Check Out Samuel Han’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Samuel Han.

Samuel, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
A big part of my journey to where I am today are my parents. They were always so supportive of my creative endeavors and as an immigrant Korean family, that must not have been the easiest thing to do. My desire for photography and art direction actually started back in 7th grade, but long story short, I took a class that year and have only ever pursued photography since then. Before going to college, I primarily did photography by myself, mostly shooting wildlife and landscapes. I went to Parsons the New School for Design to get my BFA in Photography. Since then, I’ve spent some years abroad in Norway, back in New York, Chicago, and now, LA.

Traveling around the United States and many parts of the world have definitely given me great insight and growth into the creative I am today. I got to explore how different people perceive and express beauty in their lives. In early 2020, just before the pandemic, I started as the studio manager for Alabaster Co. which is a faith-based publishing company. I was commissioned to shoot concept-based studio images based off of stories from the Bible to be seen in new and beautiful ways.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I feel like the road is always bumpy in some sort of way, not necessarily saying that it makes life less enjoyable. Actually, on the contrary, I’ve felt like because of those struggles and bumps along the way, life has felt more exciting and adventurous. I’ve grown a lot from these past few years.

Coming right out of Parsons was an odd experience because we had been told for 4 years that the way to make it as an artist and a photographer is to show your work in galleries and other art shows. There’s no guidebook for that, especially if you don’t have any connections, so a lot of my friends went to corporate jobs. I went abroad to work with a non-profit organization and left the art world for a few years. That was difficult because I really wanted to be in the fine art world.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I currently work as the Art Director at Alabaster Co. which actually involved many different things, but I love how creative I get to be on the job. I still take a lot of photos and both bring me a lot of joy!

I get to work on product development for our Bibles and other written books, which serve as the foundation of a lot of my other roles. This involves working with theologians to do research on a specific title and creating a color story and specific art direction based off of what we learned. Then we work with a layout designer and many many photographers to get to the final product.

We also have seasonal campaigns that we’ve built in for our ad creative and website changes. These have been some of the most creatively challenging projects that I’ve worked on. It is definitely different than working on my own personal work but fun and challenging nonetheless!

In my personal work (which now often blends in with work) I’ve been fascinated by flowers so I’ve been photographing an excess amount of flowers for the past two years or so. Flowers to me are so much like the heart, beautiful and vulnerable.

In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
The photography industry in particular has been and continues to be an oversaturated market, but as the industry grows people are looking to partner with smaller and smaller individuals/photographers. I hope that in the future, people will continue to look for good young talent in addition to the well-known talent that they’ve been working with. It’s hard to break into certain industries but I’m hopeful for the future of individual photographers.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://smuelhan.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smuelhan/
• Other: https://www.alabasterco.com/

Image Credits
Profile photo: Echo Yun Chen Model in 1st image: Yvesmark Chery