We recently connected with SAAPS and have shared our conversation below.

SAAPS, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

Like many children, I started out fairly young decoding the intricacies of my personal likes to discover the answer to one of the first ever pressuring questions:

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”

It stared out with being a nurse which was influenced by my culture. That quickly changed with my love of basketball and I wanted to be just like Gina Prince’s character Monica Wright, a girl in the NBA. The entire time though, I always enjoyed literature. Books were my thing, I always had a few in front of me at a time. They were everywhere, I even had a magazine rack with books in the bathroom at home lol. The art of expression through words, whether fiction or fact, was very valuable to me. So I wrote. All the time. I wrote what I saw. I wrote what I felt. I wrote what I dreamed. By the time I was in the fourth or fifth grade I had two things that I loved very much books and photos. I used to say that the amount of photos that my mom took growing up could build a house there were so many. Memories were always vivid, and photos were confirmation of the moments of my toddler years that I actually remember clearly. So I wanted to be a Photojournalist. Fast forward to college, I majored in Journalism and was disappointed by the lack of enthusiasm in the learning curriculum so I was somewhat tainted with how journalism itself had changed since the start of our early bond. All expectations and association with myself when the topic arose though, always labeled me as a writer, for years. Yet, I had been having this secret relationship with how much I loved the art of images. I’d been taking photos with more intention during middle school, always had a camera, never cared how new or old it was and although I wasn’t expressing openly how much I loved the lens as much as the pen … I felt that I was doing something so specific, unique, and special that no one could duplicate it.

My entire current being is the biggest risk that I have taken thus far in my life. I have made the conscious decision to remove myself from the venue of suppressing my creativity, denying what makes my brain tingle and eyes widen in thought & feels. I don’t think that it was ever a good idea to choose one, I personally should have brought both of those interests to the front of me. However, it has been common for kids to be encouraged in the direction of the seemingly more “solid” or “lucrative” career and that’s what happened. This risk that I took on myself was absolutely necessary because I know that I’ll always be a writer. Regardless of accolade or job granted, I feel confident in knowing that the eloquence attached to my expression through words is so authentic to my being that I could never lose it. To walk in the stride of what ever it may mean to be a Photographer is a route of chaotic rewards/lessons & the complete unknown. Equipped with a backpack full of deep thought, passion, and heart-beating desire to fulfill a space in me I’ve kept locked unnecessarily long.

The outcome?

you’d just have to keep watching.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

If this is your first introduction to me, hi … I’m SAAPS. I am a Photographer from New York City. I primarily capture BTS and events. The BTS photographs range from apparel photo-shoots, podcast/audio recording sessions, shows, and small screenings. My goal in those moments are to produce portraits of the people that reside within that space and time who exemplify all varieties of emotions, whether they match or not. Whatever image can evoke an emotion that can catalyst a range of thought, are the ones. Candids are one of my tools in showing that. I like capturing people in low light or natural light settings in hopes of having more control with the warmth of the photograph. Warmth is a form of expression that is part of the foundation of whatever is being displayed by me.

My main goal is for everyone to listen with their eyes.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Being an artist or creative is something I think takes a great deal of awareness. Awareness of self and awareness of the spaces around you. When I decipher through my thoughts, observations, and experiences, I get to be the conductor of the output. The output and its actual existence in the real world is legitimately the most rewarding aspect. There is a great power in thinking of an idea, writing it down the way you envision it, and then actually creating it the way you envisioned it. It is its own magic, its own genius, that originated from that artist. I believe the art has to exist initially for the personal satisfaction of the artist and then for the human senses which consume it.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

For anyone who isn’t residing in a creative space at the moment I think it is really important to understand how art may simply work, for myself. It is highly personal. That is currently my biggest take away. The work I produce behind a camera, the work I desire to produce behind a camera is beautiful in it’s own right. There is a rhyme and reason behind existence and placement when it comes to my images. My photos are simply an excerpt on a page from the book of Me. To understand the bigger picture is to be open, aware, and connected with all the possibilities of any emotion evoked .

Contact Info:

• Instagram: iamsaaps

Image Credits
Personal photo uploaded shot by Fabrice Gibbons.