My name is Sam. I am a wedding photographer based out of Austin, TX, and Toronto, ON.

My parents came to America as refugees from Vietnam and settled in the small town of Newton, Kansas. There, they worked hard to provide opportunities for my siblings and me. At the age of nine, we moved to El Paso. It's here where I fell in love with the desert landscape and Mexican culture. The bold art, characterful buildings, and cuisine that told stories sparked my curiosity, especially surrounding food and hospitality. My dream to become a chef grew from this time. After completing my homework, I marathoned episodes of Iron Chef and A Cook's Tour late into the night.

I moved to Austin after high school to study chemistry at the University of Texas. Despite a trajectory to become a pharmacist, I could not shake my passion for food and took a job as a dishwasher. I worked my way up the line to become a sushi chef. The restaurant industry is taxing, yet, my character developed on account of this. Discipline, time management, and an appreciation for conversations with my customers on the other side of the glass counter. It exemplified that the way I show love is through food and conversation.

Eventually, I recognized a need for a different life path and exited the food industry, taking up photography. There I found solace and personal growth, discovering an artistic side I had never been familiarized with. I learnt to combine the technical aspect of photography with the aesthetics of sushi plating, carrying my desire to listen to and tell stories from behind a glass window to a camera.

I'm a hopeless romantic in an international long-distance marriage for almost twelve years. In my off time, I hike, canoe and backcountry camp in the Canadian Rockies with my wife, Brittany, and our rescue dog, Hobbit. My hope is to document people of all backgrounds, to honor their unique story and experience authentically.

he/him