Interview: Sam Gehrke

Sam Gehrke is a Portland photographer. His focus is people on the street, on stage or in the studio. He has that rare ability to capture of how people are and not just how they look. We’ve been lucky to work with him on shoots for The Jupiter Hotel, No Bones Beach Club and FernDate.

What’s the most challenging thing about what you do?

I think probably the most challenging thing I do is the business side of things. The actual work comes pretty easily, and honestly I feel more comfortable in a working sense than I ever do socially. In terms of the business side of things- the hardest thing was, and still is knowing how to price myself. How do you put a price on something that is so intertwined with your creativity? It’s still something I struggle with a lot.

I think the system that eventually made me most comfortable was to work on a sliding scale. I hate turning down work, especially if a client can’t afford my base rate, so I feel less guilty, and less like a capitalist entity by offering varying prices on a client to client basis. Other than that, the other really hard part about being a freelance photographer is actually getting paid!

It’s definitely the most uninteresting part of my job, but the attitude that a lot of people take with me as a freelancer is surprisingly lax about timeliness and correspondence concerning compensation. I spend a huge amount of time chasing down money that I’m owed. On the flip side, a lot of my clients are really prompt and transparent about money, but I’d say there’s an overruling attitude about contracted workers that holds people like me to a slightly lowered standard in terms of things that would seem like no-brainers for a regular employee.

What does a great day look like for you?

Haha probably working enough during the day for me to feel tired enough to sleep well at night.

What and/or who is inspiring you these days?

Ah that’s a good question. I have trouble with that one these days, mostly because I tend to compare myself too much and feel hopeless about being as good as them. In terms of photography, I really like this guy Denzell Leonard – he’s out in Michigan, like the Detroit area and his photos remind me of where I’m from and how different it is over in the Midwest compared to the Pacific Northwest. It’s really raw imagery- that really shows how wild and lawless Detroit is, for better and for worse. I think he’s gonna be on the forefront of a huge arts and creative boom in Michigan in the next few years.

Another guy I really look up to is Boogie – he’s a photographer from Belgrade that’s been around for a minute, but his stuff still amazes me. He still shoots only on films and pieces together all of his camera from pieces of other ones- kinda like Frankenstein cameras. Boogie’s what I aspire to be in terms of connecting with people effectively- that guy can build relationships and comfort levels with everyone. He’s photographed gang members, drug dealers, drug users, murderers, mothers, families, police officers- the list goes on and on. I admire him so much because he can fully look past peoples’ flaws and vices, and interact with them just the same as everyone, and his photos reflect that.

In the music world there’s too many to mention, but I still am inspired by the underground hip hop artists I was listening to back in middle school- mainly cause they still paint such a relatable picture of what my life is like, along with emotions unrelated to work- artist like Atmosphere, Aesop Rock, Sage Francis and El-P. Those guys are all still the greatest, and I’ve gotten opportunities to work with a handful of them. It’s really humbling to know how nice they are in person, and somewhat validating that I’ve come so far as to contribute in some aspect to their art.

Lastly, but definitely not least- Brit Marling: She’s a writer, actress and director that has been operating in the realm of sci-fi cinema for like a decade or so. She’s such an anomaly in her genre, and creates such dreamy universes through her writing and directing. She most recently put out a 2nd season of her show The OA, and it continues to be the most through-provoking and beautiful piece of media I’ve ever seen.