Best
Day Ever
Basking in Pockets of Joy!
A Visual Meditation
Words + Images
Sasha Samsonova
Director and Photographer
You grew up in Ukraine and then moved to Los Angeles. Where have you been riding out the chaos of 2020?
On March 13th, I was at LAX set to fly to Chile for a three-week documentary trip. However, last minute we had to make a decision to turn around, and I went home to Pasadena, CA. This is where I spent the entirety of 2020 so far; gladly Pasadena is home to two of the most beautiful botanical gardens—hence the flower photography.
Can you describe your home/work set up and how you’ve been staying sane? Has it been difficult to create during this time?
In the first few weeks of quarantine, I put together a small setup for my Mamiya RZ67—rigging it upside down so I could lay out the flower flat and play [with the flat] adding paint, glue, and an egg (somehow it got into the mix).
I used continuous lighting for this portion of my work, and listened to Massive Attack for some inspiration. Focusing on [a style of] photography that was so different from what I’m used to, and [a process that] requires zero contact with other humans was actually exactly what I needed.
2019 was an intense year for me, so having this slow, isolated start came at a time that I don’t dare to call “right,” but it was definitely fitting. Now, it’s been six months and I really miss collaborating with my team. I work quite a lot, but getting people together for artistic personal projects is hard, mostly mentally. I can’t bring myself to ask someone to come out and create when I know a risk of getting an infection is constantly hovering in the air.
“I wanted it to feel like you put your whole face into the flower, and instead of seeing this small, colorful thing, you see how it’s built.”
You’re known for your fashion photography and music video directing— this series is a departure from your usual subjects. What made you choose flowers? Did you have a vision for what you wanted to achieve before picking up the camera
Photographing flowers has been on my mind for a while. I love spending time surrounded by nature; camellias in particular were in season when the year started. I knew exactly how I wanted to photograph them. It was raining for a few weeks in LA and a ton of camellias just fell to the ground and were in the process of decomposing in the most beautiful way.
These flowers are so delicate and have so many little details, I just couldn’t stop thinking about them. I wanted it to feel like you put your whole face into the flower, and instead of seeing this small, colorful thing, you see how it’s built. I wanted it to look vulnerable and sometimes sexual. That’s just the type of feeling they gave me.
You pivot between still photography and video direction. Is it hard to switch your creative brain back and forth for each medium? Or is the transition more seamless for you?
It isn’t hard anymore. At first I was a complete idiot when it came to motion—I knew what I wanted and giving direction makes me feel like fish in the water—however, it took a while to get used to all the new tools motion offers. That’s a trap a lot of photographers fall into when transitioning to video, in my opinion.
Now, these two mediums drive each other, and spark ideas for how I can make my work better.
For example, after directing a few projects and choosing to shoot them on film, I realized I cannot use a digital camera anymore for my still work. It felt like digital was the thing that was standing between my vision and reality.
It’s January 2020. If you could give yourself one piece of advice, what would it be
Don’t take February off (I decided to take a whole month off work for the first time in my career.)
What’s the first thing you’d like to do in a post-Covid world
I’m going to Ukraine as soon as it’s safe. My family and friends are all in Kiev, and I haven’t been since June 2018.
