Artist: Sam Jones

When Sam Jones was growing up, he never thought he would be a photographer. His only real interests were playing guitar and skateboarding. Eventually, after his second year of college, he chose communications as his major. He soon found out that photography was a required class, so he borrowed his friends camera and went out to take pictures of his friends skateboarding in the streets. It wasnt long until he realized that he had discovered a hidden talent. Sam took a few more photography classes in college, but it wasnt until his last one that he realized what he wanted to do with his life.

The class was called Advanced Photojournalism. It was taught by Mark Boster, a photographer for the Los Angeles Times. Mark was his first insight to what it meant to be a real photographer. During college Sam took thousands of photos, and then he got his big break. During his senior year, he was photographing a school basketball game when a man in the crowd suffered a heart attack. Sam was able to snap a couple photos while UNLV coach Jerry Tarkanian helped the man. After the game a member of the Associated Press approached Sam and asked to see his photos. after looking through his shots he said "You shoot basketball better than most of our staffers. do you want a job?"

Sam worked at the Associated Press for the next three long years. Eventually Tim Robbins saw his work and asked him to come to Pittsburgh to be his photographer for Bob Roberts, a film he was directing. While in set, Sam would ask celebrities if he could photograph them in between scenes. This is where he got into the photography that he does today. Soon after, Sam landed a job with Entertainment Weekly. He eventually worked his way up to his own shoots with some of the worlds biggest celebrities.

These days Sam Jones is considered one the most loved and talented celebrity photographers in the world. He has the unique ability to humanize these people who are so often idolized throughout society. If you get a chance, check out w=his work. Its very refreshing to see celebrities shown in a different light.