“So I picked an issue that went well with photos – mental illness, depression and social isolation. I felt so many people suffer with depression, but do so quietly, and many of us don’t have much idea about what sufferers go through. I wanted to use photos to create awareness when words can’t really explain – a photo can give a strong visual representation of what is really going on inside the world of someone with depression.’’ Sam had personal experience with someone suffering from depression, which he says really opened his eyes. “I wanted to make the intangible tangible and, by use of symbols and metaphors, to help people understand.’’
“I wanted to make the intangible tangible and, by use of symbols and metaphors, to help people understand.” SamJulian
Sam developed a workbook in which, using a fountain pen, he recorded all his ideas, the photographs he would take, what they meant and how he would create them. “It was a huge task,’’ he says. “I planned every single shoot down to the last detail and I used myself for each one. It is a big thing to use yourself as it all has to be self- contained. I covered myself in glad wrap, had myself lifted by a crane, fell in the water and all shots were
taken in sombre grey conditions, many of them on the beach in winter and in a deserted hut in the mountains. I organised every detail of the shot, refined it, concentrated on every aspect and set it up so that someone else just pressed the button.’’ Sam plans a career in architecture, but given the passion with which he undertook his Scholarship portfolio, it seems he could also have a career in photography.
College Issue 32 2017
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