ive just been notified I am having major email issues. I do not think I am receiving all emails. If you have sent me a email recently and are still waiting a response from me, please try again. the best email to get me on is iloveyoursmile (at) sammblake dot com. sorry for any inconvenience.
a new zealand wedding
a favourite from Barbara and Dave’s wedding in Queenstown, New Zealand. more on this beautifulllllll wedding to come soon.
mentorship
This polaroid was taken out the front of my studio in Fremantle. I walked past this van and noticed this dog with his head sticking out the window with sunglasses on. I ran into the office to grab my polaroid camera and was mighty glad to see him still sitting there when I got back. I was trying to get close to get the photo when he tired to bite my head off. His owner was nowhere in sight. One of my favourite polaroids :)
…
I am working on a *special* project that will involve me mentoring a young artist. Ideally the person will be around 16-21 years old. I am not interested in teaching how to be a wedding photographer, or anything really related to commercial photography (however I am opening up a mentor program that will cater to this, if you are at all interested, email me for more details). This project is about being an artist. I am currently reading an amazing book by Seth Godin called “Linchpin“. A quote that helps me sum up what this project is about. “Art is about intent and communication not the medium you work in. An artist is someone who uses bravery, insight, creativity and boldness to challenge the status quo and an artist takes it personally.” I have really enjoyed reading this book, Ive almost finished and once I finish, I will probably reread it straight away. I have never reread a book straight away before, so take that as a sign that this book is amazing :) I have read a number of Seth Godin’s books. I particularly enjoyed reading ‘Tribes‘ too.
Over the past two years, I have spent much time, thought and energy into studying what it means to be an artist and my role as an artist. The last few months in particular have been a really defining point in my life. I have faced a lot of fears and learning to overcome the things that are holding me back. 2010 is going to be all about conquering fears ;) One item in particular is writing. Oh how I wish I was a better writer. I have so many thoughts flying around in my head that I wish I could express myself better in words. There is so much I want to write on this blog and so today is my first step towards bravery, insight, creativity and boldness.
So getting back to the project.. One day I thought, what if I could give some of the information I know today to the ‘15 year old Samm’ alive and kicking in 1998. Some of the things I know now, I could have really benefited knowing when I was 15 years old. (I am sure, 15 year old Samm could teach me a thing or two). So rather then this just being a wish, the idea of the project was formed. How amazing and beautiful would it be, if I could give some of the information and insight I have learnt over the past few years to a younger artist. This project is part of a much grander project I am pouring my heart into (I will share more details of this in the future). This mentoring project can be part of the JUMP Mentoring Program, read more about it at www.jumpmentoring.com.au.
If you or someone you know is at all interested, please get in contact with me :)
happy australia day!
happy australia day! A few years ago I started working on a series of images that depicted Australian suburban life. All shot on my Mamiya 6 in black and white film, the series will most likely take me over 20 years to complete because I always forget to take my Mamiya out with me. Just thinking now, I shot a awesome series of an “Australian Santa” at a christmas party in December 2008. It is still sitting in a draw undeveloped.
The first image, was taken on Australia Day in 2006. It’s a tradition in Perth to head down to the river early in the morning, sit in the boiling hot sun all day, play cricket and drink way too much. The inner bogan comes out in most and everyone gets rather obnoxious. In the evening there are fireworks over the city skyline. This was taken around 7pm, at this point in the day most people are either really rather drunk or just really hot and exhausted, getting impatient waiting for the fireworks to start just so they can get back home to the aircon.
The second image was taken at a guy’s house called ‘lambie’. I received my Mamiya 6 in the post earlier that day (bought off ebay) so I was eager to test it out, so this was the first roll of film I put through it. I somehow ended up at this guys house and in the backyard, a bunch of guys were doing burn outs. I love this shot because it does not get much more bogan or Aussie then this. teehee :)
Melissa + Shaun
This day was beautiful. Melissa and Shaun are the nicest, most down to earth couple i got hang with for a day and photograph. Im always saying such nice things about my clients, but it’s all true, I mean every word of it, I honestly get the work with the nicest people. No bridezillas. No meltdowns. Just lots of people having a fantastic day and I get to be there to witness and document it all. These two are now off backpacking round the globe for their honeymoon. so jealous!
2009
This year has been unbelievably good. This time last year I was thinking back on how 2008 was pretty good to me, but 2009 ended up being a billion times better, so I hope 2010 will be a billion times better again :) So much has happened this year in both my personal and business life.. some of the best memories have been traveling to the USA, getting a puppy, buying a house, watching friends get married and having babies, being named in the 10 top wedding photographs in Australia by Capture Magazine, traveling overseas and around Australia to shoot some lovely couples in love, giving my first presentation to a group of photographers, starting mentoring other photographers, Jesh’s life as an artform workshop and lastly, witnessing 44 couples get married…
DANI + JEZ
COURTNEY + ROCKET
ANTHEA + STEVE
RIANNA + MICHAEL
TANYA + STEWART
HANNAH + BEN
JANINE + PAUL
CAROLINE + ADAM
JODY + MICHAEL
EMMA + MURRAY
NATALIE + SHANE
LINDA + JON
KRISTY + ADAM
RIKKI + JODI
PIP + NATHAN
NICOLE + ANDREW
ZOE + CHRIS
SARAH + ALEX
KULI + SAM
SARAH + CALLUM
VICKI + BRAD
DAWN + STUART
BREE + DAMIAN
ANGELA + JASON
SARAH + STEPHEN
ERIN + GLEN
CASEY + PETE
YOLANDA + BEN
SARAH + CHRIS
BIANCA + PAUL
ELAINE + MATT
MARISSA + NICK
MELANIE + CRAIG
MELISSA + SHAUN
LYNLEE + OWEN
COLLEEN + JARED
REANNA + SHANE
BARBARA + DAVE
TARA + BERNDT
REBECCA + AARON
DIONN + GAVIN
SAM + ROB
RACHEL + ERIC
JESS + PAUL (these two got married yesterday!)
sarah + callum
Sarah and Callum married in the the Porongurups at Karribank Retreat in June.. beautiful couple. beautiful location :)
yolanda + ben
two favourites from yolanda and ben’s wedding in the swan valley. yolanda’s dress was amazing and the details at this wedding were so sweet.
just realized this is the first wedding Ive posted from this wedding season. ive so many sweet weddings to blog, just no time to do full blog posts (they take a good 2-3 hours to put together) so Ive decided I’ll just post favourite images up and hopefully make it a more regular occurance :)
by Samm Blake
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