Today we’d like to introduce you to Samantha Tellez.
Samantha, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I grew up in the suburbs of North Dallas in Prosper, Texas. I was immediately drawn to photography and began taking photos on my phone until I was able to get my first DSLR. A good ole canon rebel sl1 with the kit lens that I have had with me up until recently.
I began to take it with me everywhere and took pictures of my friends not really knowing how to use it properly. I kept at it for a couple of years. My high school art teacher encouraged me to compete in the VASE art competition in the area. Afterward, I then began to look at it a little more seriously. After graduating from Prosper, I moved to Denton and attended UNT. I continued to take photos of my friends and kept practicing. I always knew that it was the one thing that I wanted to do more than anything. I kept pushing it away because I felt as though I needed to choose a career path that involved higher financial income. As time went by, I decided to immerse myself fully into photography and took more classes involving it. I was obsessed! It’s all I thought about and all I wanted to do. It’s so fulfilling to come up with an idea and see it through from start to finish. I would listen to songs and come up with visuals for them. In my work, I tend to have a soundtrack in mind which I tend to name my photo series after those songs or albums. I was constantly creating up scenes in my mind that I wanted to make real. Attending UNT and having all the tools to fully play around and learn, I began to really make the art that I wanted to make for so long. My professors, peers, and friends really helped me along the way and I’m so thankful for them. After graduation, I moved to Austin to continue my career in photography.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Coming from humble beginnings, it was a struggle getting started being that I didn’t have the means to get the gear that I needed to keep learning at a steady pace. It was a battle with myself to push through to create and continue a career path in photography as well as a few setbacks in my personal life. Mental health is very important to me and mine wasn’t always the best. However, pushing through every day with supportive family and friends has kept me going on this path. Photography is so great and I’m so lucky to have found it.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I spend a lot of my time just listening to music and artists so it’s so great to be able to bring my two greatest joys into one. I would say that my body of work usually has a dream-like take to it. You don’t really know what’s going on but it works in my brain. Imagery from the 1960s and 1970s decades heavily influence my work. The documentation of cultural elements such as music, album covers, videos, architecture, interior design, makeup, and fashion allows me to experience a time period I wasn’t alive for. I view photography as a mode of transportation to those times, capturing those specific moments in which you can gather context clues of what it was like to live then. I’m primarily influenced by music when creating my body of work. I love listening to sounds and making visuals in my head of what they look like as tangible forms. As I create little moments of music videos in my head, I feel as though I have to see them through photography.
Concert photography has been my recent endeavor and would love to continue in that path as well.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
My roommates in college Sarah and Claudia were my greatest cheerleaders and would always be open to at any moment’s notice model for me. You can see them in my favorite series Cherry. They also attended UNT CVAD and are great artists. They inspire me every day and I’m so thankful for them. Emily for pushing me to be better in every way not only artistically. You inspire me as well.
My friend group was always there to offer any help with anything that I needed as well as some great laughs.
My family has always been extremely supportive in all the things I do. My sisters especially, Sayda and Nayely thank you for molding me into the person I am today.
My professors Meghan for always pushing me to do and be better, Ashley for always offering advice and new ways to do things, and Ford for pushing me to follow the career path that I always wanted to do even if it wasn’t advertising which is what he taught me. I appreciate them so much.
There are so many more.
Contact Info:
- Email: samzellet@gmail.com
- Website: Samanthatellez.com
- Instagram: samanthazellet
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/user/samanthatell2322?si=4449f75481f9428a
Image Credits
Models: Sarah Wuenscher, Sarah Fischer, Claudia Alvarez Picture of me: Anahi Moreno Live music: Motel Radio Acid Carousel
