Sam Sanchez

I recently reposted a photo of a model wearing a sweater on Facebook. That reminded me of the sweater series I made with Ileana. There are only 14 in the series and they’re all really good because of her. Her smile is most alluring in this one. I did some cropping to make it fit Instagram and a few tonal adjustments but otherwise there was little I could do to improve what was already there. I really need to book her for another shoot. She’s that good and so worth it. @samsanchezphoto

This is from one of my earliest shoots. We shot 90 images. When I was sorting I found the set lacked direction. There were too many shots with one look and, for some reason, the series would abruptly change direction. I had Mia sitting then standing then I’d shoot some closeups then go back to sitting. I think I was still teaching myself how to direct a model. We did three looks in 90 minutes. Today I can do 11 looks in the same amount of time because of experiences like this one and now having a clear vision of what I want to create. This artist-thing is quite the journey. @samsanchezphoto

I had seen a wardrobe display in Macy’s where nude female mannequin torsos were wrapped in belts. I thought it had a cool subtle BDSM look. I tried to recreate that in this shoot. It didn’t work. It just looks like a bunch of belts on the model. On the other hand, Rachelle was a lot of fun to work with and a good sport about trying to bring this concept to life. @samsanchezphoto