Check Out Sammani Perera’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sammani Perera.

Hi Sammani, I am so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
Anytime before 2015, had I been in one of those games where you had to pick a piece of paper from a box and do a five minute-talk on the word scribbled on that piece of paper, and I ended up with the word “photography,” this is what I would have said. Growing up in Sri Lanka, we had a wall calendar at home, one with a photograph for each month. Out of the twelve photos, I clearly remember two of them—the Ruwanweliseya and Jethawanarama stupas across the Basawakkulama Lake in Sri Lanka and a line of beehive-shaped piles in a sun-soaked desert-scape somewhere else in the world (I later learned these were the Wildrose Charcoal Kilns at Death Valley). I would have described the two photos in as much detail as possible to kill time. I could appreciate a photograph for its beauty, and that was it.

In 2015, my second year of graduate studies at Miami University in Ohio, I was working on my Master’s thesis, a collection of short stories straddling island life in Sri Lanka before, during, and after the 2004 Asian Tsunami. The temporal and spatial distance compelled me to rely on photographic evidence during my writing process. Before long, I found myself looking at photographs not only as a muse for writing but also for their aesthetic and technical aspects. This was my first conscious realization that I was interested in photography.

Fast-forward to 2024, I have come a long way since that first realization. I learned photography and post-processing skills through hundreds of YouTube videos and websites, trial and error. If I find myself in that five-minute-talk game now, I will share some of my personal stories as a professional photographer.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
My journey as a photographer has been a challenging one. I decided to become a photographer during a trip to the Olympic National Park in the early summer of 2017. For the next two years, I considered photography a hobby despite the vast amounts of money I was spending on equipment and trips. Then, I realized I would like to become a professional photographer during a trip to Maine in the early summer of 2019. (What’s with summers? I seem to have too many epiphanies during summers.) This is when everything started to become so complicated. Timing was and continues to be my biggest enemy. On official documents, I am an educator by profession. I started at Miami University in Ohio, and I am currently at Elon University in North Carolina. As a photographer, I am in the field only part-time, mainly during the summer months and sometimes during the spring and fall breaks. I am in school when the Horsetail Fall turns into the Firefall in Yosemite, when the Milky Way season is at its prime in Death Valley, when maples are red in Vermont, and when aspens glow in gold in Colorado. I would like to be in two places at the same time so that I can make both my professions work.

And, of course, the social media issue that all content creators complain about. It is surprising and frustrating to see the disconnect between the large amount of time people spend on social media and the little engagement we see on the dashboard. If you post regularly, you can keep yourself afloat even if the engagement rate is still low. If you don’t post regularly, you get lost somewhere in the algorithm, especially early in your career. I am always stressed about not being able to post as often as I would like to and not being able to reach an engagement rate I would like to have. Am I doing something wrong? What are others doing right? How do I make my content unique to stand out? These questions are a constant, and I imagine them to be etched in my brain by now. Of course, I soon realized that I should post for myself and the small audience who engage with my content and that I should focus on quality and not quantity. Now and then, though, I slip into that dark pit of negativity. In short, it has already been six years since I realized in Olympic National Park that I would like to become a photographer, and I haven’t yet reached my destination. The road has been rough and will continue to be rough. I hope it is not for too long.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a landscape photographer, mainly of the US national parks. I wouldn’t miss a sunrise or sunset for the life of me. I dip into wildlife photography if the park I visit is known for its wildlife. I am interested in venturing into aerial photography and astrophotography sooner than later.

I am mostly known for my work on the Grand Canyon. (Isn’t that why I am doing this interview with you, a magazine based in Phoenix, Arizona?) If you look up my Instagram, you will find out that more than 75% of my photos are from the Grand Canyon. I spent three weeks on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon last year, two weeks in the summer and one week in the winter, as part of a creative project I am currently working on. And I will visit the North Rim shortly.

I don’t think I stand out as a photographer. All professional photographers I know are forever passionate about their craft and often practice their craft. We are committed to our work in our own ways. We all love the outdoors, and we want to share what we see with others. Despite the changing times we live in, we believe in the good of humanity and the world. If anything sets me apart, I think that would be the way I bring writing into photography. I work in the genre that we call photostories, the fusion of photography and nonfictional writing.

We’d love to hear what you think about risk-taking.
Risk is a very subjective concept. Something that seems like a massive leap of faith to one person might only seem like a small risk to another person. Someone with more career experience might be more willing to take a risk than someone who is still starting. It also depends on what someone has gone through in life, if they have had enough, and what they envision their future to be after taking a risk. What do I gain? What do I lose? Most of all, is it a risk worth taking, but can I afford to take a risk? These are questions we all ask at one point or the other. In 2019, I stepped into the photography industry that was (and still is) dominated by a white male demographic as an immigrant woman of color with no education or experience in the field of photography. I invested my paychecks in buying photography gear and booking trips without knowing whether I would have a future in this field. In my first few years, this seemed like a considerable risk, but I don’t consider it a risk anymore. If you ask me the same question in a few more years when I have advanced through my career a little bit more, I am sure I will have more to say about risk-taking.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.momentsbysammaniperera.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/moments.by.sammaniperera/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Moments-by-Sammani-Perera/61550915514561/