A Conversation With … Sam Brumby
Photo by Thea Elder
Sam Brumby, although sharing an affinity with photography from a young age, has built a name for himself within the music community after winning Monster Children’s Music Category in 2016. His success has seen him travel the world with Sticky Fingers, and as his passion for videography grew more pronounced, has seen him work with names like Julia Jacklin, Ali Barter, and Sloane Peterson, whilst still maintaining a commercial base within his advertising work for Corona and Surf, Dive ‘n’ Ski. We sat down with him to chat about how he got to where he is, and how he is planning on evening out the balance between his music career and his pursuit of capturing the spontaneity and adventurous spirit of Australian landscapes (and all the splendour of the people and community it comprises).
BYO: How did you get into videography and photography?
SAM: It’s a pretty cliche story, but my dad had heaps of photos of Indonesia when I was a kid -- surfing photos. He had heaps of slides and heaps of prints and had an old Pentax… I just thought the photos were really cool and he taught me how to use it. When I got older I was a sound engineer, and I’d always taken photos, but then I really wanted to make live music sessions…like, film bands and record them. So I started to do that and then everyone was into it and I was kind of at the age where YouTube was blossoming. Everyone wanted video content. So all of a sudden people were like “can we do a live music session?” or “do you want to do a music video?” or “can we do a press shoot?” and even though I wasn't that good, people were just asking me all the time to work. I worked at a music venue and I had a studio upstairs at the old Annandale Hotel. I was new to Sydney too and I didn't really know anyone and so all the friends I made were musicians or worked in the music industry. I just kept getting more and more work.
BYO: How did you start out professionally? When was the transition from taking photographs, to being the DOP (Director of Photography) for names like Julia Jacklin?
SAM: I guess the transition was when I got asked to go on tour to America to shoot with a band. I definitely felt that after I did that tour, it was a 6-week tour, and it was crazy, but I felt, as a photographer, I felt really confident after that. I learnt so much and could take photos under a variety of different conditions… y’know partying all the time, and not sleeping, and still editing the photos [laughs]. With video, it’s hard to say when it happened. I had a job as a video producer for two years with a company and when I came out of that I felt way more confident as a filmmaker and then as a director and then as a DOP. I was just getting more and more work from bigger and bigger musicians and then you eventually start to get emails from labels and managers. I guess it’s just really natural. All of a sudden people trust your work and feel confident in hiring you to help produce what they envisage or they want you to put your vision forward. It just kind of happens and then all of a sudden you’re like “oh people actually think I know what I’m doing”. But I don’t know If I do.
BYO: I think you do [laughs].
SAM: I try.
Photo by Thea Elder
BYO: So, you went on tour with a band - - how has travelling, especially travelling with musicians, shaped your creative process in taking photos?
SAM: Going on tour with a band is the hardest thing you’ll ever do but the most fun thing you’ll ever do. You start to realise after a while that it’s always nice to get good photos at a show but you forget those pretty quick. It’s pretty clichè but it’s the whole fly on the wall thing, it’s much more rewarding as a photographer to have an intimate relationship with someone and you can shoot them in just about any situation. You come away from that sometimes with photos that you’re just really proud of. They’re the photos that mean the most, because someone’s allowed you into their own personal space and you’re there nearly 24/7. It’s a big trust thing. People take amazing photos, on a huge stage or at an amazing gig…but the photos that I think are the most special are the ones that no one else gets to take. They are your photos. It’s not about the photo, it’s about the story that leads up to it.
BYO: Going on from that, what’s been your all time favourite experience in regards to your photography or videography work?
SAM: [laughs] Fuck. That’s a really hard question to answer. I don’t know, I’m trying to think of something good to tell you.
BYO: You can tell me a good one, and if it’s too naughty I just won’t put it in [laughs].
SAM: Ok well, I’ll tell you a sentimental one. So, a friend of ours (a band I tour with all the time),…our sound guy was killed last year. He was really young. He was a from a farming area in Italy. Another band we work with and his family worked together to put this festival on called ‘Hempiness Festival’. He was kinda getting out of the sound world and he wanted to be a hemp farmer on his parents’ property. They put this festival on in his memorial and we went out there this year and it was so beautiful. It’s in Norcia, which is 2 hours outside of Rome. I missed his funeral so, being there…it sounds kind of wanky I guess, but it’s in this big paddock and surrounded by these hills…and just watching the sunset over the hills…it was just really special. It was good for me because it let me pay my respects to him. It was just a really beautiful experience. Everyone we knew who knew him and his family were all there. I’d say that’s my best experience. Sorry, that’s a really morbid answer.
BYO: No no…it’s not morbid, it’s a very lovely… it’s a beautiful memory to have.
SAM: I’ll give you a positive one, just because I probably should. This year I was on tour in North America and the drummer ended up with really bad tendonitis, like…tennis elbow and he couldn’t play the last show of the tour. So I had to play drums with like, no rehearsal. I played 6 songs of the set to 1’200 people. So that was probably one of the coolest experiences I’ve ever had on tour. I’m a drummer, so I didn't just try to play drums [laughs]. But it was still pretty nerve-wracking.
BYO: Very, very cool. So, do you only work in digital or do you ever shoot film?
SAM: Nah, I shoot film. I go through stages where I shoot in film. I’ll froth on it heaps. And then I shoot Super 8 for motion when I’m on tour. When you’re on tour with a band, it’s kinda hard because you have to turn the photos around the next day. I went through a stage where I would have a particular camera that I really liked and would just use that and shoot a bunch of rolls and get them developed at the end of a run of shows or at the end of a tour in Australia. I had an XPan Hasselblad for a while which I borrowed off my old boss. That got me super excited to shoot film again. Film is definitely more for me. In the music world I don’t think I’m regarded as a film photographer at all. I just do it for myself. The photos still get used, I think some of the best photos I’ve ever taken have been on film. I get paid to shoot digital photos so … [laughs].
BYO: Do you ever feel boxed in by your tendency towards working mainly with musos? Because it’s what you’re known for, do you ever feel boxed in by that or do you just froth it?
SAM: Nah, I definitely don’t froth it. Definitely feel boxed in. I’m proud of everything I've achieved and where I’ve gotten to. I like that I’ve carved out a space for myself in the music industry but the music industry is hard. It’s a weird place. There’s so many creative people. But yeah, I do feel boxed in….
BYO: How do you find your balance then, between your music photography, and your more “high-art” style photography?
SAM: I feel like the balance is really uneven. I don’t get to take enough photos of the stuff I want to take, which is the high-art stuff…like landscapes and people that aren’t musicians. It’s just the whole thing of finding time to do what you love and then balancing it out. I love my job, I love shooting music, but, you burn out -- you do a tour and you’re burnt out. And then you don’t wanna take photos. The last thing you wanna do is go and pick your camera up. I am planning on jumping in a car and going and shooting rural Australia at some point. Because that’s what I want to do. And hopefully make a book or something, but just give myself time to go and shoot what I want to shoot.
BYO: Are you planning any more exhibitions?
SAM: Nah, not really. I was going to do a series on the Sea-cliff Bridge, but I’ve been saying that for two years. That’s still pretty high on my agenda. There’s just always funny people there. I love seeing all the tourists it attracts. I want to shoot it black and white, medium format. People come far and wide and I think the bridge is really beautiful. It’s funny when you live near something and you just forget what it is. So maybe one day I’ll get it done.
