Today we’d like to introduce you to Sam Savat.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I’m a wedding photographer based in Arizona, and most of my year happens somewhere else. Italy, Japan, Thailand, Mexico, Patagonia. Wherever my couples are getting married, that’s where I end up.
I didn’t grow up planning on this. Photography started as something I was pulled toward before I could really explain why. I liked being the person paying attention. I liked that a photo could hold onto something that everyone else in the room was going to forget by the following week. Once I started photographing people instead of things, that was pretty much it for me.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
That period nearly broke me, and it’s also the reason I’m still here. It taught me that discipline isn’t a mood, it’s just showing up on the days you don’t feel like it.
The grief was its own thing. I got into weddings because I lost a friend and had no photos of him, so the work has always sat on top of something painful. Most days that’s fuel. Some days it’s heavy. I’ve had to learn how to carry both.
Then there’s the business side, which nobody warns you about. I thought I was signing up to take photos. I was actually signing up to run a company, and I had no idea what I was doing. Pricing, contracts, cash flow, marketing, taxes. In this industry you get paid months before you do the work, then you hit a dead winter with nothing coming in. Learning to manage that took me a long time.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I photograph weddings, and I specialize in destination weddings. Arizona is home, but a lot of my year is spent somewhere else. Italy, Japan, Thailand, Mexico, Patagonia. Somewhere between a villa on Lake Como, a garden in Kyoto, and rice paddies outside Chiang Mai, that became the thing I’m known for.
I care more about my couples having a great day than I do about getting the most epic photo. That sounds backwards for a photographer to say, but it’s the whole thing. A couple who is stressed, rushed, or being posed like mannequins will give you technically fine photos with nothing behind the eyes. A couple who is actually enjoying their day gives you images you can’t manufacture.
What’s next?
I’m actually building an app for intuitive eating. totally unrelated to wedding photography. but wedding photography will continue to grow
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.samsavat.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samsavat/
