ARTIST'S PROFILE
Back in the day, my collegian studies spanned through-out the Fine Arts category but photography and graphic design became my strongest emerging duo. Though I still enjoy tinkering in drawing and painting, I’ve been mostly exhibiting and selling my stylized street photography from when I studied abroad in Germany and Austria to the many different trips I’ve taken across the US. I fell in love with art & photography in Europe and riding the trains with my old-school-35mm-camera in hand. I encountered such life and beauty in those countries and people: Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands, Hungary, Croatia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, England, and Scotland. The time I spent there definitely changed my life forever.
Nowadays, I come alive around any other artistic minds and enjoy creating visual designs of many sorts. I'm not afraid of insightful critiquing, asking why, and exploring and discovering the hidden inter-connections of Human-ness // Life // Art // Nature // God.
Need Photography/Design Work?
Favorites:
Street Photography
Poster / Ad Design
Conceptual Illustrations
Compositional Layouts
Photo-Montages
Cd Covers
Charcoal Drawings
Christian Themes
LGBTQ+ Themes
Others:
Brochures
Business Cards
Logos
Websites
Commercial Photography
Portrait Photography
Photo Editing/Retouching
Video/Sound Editing
Podcasts
"I do not want to die... until I have
faithfully made the most of my talent
and cultivated the seed that was placed in me
until the last small twig has grown."
Käthe Kollwitz
EXPERIENCE
GRAPHIC DESIGNER / PHOTOGRAPHER
Client: St.Vincent-St.Mary High School / Theater Department
Creating posters, program brochures, tickets, for musicals/plays. Photographing stage productions.
GRAPHIC / WEB DESIGNER & PHOTOGRAPHER
Client: Emmanuel Fellowship Church
Creating all advertising, posters, seminar cd covers, portrait & event photography, audio/video, website, and podcasts.
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Client: Jo-Ann Fabric Stores / Recruiter: The Creative Group
Creating prints & patterns for fabric designs in the fleece & flannel shop.
Dismantling complex files so they can be edited- up to and including rebuilding them entirely. Building out layers from flat image files, recoloring, matching pantone swatches, cleaning-up files, prepping files for production.
DIGITAL PRODUCTION ARTIST
Client: Jo-Ann Fabric Stores / Recruiter: The Creative Group
Web design work, coding, html email building, web banner creation, asset and layout editing & refining, any digital prep and release needs.
INTERACTION DESIGNER / MULTIMEDIA SPECIALIST
Client: Rockwell Automation / Employer: PlumPom LLC
Building e-Learning modules, UI/UX designs, animations, video, audio editing that demonstrated complex technical constructs and concepts.
PHOTOGRAPHER
Client: Sun Newspapers
Covering events such as Brown’s football games, high school sports, and political rallies.
PHOTOGRAPHER
Employer: Lifetouch Portraits
Organizing, posing, and photographing children and staff at daycares, elementary, and preschools. Seting-up equipment on location & managing large groups of children into cohesive shots under time constraints.
PHOTOGRAPHY LAB MANAGER
Employer: Van's Camera
Overseeing all lab work for a photography store. Small to large format posters, art canvases, photography mounting, photo restorations, and retouching. Creating graphic designs for website, ads, and any promo materials.
TESTIMONIALS
Michael Wohlwend
A Former Employer /
CEO of PlumPom, LLC
"Samara was a lucky early acquisition and stabilizing presence during the start-up years at PlumPom. She quickly learned new software, technology, methods, and principles. She stayed late, came early, rearranged schedules, worked intensely hour after hour (we usually needed to tell her to take a break) and was always asking what and when we needed things done. Her organization, drive to accomplish, critical thinking, and considered push-back made us stronger, faster, and more successful.
I recommend Samara for any position needing a strong and steady force of momentum via smart, user-empathic design choices from a reliable person who fully invests in her pursuits."
"Samara is a really great designer who gave my business logo and website a whole new face. She listened to all of my needs and was able to get my website to really flow comfortably and aesthetically. She was able to translate the design I was striving for even though I was having difficulty relaying my vision. Samara is extremely easy to talk to and communicates easily and timely. She's awesome!"
Jessica McKenna
Former Client
Martina Sharp-Grier
Former Client
"Samara is an amazing photographer. The insight, emotion, and depth that she is able to capture on film is breathtaking. Not only is Samara's work superlative, she also has a kind and open personality- one which serves her well in her business venture. During my tenure at the Battered Women's Shelter of Summit and Medina Counties, I contacted Samara to provide one of her pieces to a campaign that we ran. She readily accepted the offer, and her piece was prominently displayed in multiple venues throughout Akron, OH. Her piece inspired hope and light to the multitudes who viewed it. I highly recommend Samara's work."
CONTACT
Feel free to leave me a message:
Located in Akron, OH
Looking for:
part/full-time work
contract or freelance