Samm Blake: Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco’s wedding photographer is a WA-born and bred talent

Last week, as millions of people watched and waited for American singer and actress Selena Gomez to share photographs from her wedding, one person was quietly, anxiously anticipating it more than any of them. For months, Albany-raised photographer Samm Blake had been keeping the biggest secret of her career. She had been handpicked to capture the celebrity wedding of the year; the lavish Santa Barbara nuptials of Gomez and music producer Benny Blanco, attended by the likes of Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran and Steve Martin. Blake’s stunning images from the September 27 wedding have been circulated around the world over the past week, a career highlight for the 42-year-old who is at the top of her game internationally and the go-to wedding photographer for some of America’s wealthiest couples. Blake’s stunning images from the September 27 wedding went viral, a career highlight for the 42-year-old who has been named one of the best wedding photographers in the world by several industry publications. Blake spoke to The West Australian this week from her home in Brooklyn, New York, where she is sought after by clients including NFL stars, Hollywood agents, models and the offspring of movie producers and business moguls. In May, Blake photographed the wedding of Australian actor Phoebe Tonkin and her husband Bernard Lagrange, where guests included Margot Robbie and Sam Worthington. But the Gomez-Blanco wedding was her most high profile yet, and the level of secrecy was such that Blake and other vendors were kept in the dark as to the location until they arrived on a bus and were told to hand over their mobile phones. The 15 hours that followed, at the Sea Crest Nursery in Santa Barbara, would be one of the most incredible, stressful and fascinating work days she has experienced. “It’s not like a normal wedding. The thing about a celebrity wedding is you get about 30 seconds with people, so all my training had brought me to this moment,” she said. “I was really happy with how they turned out, (the photos) were produced under very extreme circumstances.” It is hard to overstate Gomez’s level of celebrity. The 33-year-old former Disney child-star is one of the America’s youngest female self-made billionaires, on the back of an Emmy and Grammy nominated music and acting career and her make-up brand, Rare Beauty. She is the most followed female on Instagram, amassing an astonishing 417 million fans who are drawn to her authenticity. The “Selenators”, as they are dubbed, were heartbroken when she and pop star Justin Bieber split, applauded her honesty when she shared her mental health struggles and a lupus diagnosis, and over the moon when Gomez found her happy-ever-after with Blanco. Blake found out early this year, via the couple’s wedding planner, that they wanted her to photograph their big day and she was required to sign a strict non-disclosure agreement. While she is familiar with photographing the uber-rich and famous, the Gomez-Blanco wedding was another level. A team of more than 20 people were watching over Blake’s shoulder as she worked, and she had limited time to nail each shot. When it came to capturing the guests, Blake recalled: “No matter where I pointed my camera, there was a celebrity. “It’s a delicate dance, because you want to give them respect and space, but you also want to make sure you get a good shot of them . . . you jump in at the right moments and then get the hell out of there.” Later explaining the experience to her American husband, Kerry, Blake said it was like being inside a Super Mario computer game. “Mario’s running through the obstacles, he’s trying to get to the end, and there are all these things coming out trying to kill him, and all the hurdles he has to jump over,” she told The West. “Selena and Benny are lovely, charismatic, and so in love. It was motivating, I wanted to work really hard to navigate the obstacles to do a great job.” She was relieved to discover she had done just that. “I was very anxious, ‘do they like them, do they hate them?’ So once they posted them (on Instagram) and I heard personally from Benny that they love them, that’s what it’s all about.” Blake was pleased the couple chose to share more of the tender, candid moments. “The fact she showed the world she was in bare feet for her first dance . . . that’s why she’s so relatable,” she said. “The girl next door who made it in the industry, and continues to evolve.” Blake shoots weddings all over the world; from opulent four-day extravaganzas in Europe to elopements at Manhattan’s city hall. But irrespective of budget and guest list, there is a common thread across the almost 1000 weddings she has shot. “With weddings it can be fantasy, it can be make-believe, but I was always drawn to what makes it real — the emotion, and all the different social backgrounds of people and cultures and religions coming together, and seeing how families fuse what’s important to them,” she said. “What matters most is families and friends coming together to celebrate. I do a lot of Jewish weddings and rather than it being this big showcase of money, it’s more about ‘look at where we have come from, look at what our grandparents sacrificed to come to America, look at this party we can throw, this celebration, we made it,’” she said. “And that’s really fascinating and beautiful to see.” Kojonup-born Blake grew up in Albany, learning hard work and hustle from her parents Gwen and Morris Blake who ran the town’s iconic Dylan’s on the Terrace cafe, which remains in the family. She was given her first camera by her grandmother at eight, and credits her photography teacher at Albany Senior High school, Kim Byrne, with helping her turn the hobby into a passion. Edith Cowan University lecturers then taught Blake the beauty of social documentary photography, and that passion became a career, which started out in Perth. It was the 2011 Fremantle wedding of the now Federal Veterans Affairs Minister Matt Keogh and wife Annabel that proved a stepping stone for Blake’s move to the US. The striking photos of Mrs Keogh’s blue-grey Michelle Jank dress attracted worldwide attention, and within two years Blake had successfully applied for an elusive US work visa. She describes being Australian as her “superpower”; her accent has proved the ultimate conversation starter and she is often told she appears cool, calm and collected even when battling intense stress internally. “I’m determined and stubborn, and once I set my eyes on something I go after it and haven’t let anything get in my way. I think my parents passed on that gene,” she said. Blake can remember details from each wedding, and is often reminded of the magic and power her images hold by the couples themselves. Earlier this year a 2008 bride, whose husband had recently passed away, contacted Blake and asked her to re-supply their wedding photos. “In her moment of crisis, the fact I could give those wedding photos to her, to me that’s what it’s about,” she said. “Because what’s the one thing we cling to when we are in tragedy, it’s generally the big moments in our lives.”