As the son of a 40 year employee of Eastman Kodak, photography seemed ordained to be a meaningful part of my life, if not my livelihood. My first camera, a Kodak Brownie, was purchased with money I earned at Eastman and among my first images were photos of the smoke plume rising from the 1960 Eastman plant explosion that killed 16 employees including one of my neighbors. With such an incendiary beginning, it’s surprising that it has taken me 40+ years to begin the serious pursuit of fine art photography, though I console myself that fine wines also take decades to mature.
The first decade, I spent in the pleasurable pursuit of developing and printing my own photos of rock and roll concerts, from Kiss and Alice Cooper to the Eagles and Billy Joel. Though my hearing undoubtedly suffered from these experiences, my vision and ability to perceive color and lighting certainly improved.
The next decade brought my wife into my life and together we pursued book and magazine work, generally with a leaning towards history and architecture (see credits below). From Patricia, the most important lesson that I learned was how to use imagery to support a narrative.
My third decade was dedicated almost exclusively to documenting our own family narrative as we found our lives increasingly dominated by the demands of raising two daughters. Although portraiture was never my strength or my passion, it has been a priceless experience nonetheless.
The most recent decade has been a photographic rebirth for me and I now see myself engaged in a continual search for beauty in the hidden recesses of nature. Hopefully, I will be aided in this search by the many wonderful photographers who have preceded me in this journey and whose thoughts and images illuminate my path. From a workshop with Sonja Bullaty and Angelo Lomeo, I learned to pause and observe the infinite possibilities in every space and to enjoy being present in nature; from the works of Ernst Haas I’ve learned composition and the drama of color, while from Eliot Porter I’ve seen the effectiveness of diffuse lighting in a natural space. The list of influences and learning opportunities has been endless, and my greatest aspiration is that someday my portfolio might serve to influence some other emerging photographer.
EXHIBITS:
Sullivan’s Island Sunrise #5 included in Landscape: Photography Now exhibit at Black Box Gallery in Portland, OR (January 2016)
Distilled Life, Iris #4b selected for the Arts & Culture Alliance national juried show (February 2016) and received one of two Juror’s Citation Awards.
Stilled Life, 5 images chosen for feature in CaptureMania Magazine, April 2016, Issue #2.
Unveiled, 6 select images chosen for showing at the Renaissance Gallery in Kingsport, TN, for the month of May, 2016.
Stilled Life, 24 select images chosen for a one man showing at the Renaissance Gallery in Kingsport, TN, for the month of October, 2017.
Desert Storm from the Unveiled Series is used in John Suler and Richard D Zakia’s book Perception and Imaging, 5th Edition (2018).
Stilled Life, 10 select images for showing at Emporium Gallery in Knoxville, TN, for the month of January, 2018.
Seven Islands, image #’s 129-9508 and 129-1133 selected for the Arts & Culture Alliance National Juried Show (February 2018).
Stilled Life, 18 select images for showing at the Clayton Center for the Arts, Maryville College, January, 2019.
Stilled Life, 6 select images for showing at Vienna Coffee House, Maryville, January, 2019.
Stilled Life, 10 images included as part of Modern Appalachia exhibit, Knoxville Museum of Art, April/May 2019
Grace & Grandeur, 30 landscape and stilled life images contributed to joint showing with photographer John Vavruska at the Emporium, Knoxville, May 2019.
Stilled Life, 25 images at Carnegie Center gallery in Lexington, KY, Jul – Aug 2019.
Writers in Modern Appalachia, portraits of poets George Ella Lyon and Crystal Wilkinson at UVA – Wise, Sep 2019
Friends of Seven Islands State Birding Park webpage and Facebook page, nature imagery, 2019-ongoing regular contributions
BOOK CREDITS:
Book: Step Into the Circle, Writers in Modern Appalachia. Published by Blair Publishing, December 2019. Provided photo illustrations and portraits for the featured writers, George Ella Lyon and Crystal Wilkinson.
Book: Stilled Life: Photography by Sam Stapleton accompanied by poetry from George Ella Lyon and Diane Gilliam. Published by Bloodroot Mountain Press, December 2018.
Book: 100 Words, published 2016. Photography by Roxanne Bouché Overton with accompanying stories by Sam Stapleton.
Book: Rich Community: An Anthology of Appalachian Photographers
Book: Inns of the Southern Mountains
MAGAZINE CREDITS:
Flower Magazine, Nov/Dec 2019 – Freeze Frame
STARK-Magazine, Issue #41
Americana – Beyond Moonlight and Magnolias
Americana – With Hands and Hearts
Americana – Winding Through Wheeling’s Victorian Past
Americana – Taking the Waters in Style
Americana – The Steeple Still Stands
Americana – Old Hickory’s House
Americana – Pennsbury
Americana – Ruby Revived
Americana – In Mr Jefferson’s Garden
Americana – Appalachian Inns
Americana – Dulcimer Doings
Americana – Boss Man on the Big Plantation
Mid Atlantic Country – The SWAG
Country Magazine – A Country Place: The Reynolds Mansion
Country Magazine – Of Time and Mountains
Tennessee Conservationist – The Hale Springs Inn: Restoring a Tennessee Tradition
Tennessee Business – Tennessee Wineries: A Liquid Investment
Tennessee Alumnus – Confessions of an Inn Addict
OTHER CREDITS:
Friends of Seven Islands Promo Card – Cover image, 2019
Bloodroot Mountain website – Cover image, 2019