) reporter left a photography studio thinking not ‘where is the nearest exit?’ but ‘good, maybe Hathian has room for another decent lens.‘
Pricing
((all ICLY – no fees – all RP only))
For models, Sam offers a one-hour mini shoot to see whether the working relationship feels right. His standard first-hour-and-books fee is $100, though he says he may waive it for “a rare gem” if the fit is right and the money is not.
Interested models or clients can contact Sam for portfolio work, mini shoots, model-booking discussions and studio sessions.
(( Sammael (00sammael00) ))
