Collecting something similar through time in the formative realm

Still 1

Common Creature out of Similarity

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For the thematic seminar COMPLICATING THE SUBJECT by Res. Portrait about Sam Koopman.

Starting point:

What happens when a story you hear, resonates with something of your own life and your point of focus becomes the similarity? You start to to collect the history of somebody else and the things they pick up on their journey. But at some point you add elements of your own life to actually tell something of yourself. As artists we are telling our point of view through somebody else, but what happens when the lines between subject and our own experiences mix and get blurry? What are the ethics when you tell your story through the familiar aspects of the life of your subject?

Story:

When we go to dark places when life disapoints us, we start to gather. Gather new inspirations. Quotes. Insights. Songs.

Becoming an adolescent and reaching your goals never goes without skars. Skars we turn into marks to let us remember what counts. Through a journey we collect attributes and souvenirs that recount the adventures we've taken. The highs and lows we encountered. When we are too strict on ourselves, when social-media is a bitch or expect too much, a simple symbol or mark of life experience can guide us again.

Written Bio

Curious, spontaneous, observer, amicable, visual, Sam.

Sam Koopman (he/him) is a Rotterdam-based filmmaker, cinematographer and photographer.

Born originally in the Netherlands he grew up in Canada. When Sam saw the Spike Lee-film Do The Right Thing (1889), he knew he had an instant passion for cinema and everything around it. During the years of his education-program at the Vancouver Film School he focused on the art of cinematography.

After graduating he worked as a cinematographer on several projects, including the feature film Les Vilains (2016) and the documentary Keep It in the Streets (2019). Besides being a D.O.P. he has experience in multiple departments, including editing, producing and directing.

Right now Sam is a master student in Lens-Based media at the Piet Zwart Institute. Here he wants to explore a more autonomous path in being also the author of his own work. Sam likes to walk around with his camera through downtown Rotterdam and capture strangers that captivate his interests. He wants to juxtapose a variety of people and give them a place within his visual language. Having a double nationality himself is one of the drives for showing different cultures and how they co-exist next to each other.

Currently he is also a curator for the bi-monthly film night ‘Expat Cinema Rotterdam’ which showcases international films with English subtitles. Something his classmates are very happy with.

Resources

End result

By this link you can watch the outcome. The link is hidden and can only be found by visitors from this page. Sam and I gave each other permission to share our portraits.