November 5, 2016

Meet Los Angeles Photographer: Samantha Fielding

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Samantha Fielding.

Samantha, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I have always had a camera in my hand for as long as I can remember. My father bought me a camera when I was really young. It was almost as big as me back then. I started out assisting portrait and fashion photographers in London at the ripe old age of 15, I was hooked. I thought I wanted to be a National Geographic photographer for a couple of years and decided to backpack to 45 countries. Shooting along the way.

I ended up I Australia shooting product and weddings. Not my favorite subjects, weddings are nerve wrecking for me. Product was boring. I came full circle to shooting portraits. My favorite. I do love shooting landscapes, however. I traveled across the States in an old silver airstream shooting old classic cars, airplane’s and landscapes for a while.

I now focus on portraiture mainly and shoot production stills for film and tv. I recently finished working on a project with DR Dre. People fascinate me, all walks of life. I photograph anything from a corporate headshot to a drag queen on a weekly basis. It’s never boring around here.

I love photographing people. I am constantly working to improve the skill of making sure I get the best out of my
subject.

I work a lot from my house. I Have incredible natural light which is my choice for portraiture. I did just invest in some beautiful lights though so I like to constantly mix it up.

Has it been a smooth road?
I think that if you love what you do the challenges are welcomed. Life is not a smooth road. It would be boring if it was. I have been shooting for over twenty years back to the time of film where you only had 12 chances to get it right and no immediate satisfaction. I still love film, it took me a moment to move to digital. The challenges now are that everyone is a photographer, creating a smaller market for professionals. Also the phones we use create beautiful images. I hardly ever get a chance to shoot my kids with my professional camera. They run a mile but my iPhone works a treat.

Have you ever wanted to stop doing what you do and just start over?
There are so many areas within the world of photography. I have been a food photographer, commercial cars, lifestyle, and portrait. I sell fine art photography and I still work in fashion and set photography. This is all wonderful but it leaves me open to not be classed as a particular specialist. Even though I love all of them I tend to bounce around which leaves the larger jobs to specialized photographers. There are so many artists out there that the competition is tough these days. I focus on what I love and put my heart and soul into that. I create work for the client and spend time with them building a visual of what the end result will be so that everyone is happy.

What would you tell someone who is just starting out?
Yes shoot shoot and shoot more. Also find subjects close to your heart and subject matters that you are easily able to shoot. Family members, street photography near your house. Enter competitions and find your niche, it will help you in the long run.

Is there something you are particularly excited about or working towards?
I have two personal projects that I am super excited about. One is a book based on night performers from 7 cities around the world. Burlesque, Drag, contortion, ariel and many more talents. It started after having my children and not being able to go on set and shoot for 5 weeks away from home at a time. So I found a project to sink my teeth into and let me be creative . It started out with one burlesque dancer. I was fascinated by their artistry and personalities. They are all very creative and smart individuals. It has taken me to London, Paris, Berlin, New York, Las Vegas, LA and San Fransisco. You can see more of the project here at www.performerthebook.com and also @performerthebook on Instagram. The project is half way though and I hope it will be a beautiful insight to a world the public hardly gets to see. I have interviewed each of these performers too and their stories will also be included in the book.

The second project is called RED, WHITE, AND BLUE

That’s what I am going to call my upcoming collection of 52 works. Let me confess, NO project has ever been closer to my heart than this one. On a personal note, it is the reflection of my dreams, love, passion, hopes, desperations, visions, strengths, struggles, despairs and temptations.

In the global and American perspective, it is a testimony to interracial marriages, cross-cultural faces, the melting pot, cultural pluralism, diverse heritage, oneness, and the NEW BEAUTIFUL HUMAN (a unique cross-cultural human product).

I am a blend of British-Russian-Irish and Spanish descent and so is the man I married (a German-Peruvian-Chinese). More diverse are my two light brown skin, fair and blue-eyed children (a complex blend of seven racial stocks). That’s where from, RED-WHITE AND BLUE takes birth.

Faces always fascinated me and portraiture has been my choice medium of expression. This time over I picked it for a different reason, the reason of love. Ever since I was young I always knew I belonged in America. I felt that pull. Today I raise my two children in the most unique land of diversity, the melting pot of cultures and ethnicities. Nowhere else you would find so many races mingling and melting into each other to showcase NEW HUMANS, a celebration of human liberation and integration.

My work is a dedication to so many like me who toiled to be in America and lend that unmistakable air of pluralism to our culture. These 52 will be the faces of America embedded in centuries of interracial mingling, cultural diversity and social harmony. It will be a pictorial history of racial melting pot and its beautiful derivation, THE NEW BEAUTIFUL HUMAN.

Though my work focuses on the first generation of American and the uniqueness of their ethnic mix but in the deeper sense, white and Blue is a portraiture evidence of human greatness encased in interracial marriages and a conscious denial of cultural discord, racism and ethnic differences.

Pricing:

My portrait sessions start at $200 a session and $275 an image. I do have packages and specials throughout the year.
My fine art varies series from series, please inquire for pricing and details.

Contact Info: