"You have to try and fail over and over again to get success as a reward." A talk with Samuel Marques Lucio

Samuel Marques Lucio photographs pour on a youthful yet classic charm. Mainly known under his artist name Marques and marquesvisions, the 22 years old artist originally comes from the design industry. “In 2013 I started with graphic design and mainly taught myself everything. Then in 2014 I added 3D animation and motion graphics and for years I mainly made intros for YouTuber videos and created designs for them. That’s mainly how I made a little extra money while I was in school.” explains Samuel in more detail to us. But photography has actually been with him since much earlier. “When I was little – I think around 9 or 10 years old – I got an analog point & shoot camera from my parents for the first time. With it I photographed pretty wildly just everything, which led to the fact that 90% of the pictures were pretty useless – actually I have many of the developed images still lying around here.”

Many years later he shot photos on his smartphone or with cheap digital cameras and only in 2017 he decided to start diving more into photography which led him to borrow a friend´s SLR camera – built in 2009 – for a few months to see if he really had this deep interest in taking pictures. “I think it is clear what the result was in the end. Since then, I mainly shoot models, because it just gives me a huge pleasure to realize a project together with someone else and to connect with new people.” We wanted to know about the talented artist and talked about learning something new, unique pictures and giving up to early.

You have your own visual language, and your work always has a certain color palette. When and how did you develop this style?

I‘ve been going through a lot of different editing styles in the past years since I started with photography. I think it‘s due to my background as a designer I always enjoyed the editing process of photos as well. To give images a distinct look and feel that represents you and your work as a whole and makes it recognizable to others. The current style I have known started developing about 1 ½ years ago when I fell more in love with the look of film photography. I never really liked the process of shooting film so I developed a way of editing my photos so it shares characteristics with film, but doesn‘t take away the process of photographing digitally. But even in these 1 ½ years since I adapted this style it changed alot and evolved with my art and vision.

You are young yourself and in front of your camera there are only young people. What fascinates you about the subject of youth? And what do you think are the big issues of your generation?

Since I work with a lot of people from the model and social media industry, I guess I kind of fell into working with younger people more. I just enjoy being able to connect with the people I shoot with, which doesn‘t exclude people who are 10+ years older than me though.

As to issues of my generation and even more the one after me. I think young people tend to expect results way too quick. Whether it be learning something new or diving deeper into one passion. The world today moves faster than ever and you see successful people (or people who pretend to be) everywhere on the internet. This really contributes a lot to young people jumping from the one „passion“ to the next and giving up way too early. Taking your time with anything you want to achieve is important. You have to try and fail over and over again to get success as a reward.

“Taking your time with anything you want to achieve is important. You have to try and fail over and over again to get success as a reward.”

The beauty of photography is also, as you say yourself, connecting with other people. Why do you think this works so well through photography?

When you do photography where the subject is another person you‘re bound communicate in some way. I want to work together with my subject to create beautiful photos. Building trust between the model and the photographer during the photoshoot ultimately results in better images in almost all instances. I also make it a priority that the person I‘m taking photos with enjoys it and has a pleasant experience. So I guess connecting is something that naturally happens during that process.

We are flooded with millions of images. In your opinion, what makes a picture still unique or that one likes to look at it longer?

For me to have an image grab my attention it doesn‘t need to be extremely unique or an artistic masterpiece. Composition, lighting, colors, how the subject is portrayed. Either one of these things could grab my attention if they stand out in some way.

Favorite shooting location?

I love it anywhere it‘s sunny. Shooting in natural light still is my favorite thing to do and it doesn‘t really matter if it‘s indoor or outdoor. Taking photos while the sun shines through the windows is as gratifying as doing it outside in direct sunlight.

“I think young people tend to expect results way too quick…The world today moves faster than ever and you see successful people (or people who pretend to be) everywhere on the internet. This really contributes a lot to young people jumping from the one „passion“ to the next and giving up way too early.”

Favorite music to shoot?

I think it strongly depends on what setting you‘re taking photos in. Are you outside in the summer and you want to have some good vibes? Then play some indie rock, pop, or even hip hop! Are you indoors shooting in a more intimate setting? Play some RnB or jazz! I guess you always have to consider the vibe you‘re trying to create in your images and choose accordingly. Music can be a powerful tool to create the atmosphere you want during a photoshoot.

Where do you see yourself in about 10 years?

To be quite honest I don‘t know. I‘m not even sure where I‘ll be 5 years from now. I tend to not think about how I want my future to turn out and just work on me and my projects now. So much has changed in my life over the past years already that I now just want to go with the flow and try to achieve my goals one at a time.