Today we’d like to introduce you to Samantha Meadows.
Samantha, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I am a native to Arizona. I have one brother and 2 half-brothers. I grew up with both parents in their teens. As I went through my childhood, I watched my mother struggle to rock bottom with a severe addiction to meth. At times we were homeless. And both of my parents were incarcerated at multiple points in my childhood. In general, my father was not in the picture by his own choice. And my mother was the primary provider for us. Even when we had no home, I remember her trying to find us somewhere to stay every single night.
I always made sure to make myself go to school because I knew it was my only way to escape the cycle I saw my parents in, and make a better life for myself.
As a child, I always took photos and drew pictures, and rearranged my bedroom and tried to design different looks. I’m a very hands on person where my brain gets a thought, and I immediately have to draw it out.
I graduated high school in 2011 with honors and immediately moved out on my own. I fell on my face a few times before actually making it to a point where I could stand on my own two feet.
I am now 25 years old, I own my own car, bought a house, work my dream job as a photographer and continue to try and give back any way I can to the community.
I recently produced a “documentary series” if you will and named it ‘Grit and Grace’. It’s currently on YouTube. It’s a series of 10 episodes, each episode is a different person telling their story. In episode 10, I will be sharing my story in more detail. Please, feel free to come watch it! I’m hoping to have someone somewhere relate to the story and have it help them!
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I am a photographer, and I really try and capture emotion in each shot. Whether it’s tears, hurt, pain, joy, laughter, smiles, etc. capturing a moment is my goal and purpose. I hope that when someone sees a photo I’ve taken, it brings them to a place with a memory. Or inspires them to do something great.
Do current events, local or global, affect your work and what you are focused on?
Definitely. I think there’s a lot of good and bad going on right now. And as an artist, we should be showcasing it all. We should be making the struggles and pain into art that impacts people and inspires them to do better things in our world. And for the good, it deserves more of a spotlight, which I believe is our duty to capture as well. We should be proud to share the positive. We should build each other up and encourage positivity, always.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
I am on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. Feel free to follow, like, subscribe or share anything from any of the pages. I’ll link them below. 🙂
Contact Info:
- Phone: 4806008053
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @ssssss.photography
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/SSSSSSS.PHOTOGRAPHY/
- Twitter: @_S_Photography
- YouTube: https://youtu.be/-7X4acT-gI0
Image Credit:
Photos are of Gabriella Massey, Anissa Keane, Shannon Page, and Chloe Gower. 4 out of the 10 Grit and Grace models photographed and videotaped by myself, Samantha Meadows.
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