Meet Sari Blum | Photographer, dreamer, moment grabber

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sari Blum and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sari, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I started my own business in 2014. I wanted to start my own photography business because I wanted to start making a name for myself in photography. It began as a way to truly commit to myself and my art – what I wanted to spend a lifetime creating. For me it was a way to put my money where my mouth is. To be held accountable to my art, to turn it into a business and make that thrive. It also made me feel more validated and verified in what I was doing.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I got into photography because I was falling in love with everything. I was falling for my friends, how the world looks, how the light hit something just right, how it was a way to hold on to my favorite moments, my favorite things. I like to fondly call myself a nostalgia hoarder. I hoard moments, I want to have this library of visual moments that make up the story of my life. I want to show other people how beautiful they are, how lovely their life is, how everything in this one moment is simply perfect, as it is. I created my tagline ‘this is your world, I’d like you to see it’ along time ago – but only now, 10 solid years into my craft professionally, (although I picked up a camera at a young age) am I starting to understand my gift, my eye – how I see things that other people don’t, how I pay attention to these moments, these details, and I can photograph them and I can give them back to that person, that place – so that one has this tangible item of time standing still.

Let’s really dive in:
When I was in high school I took both a black and white film photography class where we used manual film cameras, processed and developed our own film and images. It felt like magic to me – this scientific process used to capture time and light. Something that I created. The next year I took a class on how movies were made and I was obsessed. Obsessed with telling a story that relates to people, where we find points of connection with ourselves, our lives, our memories fed back to us on a screen through stories that have nothing yet everything to do with our own human experience. To this day I find it amazing that most of our communication and story telling is based around the desire and NEED to let people know how we feel, who we are and why we are that way. The need to be seen and validated. It’s so real.

I went to college in New Orleans at Tulane University I majored in communication with a minor in film and I was one class away from a minor in photography but instead of taking art history I wanted my last semester to be focused on art classes like digital art, glass blowing and play writing. I was fully immersed in the visual story telling realm. I thought I wanted to make movies and tell stories that way. After I graduated I went on a trip with a friend to Thailand. We were in one of the mega malls in Bangkok and on the very top floor there was a photo exhibition. It was a gallery of award winning documentary / editorial photographers. I remember that every image was devastating. Images of people in war torn countries, floods, fires, sad images full of loneliness and the lowest depths of human existence. I know that it is important to showcase all sides of life, for that is how we know the difference between what is good and what is not, but I felt something shift inside of me. A promise to my young and future self that I only wanted to showcase what is good, what is beautiful, what makes life worth living. It’s so easy to get caught up in what is awful and very real – but I never wanted to people to forget what wonder we can witness while we are alive, so briefly. Happiness is a choice and I choose way back then to always photograph the happy and the beautiful and the forgotten spaces in between that take your breath away.

After my travels I moved to Lake Tahoe, CA and taught kids ski school – fulfilling my love for the outdoors, mountains and natural beauty. However I missed the mess and magic of a city and moved back to New Orleans to work in the feature film industry. I worked on several feature films as a production assistant and finally as a Camera PA – that worked exclusively with the camera team. It was on 21 Jumpstreet that I saw where I could go and what I could be if I stuck with this industry, this ladder to climb – and at 26 I found myself not wanting to go further. I had always wanted to travel the world and I saw the end of my 20’s approaching and I didn’t want to spend it in the film industry. So I packed my bags and I moved to New Zealand where I worked on an island called Waiheke (off of Auckland) in a vineyard at their restaurant.

At the time I had wanted to shift my focus to photography. I knew that I loved always having a camera with me, that I loved capturing moments. I wanted to turn it into a focus, a career. I spent my time in New Zealand traveling and filling my soul with adventure moments. I then met up with my best friend Jillian in Thailand and we continued a 2 month adventure through south east Asia. It was there that I knew I wanted to be a photographer. After traveling I moved to San Francisco, a city I fell in love with the moment I first visited. My cousin let me stay on her couch while I looked for a place and a job. I found my first job with World Market at their distribution warehouse where they also had a e-commerce photo studio. They were looking for photo assistants. Since I never went to art or photography school I knew this was the best place to learn about commercial photography and studio photography. By working there I met a large network of photographers that I still work with to this day. I learned about product and studio lighting and the professional flow of capturing images to computers and the programs you use to do so. While I worked as an assistant I also photographed many music festivals, artists and corporate events. I loved doing it all. I loved figuring out what I was good at, what made me excited and what was hard to learn.

I found a studio space in Oakland that I shared with a dear friend. We named it the Dream(ing) Space. A place where we could quietly cultivate our dreams and our vision for our art. It was a place to create that was ours. We put on art shows, featured other artists, musicians, and taught classes. It was a gathering space of artists of all kinds. I moved closer to that studio and invested more time in my own business. I worked for Dropbox, Outside Lands, and documented art created for Burning Man. I worked with countless individuals and artists to make content for their businesses, their families, or their art. I was deeply immersed in the circus and art community of Oakland. It was so fun to have aerialists hang from the ceiling of my studio while capturing their gravity defying grace.

Today my business focuses on people. I learned very quickly that product was not for me, that sole studio photography was not for me. I love working with people, making them feel comfortable, feel seen and creating the time and space for just the right image. The best compliment I’ve ever received is that someone said their portrait matches what they feel on the inside. To me it is very rare that people see their true selves in a photograph, I feel I have a gift that can reconnect people to who they are. I can capture what they feel on the inside to match who they are on the outside. This type of feeling with photography has led me to capture weddings, family, and lifestyle. I believe in authentic moments, in giving something back to people that is truly theirs. I want them to have magical tangible memories of major life events or the quiet moments in between. I’m here to witness their story, to show it to them later.

Because of this need to give people tangible moments I created the Wandering Portrait Bus. The Wandering Portrait bus is a 26ft renovated transit bus that is a mobile portrait studio. It is not only a space where I can take peoples photos – I also print their images in 5×7 format almost immediately to be given back to them. I first thought of this idea when I was living in a van with my two girlfriends in Australia. We were driving the southern coast of Australia from the east coast to the west coast. We took a month to do so. I loved every minute of it, I loved being on the road, I loved having all my camera gear with me, I loved constantly moving and having new places and people to photograph. From this adventure I knew I wanted to create something that would allow me to roam, to work, and to give something back.
Creating the Wandering Portrait bus I have studio space that is powered by the sun, a place to sleep, and a vehicle to roam – my true wheel-house. I have focused on bringing the Wandering Portrait Bus to weddings and Events where I can set up a studio space, pose and photograph people, shoot to a computer where I create an edit for the event and then print out photos on the spot for people to take home. I believe that we have the technology to create beautiful portraits on the spot and give people a picture they actually want to frame.

So that is where I am today. I live in the mountains of Colorado with my partner and dogs living my next phase of photography and life. This involves weddings and events, sometimes with the bus and sometimes without. I am working with the town of Silverthorne to create marketing and lifestyle imagery for their content needs. I work with families and individuals to create unique and momentous imagery of their lives.

Was this easy?? Oh heck no! Every day has been a decision to fight for the career I have always dreamed of. It always has an element of feast or famine – but I feel like my best work is always my next work. Choosing an artistic career is extremely challenging. To this day I still get asked if photography is my full time gig. Like people can barely believe I make it work. I work every day. It can feel like I am always working – but conversely – there is nothing like the feeling of seeing someone light up at the photographs I show them. I have to continually remind myself that this is my dream and this is what living it looks like, especially on my low and dark days.

On those low points I choose to do two things – I either dig in deeper, or I walk away. Sometimes it’s just for an hour, sometimes it’s several days. Digging in and getting lost in my work allows me to reconnect with my love for photography and my clients that I work with. Walking away allows me to recenter and find my focus once more. We can’t do everything all the time. Just like seasons we must accept our growth moments and our rest moments – nothing blooms all year long.

What I want the world to know about my brand / story: That your life is magical and worthy of documentation. That the world is beautiful and worth exploring. That having a keep sake of who you are when you felt the most you is so meaningful and grounding. That these images help tell your story and keep those memories so fresh in your mind. That I have an eye to work with you and capture all of those emotions. That we have the technology to keep those memories for a very long time.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Living in the mountains of Colorado there is no shortage of beautiful scenery to take in, trails to hike or bike and amazing food and breweries. If my best friend were to come to visit in Summit County we would start our day enjoying my home roasted coffee. We would go for a hike by the Dillon reservoir to check out the breath taking overlooks. We’d then head over to Outer Range to grab a late lunch and some tasty beers. In the summer I’d take her to any of the incredible shows at the Dillon amphitheater.

The next day we would do a morning paddle on lake Dillon on inflatable SUPs. If it’s a Friday we’d head over to the farmer markets and check out all the crafts and tasty snacks and pick up food to cook from the vendors for dinner.

I would take her to the alpine slide in Breckenridge and then we would go shopping down on Main street.

We would do brunch the next day at Mountain Lyon Cafe and then I’d take her down loveland pass to get the last great views before heading to the airport in Denver.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I literally would be nothing without my support network, the people who are always helping me connect, create, and pick me up when I’m down. I would like to thank my family, my cousin Annette who was always been my unofficial marketing manager, my bff Jillian who always been my unofficial model and travel buddy, who will sit there while I take endless landscape photos of wherever we are, my partner Michael who not only supports my dreams but helps me work events and listens to my worries. To every person who has ever hired me, worked with me, taught me, and believed in me – I believe that I am nothing without my community, my network, my people. My life and my work would indeed be empty without them.

Website: www.sariblum.com , www.wanderingportraitbus.com

Instagram: @sariblumphotography @wanderingportraitbus @sariblumphotography_weddings