Photographer Samantha Schwann Friedman's Love For Photography

Samantha Schwann Friedman is a photographic artist living in Eloy, Arizona.  Originally from Vancouver, BC she came to Arizona for the first time four years ago on a skydiving holiday.  She immediately fell in love with the dropzone, the people and the desert.

Samantha stumbled into photography looking to become an aerial skydiving photographer.  She began by trading in a bunch of her grandfather’s old camera equipment (thankfully nothing rare) in 2010 to purchase her first DSLR camera and started to teach herself how to use it.  By shooting land, sea and cityscapes of the Canadian west coast she refined her skills as a photographer and become comfortable with camera equipment.  Photography soon became a passion and a career that finally “fit.”  With the support of her husband Friday Friedman, she began to concentrate on photography full time in 2013.   

Samantha decided early in her career that she wanted to capture photographs of the wind tunnel. The imperfect conditions found in wind tunnel photography were an excellent way for her to learn and exercise the technical aspects of photography.  Poor lighting, fast action and plenty of moving distractions are just some of the obstacles a wind tunnel photographer needs to overcome.  SkyVenture Arizona is one of the older generations of wind tunnels and features little internal lighting.  This was a perfect venue for Samantha to get creative with a lighting solution.  

Samantha began experimenting with a 3-speedlight system triggered by radio waves capable of penetrating the glass walls of the wind tunnel.  This system was connected with one flash on top of her DSLR camera body and two additional flashes located outside of the tunnel.  After some immense testing Samantha's lighting system was a success.  Through determination, motivation and essentially "trial and error" Samantha began capturing some of the best wind tunnel photographs available.  

Samantha's tunnel and skydiving images have appeared in Parachutist, Blue Skies Magazine and 90Percent.  She has also exhibited her landscape work both in solo and group shows in Vancouver, Canada and NY, USA.  The IBA welcomes Samantha to our community and is looking forward to frequent photographical updates of her incredible journey through skydiving and tunnel flight.

Visit Samantha's website to view her portfolios.