A Student’s Point of View: A Interview with Sam Cannon
Sam Cannon is the next alumni I’d like to introduce you to in this series. I was able to talk to Sam over Zoom and learned about her journey in the the time since graduation!
Sam graduated from RIT in 2014 and has experienced many roles including artist, photographer, and art director. She is based in Los Angeles. She grew up in South Florida and has always been drawn to photography. She didn’t feel photography was a choice, but more it was meant to be. Her experiences started in an art-based middle school where she was surrounded by fine art and conceptual art photography. As she grew, she wanted to find a technology school to help expand her knowledge and learn proper techniques. RIT was the right fit. She was attracted to all of the equipment and the cage that she would have access to and come to love.
As an artist, she is always trying new things because the industry is always changing. She is constantly exploring video, animated gifs, and installations. She told me, she is always trying to push the envelope. Collaborating with artists, directing two pieces for new album releases, and producing music videos has been a few of her recent projects. She is expanding her work into video production and now creating longer pieces. She is also producing live Instagram performances, shooting fashion and editorial, as well as covering festivals.
Sam is passionate about working with other artists and helping them share their imaginations. That’s where Sam looks for inspiration and why she likes to describe her work as, “dreamy, experimental”. She imagines a world that includes people and objects with a liquid flowey aesthetic.” She likes to add a cinematic feel with colors coming from her imagination and based on her everyday life and childhood. It’s like, “playing games and feeling as though you didn’t grow up. It’s as almost though everything remains magical and doesn’t die.”
In recent projects, Sam incorporated her inspirations while working on two music videos. She also directed her first fashion editorial work in LA. A lot of time when I’m working, I find myself in a full 360 project that starts from a concept. Getting into a process at the very beginning is fun and interesting. Her most recent and memorable project was being part of a live performance for Moses Sumney and his song “Bless Me Before You Go”. She is also working with Luigi Honorat. The production for Sumney included video from a regular DSLR camera. Microsoft Connect was used for tracking the movements of her subject. The idea required tracking the cloud data of his body movements from footage and that was used to make an animation. It was huge collaboration and different versions were sent back and forth. Sam didn’t get any sleep while working on it but says it was worth it. “It was a cool experience because the project never paused was always someone that was always awake working on it. She thought that the results were beautiful. Everyone seeing the final result was thrilled and it was very rewarding!” I love the appreciation Sam has for the processes she has developed as much as the results. I found that to be something I’ll definitely keep in mind.
Sam closed with some powerful advice, especially for anyone struggling with mental health during Covid times. Her advice goes like this, “Everyone has ups and downs. Sometimes I do nothing and that’s okay. It’s the little things that count such as cleaning up my desktop. There’s no secret sauce to it. When it sucks, it sucks. All you can do is get up and go forward. Eventually go do something that you will be proud of and want to celebrate . Don’t let the fear of anyone, or anything, keep you from doing it.” Sam incorporates that advice into daily life and her artistry. She stays motivated by constantly trying new things, taking risks, being resourceful, and finding collaborations with other artists.
I enjoyed getting to know Sam and talking about what it’s like to be an artist while balancing a career and mental health especially in the face of so much adversity.
By Emily SuDock
Emily is a third-year advertising photography student who is also cross-registered in the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. She has been hard of hearing most of her life. Emily was born in China adopted by her loving family. They are a big part of her life. Emily has a Nikon 600 with a 35 mm lens which she loves taking portraits with.
