Just the Beginning

Photography By Tara Sammouri

Photographer Tara Sammouri talks about the diversity of Parisian nightlife, feeling legitimate, and the question of human identity and emotions.

Paris, France

How did you begin your journey as a photographer?

So I’ve always been interested in photography, but it changed completely when I bought my first analog camera, almost 3 years ago. I started being passionate about taking pictures and creating from what surrounds me, but I’d say that I really started my journey as a photographer 2 years ago because I feel that’s the moment I started to define what I really want to do, explore, and show to the world even if I feel that I’m still defining it presently and through experiences.

Many of your images document nightlife in Paris, France. How did you get into this type of photography?

I’m trying to bring my camera everywhere I go so it just came to my mind at a party, people were dancing and I started shooting my friends and random people. I loved the results so I started to do it again and again.

Why do you enjoy photographing nightlife? What do you hope to capture?

First, what moves me is meeting people and what I love with photographing nightlife is that people tend to be completely themselves. I feel that night can be a space for self-expression and so this allows me to capture human exchanges and human’s emotions through these moments, as well as human diversity and simply, people living and loving. Also what I find beautiful is how music is able to connect people from different walks of life.

How would you describe your style? What makes it unique?

It’s difficult to describe my style but the common thread in my work is human presence, the question of identity, and singularities and so with portraits and nightlife I try to catch authentic moments and emotions. The theme of love and bodies are also present and I like to focus on details and center particular elements that can suggest something and speak by itselves.

Tell the story behind one of your favorite images.

I love this picture because it’s a pure and authentic moment of love I could capture during a house music event in Saint Denis, near Paris.

I was just here with friends, dancing and then I saw these three men showing themselves affection and love like this. I found it so beautiful, even more because it was three men.

Because I feel that compared to women, men are more conditioned to show less affection and emotions to each other, mostly due to patriarchy and the idea of masculinity. It’s like we are not used to seeing this kind of expression of love, sadly, but that’s what led me to urgently take my camera out as quickly as possible and capture this moment of fraternity.

What makes Parisian nightlife so special? Which kinds of parties and scenes do you like to shoot?

To be honest, I can’t say what makes Parisian nightlife so special, I’ve always lived in Paris so what I capture mostly is Parisian nightlife, but I find that people are “bon vivant” (life lovers), where I go people are open minded and approachable, I feel that there’s diversity, and you can find different kinds of parties, so that’s not the same vibe everywhere but where I like to shoot is actually where I like to party : techno and house scenes, I also like the hip hop’s energy, as well as the queer scene which I find incredible to capture. But in general, when I see people dancing and I feel that I want to capture the vibe, I just take my camera and do my stuff.

What has been your greatest struggle as a photographer?

I feel that the biggest struggle has been to feel legitimate to be considered as a photographer, and to be aware of the value and the worth of my work. Because we are a lot in this field, there are moments where you start doubting and questioning your work, and that’s normal but then you realize why you’re doing what you’re doing, what moves you and because my vision is vision, my perception of the world and what I want to show will always be different than what already exist, and so you become more confident.

Other than parties, what inspires you creatively?

As I said, in a general way I mostly focus on human beings and this is where I find inspiration.

The streets inspire me a lot creatively, that’s where I started taking pictures, I was (and I’m still) inspired by humanist photographers from the 20th century, and I’m moved by unexpected human interactions and actions. It’s a place where I can meet people and I’m really thriving on the exchanges I can have.

Love and its manifestations inspire me a lot too, and how our body can speak for us. I think that’s my favorite subject to talk about. I think love is the most important thing we can give and receive in our life and that inspires me in everyday life.

Also, I find the human body and psychology fascinating and can be the source of interesting reflections.

What's next for you ?

I’m trying to practice as much as I can, share my work and reach as many people as possible. I would love to collaborate with other people, and I’m also thinking of exposing my work in Paris. I still have to figure out what, where, when etc..but that’s my goal for these next months.

I’m also trying to learn more at the technical level because I learnt photography by myself so I want to explore other techniques and see what will come up.

That’s just the beginning.