We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Samson Foo a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Samson, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
I was practically born with a camera in my hand. As a kid, I would play with action figures in one hand and record them in the other. In my imagination, even my action figures had their own storylines and character arcs. Storytelling was a passion I was born with, and I think that stemmed from my parents because they had an inspiring story of their own.
My father is of full Chinese ethnicity but was born in the Philippines. He later came to the U.S. as a foreign exchange student, where he met and married my mother, a blonde-haired and blue-eyed Caucasian woman from Shenandoah, Iowa. They both lived through so many experiences together, like the joy and adventures of living in a small town, and the hardships of living through a revolution in the Philippines.
I would tell my friends about how my dad was a black belt in kung fu and how he fought and defended someone with nunchucks, or how my mother would see tanks driving over her front yard when she lived in the Philippines. To me, these things were just normal and factual, but to my friends, they were captivating and jaw-dropping stories.
As a child, I told a friend another story of my parents’ adventures, and I never will forget the look of excitement on his face. He said, ‘That should be a movie!’ and that’s when my dream was formed. I wanted to make my parents’ life story a feature film.
As the youngest of five and with my father as an immigrant, we didn’t grow up with a lot of money. Instead, we were always encouraged by our mother to use our imagination to create entertainment for ourselves. From kindergarten to high school, I never had good grades. I would end up in fights due to racial slurs or insults people would say to me, or because I was trying to defend my friends from bullies.
I learned quickly that a person like me, who is constantly seeking freedom, does not perform well in structure. I learned that the things that I disliked were just steps toward finding what I really loved. So at the age of sixteen, I saved up my money to buy a Canon 7D and a 50MM lens to attempt photography, hoping it would lead me into making movies.
When I graduated high school, I knew I couldn’t afford college. My father didn’t believe I could make a living by pursuing the film industry. He told me that I needed a ‘real job’ first, and that I could pursue my ‘hobby’ second. I fought it at first, but eventually, I believed him. I began working in retail and started saving money for school while attempting photography on the side. I later became successful at saving money, but at the cost of never attempting to pursue photography. The lack of freedom from working full hour days for a corporate industry drained all of my creativity. Again, I found myself not performing well under structure, so I took a risk by quitting my job and becoming a freelance photographer with the little money I had saved up.
As I began my freelance journey, I reunited with my eldest brother, Joshua Foo, who had also gone freelance to pursue photography. He taught me a lot about photography, which got me more jobs and introduced me to local filmmakers in Omaha, Nebraska. By expressing my interest in motion picture and meeting and making new friends along the way, they eventually had me assist them with cameras on video shoots, allowing me to eventually save up money for my own gear.
Slowly, I began doing my own video shoots for people, as well as photography. As I continued to grow, I slowly began to meet new people and ended up on some local film sets. It was a constant battle to fight for my dream, and it seemed to be going uphill until the COVID-19 pandemic.
I had just gotten off of my parents’ insurance, so I didn’t have any, and during the pandemic, I was hospitalized by the virus. After I managed to recover, things only seemed to get worse. My car got totaled, I got scammed by an apartment complex and couldn’t live there, got into another car accident and suffered vertigo for weeks, suffered a concussion from a bicycle accident, and had a close relative pass away. None of these things were my fault; they just happened. That is when I began to realize it was all out of my control.
My other brother, Nathan Foo, got together with me to make sure I was okay from all the simultaneously negative experiences I had faced. I asked him, ‘If I died in that wreck, what was my purpose? I would have never fulfilled my dream.’ and he said to me, ‘Sam, you are always fighting the odds for what you believe in; I couldn’t see you going out any other way.’ I suddenly realized in that moment that I’ve put my entire value of myself into what I do as a career. My passions and dreams are what I believed were my own purpose and worth, instead of believing that my purpose is much more simple than that. My purpose is to be me.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I am a cinematographer and photographer based out of Omaha, Nebraska. My specialization lies in storytelling through various mediums, whether it’s capturing the essence of food, people, landscapes, or even wildlife. I have an insatiable love for travel, seizing the opportunity to document special moments along each journey. Some of my work has found its way into People Magazine and The Reader Magazine. I’ve had the privilege of collaborating with clients like Converse, De Rigo, and First National Bank. Currently, I serve as the line producer for the Right Here, Right Now Project, a venture dedicated to documenting the pandemic’s impact on local industries.
My passion is fueled by a distinct vision. Cinematography and storytelling are not just professions for me—they are a source of boundless joy. These pursuits have whisked me away to extraordinary locations across the country and the globe. From scuba diving with blacktip reef sharks in the Philippines to capturing the culinary artistry of Michelin-star chefs in Japan, and exploring the woodlands of Yellowstone. I embrace every challenge with energy, loyalty, and passion.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Paitience, resilience, determination, and most importantly, self care. Everyday I wake up, I immediately ask “What is one thing I can do for myself?”. Whether or not that is exercise, or eating something healthy, or meditating in silence, I try to think of something that will benefit my health mentally, socially, and physically. Taking care of yourself first, is taking care of others.
Who has been most helpful in helping you overcome challenges or build and develop the essential skills, qualities or knowledge you needed to be successful?
My family. My sisters Amanda, and Sasha, have helped me through a lot of personal and family related struggles and both my parents have helped me through tough times as well. I spend a lot of time with my brothers. So much that most people refer to us as “The Foo Brothers”. I owe a lot to both Joshua and Nathan. Nathan has been extremely supportive and encourgaing when it comes to my passion to create movies. He’s an extremely talented poet and screenwriter and we collaborate frequently on writing screenplays for movies. Joshua is an extremely talented photographer and has provided a lot of opportunity for me, and helped me a lot on business side of things. We both rarely do shoots without each other. I know I wouldn’t be here without them.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.samsonfoo.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samkungfoo
Image Credits
Joshua Foo Photography
