Quizzing the Creatives: Sam Peach
Sam Peach is a London-based photographer with a studio in on Vyner Street. This week he sat down to give me the low down on his creative process.
How does a typical work day pan out for you?
I guess the flippant answer would be that there is no such thing as a typical work day for me or indeed many other freelancers. Nearer to the truth would be that my day is either a shoot day or an office day. Shoot days generally involve more stress, longer hours, assistants, clients and better lunches. Office days usually involve more tea.
Where do you turn to for inspiration?
I always defer to Nadav Kander when I need inspiration from a photographer. He creates beautiful haunted images, works across several genres and is both a visionary and commercially very successful. Many years ago when I first came across his work he was looking for an assistant but back then I was far too shy to put myself forward for the position.
What has been your most interesting project to date?
A few years ago I was commissioned by the Discovery Channel to photograph KV63, (Kings Valley’s 63rd tomb in Egypt) its contents and the people who discovered it and were conserving it. For 4 days I worked alongside a film crew crossing the Nile by boat at sunrise every morning and spending the days either outside in 55ºC heat or in one of two tombs (which were a chilly 28ºC). I shot the poster for the film and some documentary photos for the website and then Time Magazine contacted us and wanted me to stay for longer to shoot the official opening of the coffin that they discovered in the tomb. It was the first time since 1921 that anything like this had happened and it felt like I was part of a defining historical moment.
The ultimate song to work to?
Spotify has changed the way I listen to music. I listen to so much new music these days I rarely remember song titles. Last year, though, I spent a lot of time listening to ‘I’m new here’ by Jamie XX/Gil Scott-Heron and Metronomy’s album ‘The English Riviera’. This year it’s all about The Tallest Man on Earth.
Best part about what you do?
There’s a dichotomy to working as a freelance photographer. On the one hand there is a huge amount of instability particularly financial. The flipside of this is the freedom you get to control your professional destiny; this is what can make it the best job in the world.
What would be your dream creative project?
I’d like to do a shoot in Iceland. Something with people and vast barren vistas shot at night when it’s summer and the sun doesn’t fully disappear.
Favourite city in the world?
London. Without a shadow of a doubt. It has such an amazing mix of everything and most of my friends live here. I’m going to Tokyo (for the first time) in a couple of weeks so I guess it might change!
Where is your favourite escape?
My girlfriend’s Swedish and her family have a summer house (all Swedes seem to) on the west coast, just north of Gothenburg; it’s an old fisherman’s cottage with its own beach. For the last 3 years Tora and I have been going in Spring and Autumn when no-one is around. We shop at the start of the week and then rarely see another person until we leave a week later.
Favourite way to spend a Saturday?
I generally go to bootcamp (circuit training with ex-army instructors) on a Saturday morning in Victoria Park, It’s a great way of shaking off a week of stress and starting the weekend. Then lunch at home and maybe a couple of hours reading the papers. And we usually meet up with friends for dinner and drinks in the evening.
What was your most memorable meal?
The complex mix of textures and flavours of the cauliflower soup with apple foam that I had at The Boxwood Café a few years ago was pretty special. It was part of the first tasting menu I had ever had and to be honest none of the others have ever quite matched up to that one; each course perfectly presented and tasting like nothing Tora and I had eaten before.
But really my most defining meals are the ones from my childhood in the tropics. The smile I gave the first time I had Fijian pancakes (made with flour, water and sugar) or the shudder from sourness when I first tasted home-made tamarind jam. Or simply the taste of BBQ’d food while sat outdoors with the sun setting. They’re the most memorable.
