Through Their Eyes: Samm Blake

What was your last travel destination?
I go to the States every year for a big photo expo (WPPI) in Vegas. This year I went with a group of my friends who are all photographers. We hired a mini van and with seven of us packed in, and we drove from LA to Vegas where we spent 10 days  living together in an apartment. It was a very crazy and intensely fun time. While in Vegas, two of our traveling comrades renewed their wedding vows at the Little White Wedding Chapel with Elvis and all the lovely cheese that goes into Vegas Weddings. This was by far my favorite travel experience: witnessing a wedding with Elvis at the Little White Wedding Chapel, what’s not to love? :) We also went on many a photo taking expedition around Vegas. It was a lot of fun to see what different photographers were drawn to and often they were the same things, but interesting to see different takes on the same subjects.

Name a place or experience that you really loved.
In 2006, I backpacked around the globe. I was traveling from Beijing to Chengdu on a slow train that went for something like 40 hours. At one point in the journey, the train pulled up at a tiny station high up in the mountains in the middle of nowhere. I noticed a train on the opposite tracks that had also stopped and my window had aligned perfectly with a window on the other train. As I peered out the window, a group of elderly people where staring back at me. We sat only a few centimeters away from each other but had two glass windows between us.  The next few minutes was this strange but very lovely experience. We just stared at each other until the trains pulled away in different directions. It was one of those moments where two lives cross for the briefest period of time but so much was communicated. No words were exchanged but so much was said just through their eyes. I don’t think they had seen a westerner before, especially one with so many freckles! It was just such a beautiful experience: our crazy different lives colliding for the briefest of moments and then suddenly gone again. Its hard to describe how powerful those moments are. This is by far my favorite travel experience.. I have no photographs, just a lovely memory. I admit, i wish I had photos of them, but maybe why its my favorite travel experience because I can only relive it through memory?

How do you decide what gear to bring (bodies, lenses, flash, tripod, bags)? Do you try to pack light? or What’s your minimum must-have gear?
Deciding what to take away is always my biggest challenge when heading overseas and my biggest challenge when overseas is carrying my gear around day to day. Its always so heavy. (Ive been doing a lot of weight training in the last few months, so will be interesting to see how some extra muscles will improve things LOL). I always travel with a medium format camera. I shoot all my personal work /  fine art work on medium format film so taking one when I head overseas is always a must. I shoot with a Mamiya 6 and a Contax 645. The Mamiya 6 is a lot more suitable for traveling as its a lot lighter then the Contax. But the last few overseas trips I’ve done has been with the Contax 645 as the format suited what I was wanting to shoot. I had a very sore back on those trips! Shooting medium format means I am carrying a lot of film in my carry on luggage. When I backpacked around the globe in 2006, I carried 200 rolls of 120 in my carry on. Knowing what I know now, I would definitely not take that much again. I like to keep things as light and compact as possible.  The more choice I give myself, the more I cloud my creativity and vision. I don’t travel with different lenses, any flashes, tripods or other gadgets except a light meter. I am heading to Japan in a few days and still unsure of what gear I am taking. It normally gets decided just as I am leaving for the airport. I think I’ll be taking my Mamiya 6 with 75mm lens and approx 40 rolls of film, Olympus Trip 35 35mm film camera and the Fuji x100. The Olympus Trip 35mm and the Fuji x100 have just arrived in, purchased for my travels to Japan. They are basically the same camera, one being film and the other digital. I will use this trip to see which format I prefer to use (film or digital) for my wide angle series work I plan on working on.

Have you ever planned a series before you left, or do you just wait and see what happens?
I have a general idea in my head of what I would like to photograph but its open for a lot of interpretation once I actually get there. I am working on a big series I hope to put on exhibition at the moment and hoping to get a lot of the key shots while I am in Japan. I find if I go with no plan, I generally come back with a series of unconnected images. When planning it out in advance, it keeps me more focused while I am away (I am an easily distracted person).

What do you do with your photos when you get home? Would you ever use them in your portfolio? Have you ever landed any commercial work because of your travel shots?
After they come back from the lab, I normally blog them straight away. From there, I sell prints or plan to use them in exhibitions, competitions etc. A lot of my travel work is featured throughout my portfolio. I shoot mostly weddings and portraiture, so I’ve booked a few interstate and overseas jobs due to my travel work.

What would be your ultimate travel photography destination?
I would really love to go to Nepal and Tibet. I am planning a trip for next year, where I want to do a trek into the mountains for a month. I am interested in doing a series on the crazy conditions we choose to put our bodies through for enjoyment.

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And now we wait in anticipation to see Samm’s pics from Japan! We’re particularly impressed that she’s shooting on an Olympus Trip 35, which is our favourite point-and-shoot film camera.