About hoffeman
To make a long story short-ish...
My name is Samuel Hoffe, but Samuel sounds pretty pretentious so Sam is what I go by. Anyways, I started taking photographs during a family vacation to Oregon a few years ago. That was the starting point for me. Later in high school, I decided to apply to the local Arts college and once I got in, I applied to the bachelor of design in photography and was accepted. Since then, I have been refining my practice and becoming more and more critical of the images I create. My preferred subject matter could be summed up with the word "travel" but more specifically, I enjoy landscapes, tightly cropped architecture, street candids, some macro work here and there, the one-off wildlife photo, oh, and I almost forgot, I do a fair amount of abstract photography when the opportunity presents itself. Seeing as photography is generally a very literal medium, I like to depart from that and create abstract imagery where shapes or color or lines are the sole subject matter.
I guess it would be easier to state what I don't do alot of, which would be studio protraits and still lives with lots of artifical lighting involved. However, that is a vein which I hope to further explore during my eduction at ACAD here in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. I see people everyday, and alot of them, so portraits aren't something I choose to pursue usually, unless there are interesting and unconventional cirumstances surrounding a person or scene I come across, hence, my interest in street candids.
In regards to the technical vs conceptual sides of things, I would have to say I'm more of a technical guy. It is my belief that technical precision should come before concept. If a photograph has a good concept behind it, but it lacks technical and formal qualities, I would simply disregard it. The same thing applies to writing. If one can't spell or have correct grammer, the content of their writing is not going to be recognized.
