Meet Samantha Jacob | Professional Wedding & Editorial Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Samantha Jacob and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Samantha, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking.
Taking risks have played an enormous role in my life, especially in getting to where I am today. I took a risk in packing up my life and moving to Vegas on a whim (with zero plan) due to needing a dramatic change to occur for me to move forward with my dreams. That risk led me into my photography career taking off, and eventually to San Diego. The whole “no risk, no reward” has always been instrumental in my decision making. I truly believe that you have to have dreams that terrify you as much as they excite you, and to be slightly delusional in your confidence to make them happen, without that level of passion, getting to where you want to be is much harder and takes twice as long. I do truly believe that nothing beautiful or amazing comes without a sacrifice of sorts, so my advice to people is take the risk, do the hard thing, and have the confidence in knowing it will all work out if your intentions are pure and your heart is fully in it.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
As a photographer I capture a variety of things. From weddings, elopements, couples and engagements to portraits, fashion editorials, and branding. All of these realms have given me a creative outlet in exploring my art and myself. My photography is unique because of my approach during photoshoots and my editing style. I am a very down to earth woman, so connecting with clients has always come naturally to me. I truly believe that the comfortability of the client and the outcome of the imagery go hand in hand. The more they feel comfortable around me, the more we can connect and really create images that show their authentic personalities, versus somethings stiff and posed. I always like to get to know my couples, their love story and their chemistry so that I can best capture the feelings I gather from the stories they tell. I tend to queue actions when shooting so that the images feel candid, real, and timeless. While editing, I have always been inspired by film, so I tend to always have that inspiration in the back of my mind while doing post-production. I lean toward the darker, moody-er style of editing which I feel brings out more emotion and set me apart of the photographers that are very “white, light, and bright”.
I have overcome so many challenges in this career. From moving across the country, to transitioning from nightlife and festival photography over to elopement and wedding, each challenge has made my art better and my personal character more resilient. All of the trials and tribulations have taught me that you can’t FORCE anything, you have to go with the flow and with your intuitive voice. When something isn’t working out, it doesn’t necessarily mean it is abad thing, more-so a redirection into something better.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Since I just recently moved to San Diego 10 months ago, there are sooo many places I would be eager to show to my friends if and when they came to visit. Of course we have to hit the beaches. California beaches are absolutely breathtaking with all of the cliffside views and wildflower fields. Sunset cliffs for the sunset is absolutely iconic so that would be a must. I would then show them Little Italy downtown for the Farmer’s markets and delicious Italian restaurants that area has. Kettner Exchange and Coca Maya for cocktails. I would then take them up north to La Jolla to El Pescador, the yummiest and freshest sea food I have ever eaten. Hit Balboa Park and have a picnic or check out some of their epic museums and art galleries. Layout and tan at the dog beach (so my pup, Tootsie can join). If you head outside of the city a bit there are tons of stunning trails to hike and views to see. Can’t forget that Tijuana is only 20 minutes south of downtown, so naturally we have to go get some authentic Mexican cuisine down there. San Diego is such a cute city with so many restaurants and rooftop patios to explore. We could stay entertained for days.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
So many people in my life have inspired me and pushed me because they could see my potential, sometimes even before I could. My parents would be the first people I would recognize is this realm. Without the support of them wanting me to pursue my dreams, I would not be where I am today. They both always recognized I wanted something different and bigger for myself and never held me back from going after it. Same with many of my close friends, Paige, Morgan, Silvana, Hugget, Natalie, Haley, Berlynn, and so so many more. Without their encouragement and support I would have felt so alone in this entire process. Having people I love calm me down in times of craziness, and hype me up in times of slowness is such a beautiful blessing. HUGE shoutout to Morgan for opening her doors for me in Vegas and allowing me to make that huge transition out of the midwest and into Vegas. Seriously, without that specific decision, none of this would be what it is and I am forever grateful.
Photographers that inspired me along the way were India Earl, Kaley From Kansas, and Marina Williams (to name a few). I have always been obsessed with their work and always looked up to them when looking for the path of which I wanted to pursue my photography business.
And lastly.. the magazines. Growing up I was obsessed with Vogue, Bazaar, Cosmo, and more. I would escape in them, imagining being in the studio capturing fashion editorials. These magazines were the first inspirations in showing me what my dream career really was. Pushing me to go for it and to one day be featured in one of these world famous publications.

Website: https://www.samanthajacobphotography.com

Instagram: @samanthajacobphotography

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samantha-jacob-2bb18ab3/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/samanthajacobphotography

Other: TikTok: @samanthaerinjacob

Image Credits
Samantha Jacob Photography (me)