We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sammy Saladino a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Sammy, appreciate you joining us today. Can you tell us the backstory behind how you came up with the idea?

Going from high school to college I had no direction in life. I had no idea what I wanted or where I was going. I floundered at a community college for a few years going from one study to the next never finding my true calling. It wasn’t until I took a Humanities class one semester where things started coming together.. We had gotten to the section when photography became recognized as an art form. As I’m sitting in class flipping through the pages of my text book my eyes became fixated on all the imagines in the chapter. At that moment something clicked in my brain; as if somebody had clicked the on button to a remote control. The words, “I can do this.” Rattled through my brain. It was exciting as this was the first time I felt as if I had some form of direction. As crazy as it sounds few months later after receiving my tax returns I went out and bought my first digital camera set at a local Walmart for $600. It was a Cannon Rebel and I had read that Cannon’s were one of the best camera’s on the market. I was really excited and was ready to play with my new toy. That spring I asked a friend, who was a local musician, if he would be Interested in doing some photos. He agreed to do so despite the fact I had no idea what I was doing. All I was hoping for was for a couple of decent photos that would get me adjusted to my camera and him something for his social media accounts. What I was not prepared for was how well received that photoshoot would be amongst my friends on Facebook. From the get go I had the eye for the art and was somewhat a natural despite never picking up a camera before. It was so satisfying but strange at the same time. Just a few short months prior I had no idea what I wanted out of life to suddenly having a direction and a love for something I never knew I wanted. It was that love, passion and the support of friends and family that I knew I had a chance to succeed in my craft.

Sammy, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I was born and raised in Peoria, Illinois. It is about three hours south of Chicago and three hours north of St. Louis. I found early success as a photographer through my friends. From time to time I would have friends requesting me to do shoots for them and eventually that spilled over to their friends. Which helped me elevated my skills at a faster rate. I worked at a local hotel while I was continuing to learn my craft and experiment with different techniques. A couple of years into the learning process I stumbled across an opportunity that would allow me to get paid to travel across the country and continue my craft all while learning a different aspect of photography; that being landscape photography. I found myself joining a paranormal investigative group know as PAST (Paranormal American Scientistic Tours). I had always been interested in the paranormal and haunted locations. It was a new and exciting experience that I was looking forward to. It was by far two of the craziest years of my life. I could write a book just off those two years in the paranormal field alone. However; as a photographer those were two very pivotal years. Durning those down times I could go out and take pictures and experiment with new settings that I had never utilized before. I have seen some really cool physical landscapes in country and within capturing those beauties it didn’t take me long to find myself published in a magazine for the first time. It was a fantastic feeling and a great sense of accomplishment when that happened. That was truly the first time in my life I knew I was on the right path. I am proud of that moment and proud that I never gave up as it lead to so many great opportunities including many more photo publications. I have currently also have had over 70 photo’s that have been exhibited in galleries in most major cities around the world including Paris, Berlin, London, New York and Chicago to name a few. Without those two years of traveling I do not know if this conversation takes place.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Taking a step back from the paranormal was by far the biggest pivot in my journey. I was getting burnout from the travels not to mention I was living out of a motor home with four to five other people at a time. As much as I enjoyed that experience and now have many stories I can now tell friends and new people that I meet. It had been time for me to take a step backwards. I firmly believe that in order to move forward there are times you have to move backwards. For me that meant moving back to my home town, working out of hotels again and living with my parents for awhile. I had bigger plans that I want to achieve for the future and as depressing as it was it was the best decision for myself at the time. I continued taking bookings with friends and friends of friends while saving up money to move to Atlanta, GA where I currently reside. With the movie industry being big here I knew this is where I needed to be to take advantage of my skills.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I think for me the most rewarding thing for me as a creative is seeing the expression on the face’s of clients after their photos have are done. Or the expression on the face of the model you have worked with to create that that art. When your work brings people to tears of joy you know you have done something right. As far as my landscapes go everybody reacts differently to different photos. One photo may move somebody differently than that same photo with another. To me when I am showing off my landscape portfolio to multiple people at a time and watching how each person reacts to different photos there is such a rewarding aspect to that. Because there always seems to be something for everybody that tends to capture their imagination or emotion for one reason or another.

Contact Info:

• Website: photographybysammy.com
• Instagram: @sammyjr_artist
• Facebook: M.Facebook.com/photographybysammy
• Linkedin: LinkedIn.com/in/sammysaladino