Veronica Sams – Fashion Photographer

Our interview of Veronica Sams for “The Creative Influencer” podcast is available today for download on iTunes. Veronica is a Los Angeles based photographer who shoots fashion models and swim models. Veronica has shot for Sports Illustrated, Maxim, supermodels, and countless brands. She uses word of mouth and Instagram to grow her business. Check out a recent shoot she did of Raine Michaels for Maxim (https://www.maxim.com/women/what-raine-michaels-wants-2018-9). More of her work can be found at www.veronicasams.com.

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A transcript of the full interview follows:

Jon: I am joined today by Veronica Sams. Welcome to the podcast.

Veronica: Hello. Thank you for having me.

Jon: You are a photographer.

Veronica: I am.

Jon: Where has your work appeared?

Veronica: I have shot numerous Sports Illustrated models, I have shot for Maxim, I have my own portfolios, I'm actually in the process of publishing my first photo book, which is really interesting.

Jon: Congratulations.

Veronica: Thank you. Instagram, my website, and numerous swimwear brands.

Jon: And we'll come back to all that. And you're also a senior at Pepperdine?

Veronica: I am.

Jon: How many majors?

Veronica: I have three majors and one minor. So this is my fourth year at Pepperdine, but I still have one more until I graduate.

Jon: You came to Pepperdine why?

Veronica: I was recruited to be an athlete for beach volleyball, but I ended up quitting my junior year to focus on school.

Jon: And for those who don't know the beach volleyball program here—

Veronica: It's very good.

Jon: Very good.

Veronica: Yeah. When I came in we were ranked number two, and I'm pretty sure we've maintained that ranking, but we’re a D-1 team.

Jon: At least in the last year or two, they've won a couple national championships.

Veronica: Yes. They won I believe either the year before I came, or two years before. And we've always made it to the Elite 8 every year.

Jon: You also speak more than one language?

Veronica: Yes. I speak English, Mandarin and Spanish.

Jon: Has anybody ever called you an overachiever?

Veronica: I get that sometimes. Yeah. I love everything I do though.

Jon: I can’t imagine why not. Okay. We're going to go 73 questions, à la Vogue Okay.

Veronica: Sounds good.

Jon: Okay. What are your aspirations in life?

Veronica: I have always dreamed of shooting a cover of Vogue and being a women's empowerment photographer. I've wanted to do that since I was little since I've read those magazines my whole life and that's probably my biggest goal.

Jon: And what is your experience with the professors at Pepperdine? Supportive or not supportive in that goal?

Veronica: It's funny that you say that. Just the other day, first day of school back from winter break and my teacher asked us to go around, say our names, majors, and what our life goals were. And I said that I wanted to be a women's empowerment photographer and be amongst the youngest group to shoot a cover of Vogue and she laughed at me and said, “You really think your work is that good? Good luck.’ and then started laughing more and—

Jon: In class?

Veronica: In class. In front of nine other students and everyone was holding their breath and staring at me and I just thought to myself, did this really just happen? Did a teacher really just make fun of me for something that has been like a goal my whole life and what's been driving me my whole life? It was really shocking, but I'm just going to use it as motivation.

Jon: We talked about it before the interview, but I said that will drive you harder.

Veronica: Oh yeah completely. I mean it is still my goal. Like her opinion, it's not going to or their opinion is not going to change anything.

Jon: So back to the rapid-fire questions.

Veronica: Okay.

Jon: Where did you grow up?

Veronica: I grew up between Westlake and Malibu.

Jon: And what was your first concert?

Veronica: My first concert was Britney Spears at age four. I know that sounds so weird. But since I was little, I've always loved fashion and Brittany is a fashion icon, especially in the early 2000s. So my parents, after talking it over, they agreed to take me to a Britney Spears concert.

Jon: Did they both go mom and dad?

Veronica: Yeah. They both went, and it was awesome. I actually remember a lot of it.

Jon: What's the best concert you've ever been to?

Veronica: Also Britney Spears. I went again when I was, I believe 18 and her costumes just got even better. It was so wild. It was amazing.

Jon: You live in Malibu?

Veronica: I do.

Jon: You went through the fire.

Veronica: I did. That was—

Jon: You were evacuated?

Veronica: I was. I got a call from my mom at five in the morning saying, “You gotta get up! You gotta get up!”

Jon: What did you take with you?

Veronica: I took my camera and my laptop and all of my hard drives. Thankfully all of my sentimental items are at my parent’s house, like all my childhood photos

and my stuffed animal from when I was little, like all the important stuff is still at my parent’s house. So it didn't really lose anything.

Jon: Do you use the same camera and all your shoots?

Veronica: I do. I use a Canon 5D Mark III.

Jon: And why did you use that one?

Veronica: It's full frame. I love shooting with full frame because it has the same format as like a traditional 35 millimeter camera. And most other cameras that aren't full frame medium format, they have like a smaller pixel count. So with the 5D I can get sharper images, it runs a lot quicker, it's just an all around great camera.

Jon: How long have you been using it?

Veronica: About a year.

Jon: What is something that people would be surprised to learn about you?

Veronica: I have two things. The first one is that I've been to Aruba 22 times.

Jon: And why have you been to Aruba 22 times?

Veronica: When I was born, my parents decided to buy a little apartment like right on the water. I don't know why. And they've taken me every single year for two weeks every year in August. So I've made so many friends over there, and I feel like it really is home.

Jon: And then what's the second thing?

Veronica: I was on Barney when I was little. Yeah, it's like a—

Jon: Barney the purple guy?

Veronica: Yeah. The purple dinosaur. That's a fun fact that I sometimes forget about myself. But the funny part about me being on Barney was I was fired from Barney's.

Jon: How did you get fired from Barney’s?

Veronica: I was, I think it was four, and it was a movie being shot in Texas and the production company had decided they wanted me to be like the main child in it, and halfway through the movie I just wouldn't cooperate because I realized that Barney wasn't real. The actor had taken off his head and I realized that everything that I had been doing was a lie. And so I just immediately started at temper tantrum and was screaming and I just, I wouldn't cooperate. And so they handed my parents a ticket home. They're like, thank you for your time. Goodbye. So funny.

Jon: Right up there with the day I learned the tooth fairy wasn't really.

Veronica: Yeah.

Jon: What's the last movie that made you cry?

Veronica: Well, we were just getting off the holiday season. Every Hallmark movie has made me cry. I love Hallmark Channel.

Jon: What's the last movie that made you laugh?

Veronica: It’s not a movie but a TV show. The Office. I love The Office. I watch it all the time, and I love the mindless humor.

Jon: What’s your guilty pleasure?

Veronica: Ooo guilty pleasure. I love ice cream even though I'm lactose intolerant. I eat it all the time. Yeah.

Jon: You must like it.

Veronica: Oh I love it so much. Oh man.

Jon: What’s your biggest pet peeve?

Veronica: When people click their pens. Oh you have a pen.

Jon: I’m not going to click it.

Veronica: I hate it when people do. Especially during tests, it's like, it just ruins my train of thought.

Jon: What's the one talent you wish you had?

Veronica: Probably singing. My sister's a singer. She's an amazingly talented singer, and I can't sing to save my life.

Jon: Well can your sister take pictures?

Veronica: No, I mean—

Jon: So there you go.

Veronica: I mean I'm sure she could if she learned.  

Jon: When did you start taking pictures?

Veronica: My Dad gave me my first camera for Christmas at age 14, and I enrolled in a photo class at my high school and immediately just took to it. I became addicted. I spent anywhere from four to six hours a day in my high school photo lab and became best friends with my photo teacher.

Jon: This is pre-digital too.

Veronica: It was a digital camera.

Jon: Oh, it was digital?

Veronica: Yeah, it was a Canon Rebel.

Jon: Okay.

Veronica: It's not a great camera, but it's like a learner's camera, and I quickly got addicted to the craft, and I've been shooting ever since.

Jon: When was your first page shoot?

Veronica: About a year ago or year and a half ago. I didn't really advertise. My photography is like hire me, like I'll shoot photos for you. I started getting noticed on Instagram just from models, seeing my work and liking my work and so they'd contact me to shoot photos for their books. And now I shoot a lot of beauty and swim for a lot of Wilhelmina models and a lot of NTA models for their portfolios that get published online.

Jon: And what is a book?

Veronica: A book is a model portfolio that they take with them to every casting that they go to.

Jon: Basically the calling card.

Veronica: Yeah basically. And then when you go online to their profile on their agency website, all of those photos are there.

Jon: Do you have a niche?

Veronica: I shoot mainly swim and beauty.

Jon: You shoot men and women?

Veronica: Actually, I only shoot women.

Jon: And why is that?

Veronica: I just feel like I can connect with females better because I'm a female creator and when I shoot females I get a different type of emotion, so they tell me, versus when they work with males versus working with a female, they feel like they can be more open, more raw and more comfortable and I can really hone in on who they are as a person in that shot. I feel like I just get more out of it and I'm very focused on female empowerment and making women feel beautiful and also comfortable while exploring their body and sexuality and who they are. So, that's why I like working with women.

Jon: Do you have competitors?

Veronica: What do you mean?

Jon: Well in that sense of how many women LA only shoot women?

Veronica: I don't know how many women only shoot women. I think I'm one of the only ones. But in terms of female photographers in Los Angeles, there aren't that many compared to men. There’s significantly less amount.

Jon: And do you think it's an advantage being a woman photographer versus a male photographer?

Veronica: Completely. A lot of females contacted me not only because they like my work, but also because I am a female. And a lot of times, unfortunately, they've had negative experiences with males and so they feel like they kind of closed off and they only want to work with females, which I completely understand because I too have experienced that. So, yeah a lot of females come to me because I am female.

Jon: You mentioned your Instagram account. Do you have an Instagram account for your business?

Veronica: I do.

Jon: And it showcases your business?

Veronica: Yes. It's all photography. It's all my work.

Jon: Do you have a website to promote your business?

Veronica: I do. It's veronicasunn.com, and my Instagram is @veronicasams.

Jon: And you see them as a complement to each other or separate avenues?

Veronica: They definitely complement each other. A lot of the same work is showcased both on my website and my Instagram. Most people find me via Instagram because it's a much more popular platform. It's much easier to find me. People tell me that they find me on the explore page a lot or via other models who have posted about me, so it's much easier to meet new people and network and get work from Instagram.

Jon: When you first started on this Instagram, was it a personal account?

Veronica: Yes.

Jon: Tell me about the transition.

Veronica: At first it was personal. I thought maybe I'd become an influencer that didn't really work out. And then once I started my photography, I started posting my

work and intermixing it with my personal life, and I just decided that I'm going to remove all of my personal stuff and just focus on the photography.

Jon: Do you know the analytics of your followers?

Veronica: Yes. It's 80% men, 20% women, which is really interesting. I have 19,200 followers.

Jon: Do you get comments where people think the models are you?

Veronica: All the time, which is really funny because in my bio it says I'm a photographer twice. It also says I'm a student, and so I don't know why they confuse me.

Jon: And they’re different girls.

Veronica: Yeah. Every picture is different. Like some are blonde, some are brunettes, some are redheads. It's very clear that all of these girls are different and not the same, and they still comment thinking that it's me. So weird.

Jon: In the comments you've also received death threats?

Veronica: Yeah, in my DMs, my direct messages, I’ve gotten death threats from other photographers, which makes no sense to me. They're all from the east coast and they think that I'm stealing their clients, but there's no way I'm stealing their clients

Jon: So a Southern California photographer is stealing an east coast photographer’s clients?

Veronica: Yeah, it makes no sense. It's not like I'm running a full-time company, and I'm advertising myself like I'm still a student. I do this in my free time when I can because this is my passion and it's what drives me. And eventually I want this to be a full time career, but I'm not actively seeking out models or like stealing them from other people. That's not really how it works because models are constantly looking for new content. So it doesn't make sense.

Jon: How many death threats have you received?

Veronica: They were all kind of in the same week, which is weird. I don't know how that happened.

Jon: Were they all the same person?

Veronica: No, it was from like five, ten different photographers. That was just weird. I've also received a lot of marriage requests.

Jon: I was going to ask you, tell me about your comments.

Veronica: I get a lot of foreign comments and I've gotten marriage requests from people saying that they think I'm so beautiful and that they'll fly me out to wherever they are and they'll put me up in a big house if I can marry them. Just very outlandish, outrageous comments that I'm sure a lot of models get on the daily and I'm just a photographer.

Jon: Right, and it never even occurred to me. Do you read the comments right after you post or do you wait and have a specific time in the day that you read comments?

Veronica: I check Instagram periodically throughout the day.

Jon: Do you find that the comments change from in the hour or so after you post orthe comments change to later in the day?

Veronica: Not really. They kind of sprinkle in whenever. Usually I get a good amount of comments right when I post. And then if people see me on the explore page and they click on the photo, they'll comment and follow me. Stuff like that. It really depends on the time I post. If it's late at night, usually people aren't looking at it. My best engagement is when I post in the morning, usually around seven, eight or nine.

Jon: Is there a particular day that's better than any other day?

Veronica: I have not noticed that. Just the time.

Jon: Weekdays better than weekends?

Veronica: Surprisingly no. It's all seemed pretty even. It's just the time that mainly reflects my engagement.

Jon: You have a photo of the girl was stickers on her face?

Veronica: Yes.

Jon: Tell me about that.

Veronica: Her name is Savannah Wix. She was actually just crowned Miss Arizona USA a few days ago.

Jon: I just heard that.

Veronica: Yeah, I'm so proud of her. She was my roommate last year we’re really, really close and one day on a weekend it was pouring outside. We had planned to go to lunch, we had to cancel those plans. So I set up a studio in my garage and we did this entire editorial of her. We based it off of Lisa Frank. Have you heard of that company?

Jon: I have.

Veronica: Yeah, it's from like the early 2000s and we used Lisa Frank stickers and the whole shoot was neon blue and pink. And that was one of my favorite series that I've shot.

Jon: And if you've not seen it, you have to go to Veronica's Instagram page in see it. It'll stand out right away.

Veronica: Oh, thank you.

Jon: When you're in a shoot, how many photos do you take to get that one photo?

Veronica: The one thing that I've learned after shooting for so long is that you don't need to take a thousand pictures of the same thing. Once you've developed an eye for photography, you just know when that right moment hits. So, it really depends on what we're doing. If it's swim, I like to take more photos than I need just because you can't control elements like the water, like sand getting all over the model, you have to pay more attention to detail, especially with the lighting of the sun because the sun is constantly changing. The lighting is constantly changing. But when I shoot beauty in a studio, it's significantly less.

Jon: Yeah.

Veronica: You know when you got the shot.

Jon: How do you pick this shot? How do you pick the best one after you've taken a shot?

Veronica: Sometimes it's really hard. I just did a shoot with one of my really great friends now. Her name is Abby Rees. And we did a beach shoot and we went through all of the photos and 50% of them were money shots. And I'm like, “Oh my gosh, girl. You know what you're doing like these are fire,” and sometimes there are shoots were only four or five or—

Jon: Where you can just tell.

Veronica: Yeah, it really depends.

Jon: What do you do when you have 50 of them that are great? Do you let the model pick?

Veronica: I stick all of the number one stars in a separate folder and I'll usually color correct all of them. And then from there I'll really look at them and decide which ones do I want to spend hours in photoshop editing because editing takes so long, especially if it's beauty, and I have to retouch. It takes a long time, so we

have to make sure that the shots that I'm going to retouch really are the best ones.

Jon: Let me back you up. I started at the end. What's the first thing you do when you're setting up a shot?

Veronica: What do you mean by that?

Jon: Okay so you're going to do a beach shot. Do you know where you're going to go? Do you have certain beaches you always go to?

Veronica: Oh yeah. I love shooting at, we call it Surf Rider. I think you guys call it First Point. I don't really know, but it's the beach that's near the Adamson House in Malibu, right where the pier is. I love that beach. I love Ralph's Beach. Again, we call it Ralph’s Beach.

Jon: Ralph’s Beach, for the people who are not from here, there's a grocery store called Ralph’s and behind it there's a beautiful beach along Malibu Road. Private beach.

Veronica: It’s very private and not a lot of people are there. I love that beach. So yeah, usually I definitely know the location at a time. We usually plan three, four hour blocks to shoot because the lighting's constantly changing and we can get different looks depending on the lighting.

Jon: What's the best time of day for a beach shoot?

Veronica: Every photographer will have a different answer.

Jon: What's your answer?

Veronica: I personally love two hours to an hour before golden hour. Most people will say golden hour, but golden hour is so orange on the skin that when I go to color correct, it's a nightmare. And that's just not the look that I'm going for. So usually like two hours before golden hour, but you never want to shoot in the middle of the day when the sun is right above your model because the shadows will just be so ugly.

Jon: Have you ever had a memory card go bad?

Veronica: No. Thank goodness. I don't think so. Maybe—

Jon: Well at least during a shoot?

Veronica: One time it has, but thankfully I constantly am backing up my work and there's this new device that just came out I think a few days ago where you hook it up to your camera and it sends the photos to the drive while you're shooting. Another photographer just sent that to me because he always fears of a memory card crashing, so I think I'm going to get that. But I always, I have a little bag of like 30 memory cards that I always have with me just in case anything goes wrong, but I've been very lucky. It's only happened like once.

Jon: Do you prefer studio or outside?

Veronica: That's a hard question. I can't choose. They're so different. I love beach because that's where I started, but I've really transitioned into beauty and beauty allows me to work more in photoshop and even though it is retouched, it looks much more completed. They're just two completely different.

Jon: When you as a photographer are in the middle of the shoot, what is your state of mind?

Veronica: I'm not thinking about anything except for the photo shoot. It's not about me. It's about the model, and it's about getting the shot. If getting the shot means laying on my back in the sand and having waves constantly pummel me, so be it. I've done it before. It's not about me.

Jon: What do you do to protect the camera from the water?

Veronica: Oh my gosh. That was an issue once. I was laying on the ground and I was hit by a wave, and I literally shot my arms up in the air and I was like, not today. And the model ran over and grabbed the camera and I was washed like onto the shore. It was so funny.

Jon: But the camera was saved?

Veronica: The camera was fine. Yeah, but my reflexes have become really quick because—

Jon: So you're a volleyball player.

Veronica: Yeah, I have quick reflexes.

Jon: It helped. Of all the shots you've done, is there one that stands out?

Veronica: I love the photo shoot that I did with Savannah, the Lisa Frank photo shoot. Other than that, I love my beauty shots. There's this one super closeup shot on my Instagram of this model named Adison and she looks like a Bratz doll, like a real life Bratz doll. She's beautiful, and I really loved that shot.

Jon: What is your secret to that killer photo?

Veronica: Composition really reflects whether the photo will make or break it. I have a personal touch of making all of my photos really vibrant in color poppy. A lot of models approach me because they like the way that I edit, and they love the bright colors, and it's not super muted. So stuff like that.

Jon: Do you have a role model within the photography world?

Veronica: I love Lindsay Adler. She is a pro at studio lighting. She does glamor, she focuses a lot on skin and texture. She works with crazy lighting setups. I actually just bought a 10 week course online that she's teaching, and I'm going to read up on it and train myself in studio cause I'm still very new to studio. I love Lindsay Adler.

Jon: Now you’re a triple major. Has that helped your photography?

Veronica: A little bit. My advertising major has helped me quite a bit because advertising constantly involves creating new content and making new ads and advertising campaigns, stuff like that, so I've had a few advertising classes that have helped me with and given me opportunities to shoot. But other than that, not really.

Jon: Not so much.

Veronica: No. I'm actually taking my first photography class as a senior. And just the other day my teacher saw my work and she was like, “Are you sure you want to be in this class? Like you already know everything that we're going to do in here.” and I'm like, “You know what, this gives me an opportunity to use my passion and apply it to school—

Jon: Well and to confirm everything that you believe is true.

Veronica: Right. Yeah. I'm excited to be in a photo class.

Jon: Well even golf pros have teachers. What is the biggest misconception about the industry?

Veronica: That people can be really stuck up and there are people that can be snotty and stuff like that, but I have met—

Jon: Are you talking about the models or the photographers?

Veronica: Models. So a lot of people believe that models are very stuck up and all about me. But everyone that I have worked with has been so incredibly kind and nice and thankful to be working with me and constantly saying like how much they love my work and stuff like that. And it feels so nice to be appreciated. And in turn, I have made so many friends from these models that I've worked with. Some of my closest friends are people that I networked with on Instagram and have shot. It's really cool.

Jon: What's the most positive aspect of the industry that's rarely acknowledged?

Veronica: I'd say the same thing. It really is a community. It's the people. I've made so many friends from networking on Instagram and all of these models that I've shot. My friend family just keeps growing and it's pretty amazing. Everyone really sticks together.

Jon: What's the most challenging thing about a photo shoot?

Veronica: Here in Malibu organizing it because you never know what the weather's going to be like. You don't know if it's going to rain one day or be sunny or foggy and you can't really trust what the weather app says, so it's just playing it by ear most of the time.

Jon: Do you have a favorite model that you've shot?

Veronica: I wouldn't say favorite. I love everyone that I've shot with.

Jon: Go ahead and say favorite.

Veronica: I loved working with this model named Alexis Sheree. She is half African American, half white, beautiful girl, just radiant and photographing her was so easy because she's just so happy and smiley and she was willing to do any of the wacky stuff that I told her to do because she's very tall and lanky, and I wanted to get her doing some like really weird editorial poses. And she was going all out, even though there was like 10 people around, she would just do it. I think that's such an amazing quality for a model to have because you have to be able to perform and get those images and modeling is acting and it's in a way it's also dancing and so you have to be able to strip away your pride and just do it to get the pose.

Jon: Potentially up here, not at your best, to get your best.

Veronica: You could be like super lanky, leaning over, in real life it looks really weird and then in the photo it's amazing.

Jon: What advice do you have for aspiring photographers?

Veronica: Shoot all the time because every time you do a new photo shoot, you will discover something new about yourself. I've done over 300 photo shoots. I'm

still learning about my personal style, and what I like and don't like and new tricks, stuff like that. Just keep shooting

Jon: On your website you say, and I quote, “As a female photographer, living in the heart of the entertainment empire, Los Angeles, it is my duty to advocate for women's rights, promote body positivity, expose the reality of sexual assault, and to help underprivileged children. My goal is to make, I work with feel not only confident and empowered, but also comfortable.” With that, what do you think the effect of social media and everybody posting on Instagram and everybody on their phones 24/7has done for self-esteem of young girls and women?

Veronica: This is a loaded question .A lot of young girls don't realize that Instagram really is, as you would say, the pretty people's app. With apps like Facetune and Photoshop, 90% of what you see on Instagram is not real. It's all been worked on. And to young girls that don't know that it makes them feel like they're not good enough, and in turn there are 15, 16-year old’s getting lip injections and rhinoplasties when they really just don't understand that Instagram isn’t real, and I feel like there needs to be a disclaimer or people need to tell their followers that “Hey—

Jon: —this has been touched up.

Veronica: “—this has been altered, touched up,” and a lot of people are doing that now. They're putting hashtag retouched or not retouched. A lot of body positivity models are putting that in their captions, which I think is great, and I always state if something has been retouched or not in my photos.

Jon: Setting aside Instagram, what site are you on most? What social media site are you on most?

Veronica: I love online shopping but definitely Pinterest. I get a lot of inspiration from Pinterest. If I want to look up inspiration for portraits or for beach shoots or studio shoots or even locations like parts of Malibu that I've never even been to, I'll just look for a really cool photo spots and other people have taken photos of and potentially want to use that.

Jon: That is a great thing about that.

Veronica: Yeah.

Jon: What's the best compliment you've ever received?

Veronica: Recently I went to my ex boyfriend's mom's house, I know that sounds funny, from High School. I dated this guy from high school.

Jon: That sounds like a story in and of itself.

Veronica: I’m really great friends with his parents still because they live in Malibu, and I went over to their house and in their living room was a photo that I had taken of my ex in a studio setting. It was framed and hanging on the wall. I saw that and I'm like, “Oh my gosh, I shot this photo five years ago and here it is hanging on their wall like a big 15 x 19 print in a frame,” and I looked at his mom, and I'm like, “Oh my gosh, this is the biggest compliment I've ever received being a photographer. You think my work is worthy enough to be on your wall, and it's your son.”

Jon: And it’s the ex.

Veronica: Yeah and it’s my ex, so it meant a lot to me. It was really cool.

Jon: What's the luckiest thing that's ever happened to you?

Veronica: I was on vacation in he Bahamas and I was scrolling on Instagram trying to look for models like that were on the island because I brought my camera, and I really wanted to shoot around, and I found this one page of this model named Giulia Calcaterra, she's Italian, and it was an old photo. She was on the island like a few weeks before, but I saw that she travels a lot. So on a whim I got the email from her Instagram page, and I emailed her assistant and said, “Hey, my name is Veronica Sams. I am a female photographer, and I'm visiting here in Nassau, Bahamas. I don't know if Julia is here or not, but if she is, I would really love to get together and shoot around with her,” and I got a reply from her assistant or agent or whoever it was in her email that said, “Giulia looked at your page and she loves your work. She's getting on a plane and coming to the Bahamas right now. She's going to be there for a few days and she would love to work with you while she's there.” And I'm like, oh my gosh, this is so cool because she's really well known in Italy. That was really amazing to get to work with her.

Jon: Do you always travel with your equipment?

Veronica: Always because you never know who you're going to run into, what amazing things you're going to find. I just went to Costa Rica a few weeks ago and my mind was blown about the nature that was in that country, and I even brought my drone. I was taking pictures the whole time and flying my drone and getting video of the amazing black sand beaches and all the palm trees and the monkeys. It was really amazing.

Jon: So what's ahead for you?

Veronica: As I mentioned earlier, I am putting together my first coffee table book and hopefully I'm going to publish it this year. It's just going to be all of the work that I've done in the past year and work that I'm about to do in the next couple of months. And then I'm starting to put together another book that, it's a secret, but it's going to be really cool and I'm really excited.

Jon: You can tell your secret right here.

Veronica: I'm going to be working with a lot of amazing known people and hopefully releasing that book in 2020.

Jon: You said it earlier, but how can people get in touch with you multiple ways?

Veronica: Multiple ways. My Instagram is @veronicasams. You can just shoot me a message. I read every message. You never know who's going to message you. You can go on my website. There's a little contact form that will also route to my email and yeah, just those two ways.

Jon: Thank you.

Veronica: Thank you so much. It's been awesome.

Jon: It’s been great.