While sister Sjana Elise Earpβs enviable yoga poses [and figure] may have seen her notch up over a million followers on Instagram, brother Sam ainβt doing too badly himself when it comes to the influencer space. With 110K to his name and a life fuelled by the next adventure, Sam is the first to admit that heβs βgot it pretty goodβ.
Currently travelling Europe with fellow influencers DJ Tigerlily and Sam Evans Life, we tracked Sam down to talk everything from Sjana convincing him to join Instagram, to supportive bosses, to what camera equipment he uses.
How did you get started on the road to being an Instagram influencer? Was it your sister?!
It was! About two and a half years ago my sister was doing a bit of travel. I was working full-time and she said, βwhy donβt you buy a camera and you can start coming with me?β And I thought βoh yeah, makes sense!β. So I bought a camera, just taught myself the basics, and then three months down the track I got my first paid job. It went from there. We use to travel together on all of our trips, but lately weβve been doing less as I like being a bit more adventurous and partying β sheβs more into lifestyle and the yoga side of it.
Are you the person behind her lens?
Yes, a lot of the time! Sometimes she gets her friends or she sometimes uses a self-timer. When she travels, itβs mostly me or the self-timer. She sometimes takes my photos, but Iβve been traveling a lot with my mate Sam Evans lately. We did a trip for four months last year and we left again to travel in March until September.
So your life is pretty much as good as what it looks like!
You could say that! I do have a full-time job at home as a lifeguard at Redhead Beach. My boss is really supportive, so if Iβve got the time off and weβve got the staff β I can take time away.
When youβre home and doing your full-time job, how hard is it to create content? Or do you use content that you previously shot?
A lot of it is content Iβve shot in the past. Newcastle, where Iβm from, is a really nice area β so itβs pretty easy to get some nice stuff out… I just donβt have the time. Places like Stockton Sand Dunes and Nelson Bay, which is only about 45 minutes away, thereβs lots of nice places to shoot.
Do you mostly like capturing what youβre doing or do you specifically go out to do Instagram βshootsβ?
I try to keep my feed organic, so itβs a lot of candid lifestyle shots. I donβt ever really do set-up photo shoots. Iβd much rather live in the moment and actually just shoot when I can. Thereβs a lot of stuff that I do that doesnβt get shot, but thatβs part of it I guess β youβve got to enjoy it.
When youβre not working, talk me through a usual day in your life…
I usually only have time off if Iβm travelling. So I wonβt have time off to hang around at home. We work five days a week, so I get two days off during the week. On those days Iβm usually running errands and planning and editing previous stuff from the jobs Iβve had.
Are you doing a lot of branded work?
Yeah, I do sponsored posts. I guess thatβs what keeps me being able to travel.
Do you find that the travelling drives your Instagram?
Yes! I do notice I get a lot better engagement when Iβm travelling β I guess people want to be part of the journey. But I just try to keep it as my style and hope it works.
What kind of equipment do you use to get your shots?
It depends on what Iβm shooting. I primarily started off shooting water stuff, so always had an aquatech [water housing] with me for my Canon 1DX Mark II camera. I always have at least two GoPros on meβ¦ itβs just handy for little shots and candid pics.
Two? How does that work?!
I usually have one in my pocket incase something happens quickly, and a lot of the time when Iβm travelling itβs good to stick one on a car or scooter, or however weβre getting around.
The influencer space seems to be filled with people who are friends. Do you all hang out together?
We get this question a lot! I think because we all have similar lifestyles and similar passions, itβs good to collaborate and meet with people who do the same thing. Itβs always good travelling with other people too, it makes it a little bit more fun. The social media world is really small. Everyone seems to know everyone and everyone is pretty nice.
Are you and Sjana going to meet up on your latest travels?
Thereβs a couple of trips planned later in the year. Sheβs getting more into yoga retreats and that kind of thing β Iβm pretty keen to get involved with that. I can do the basics β touch my toes β not quite up to her level yet, but one day maybe!
And just lastly, do you ever feel the pressure to be living an incredible life just in order to show it off on Instagram?
No, not really. Iβve got it pretty good. But like I said before, I miss a lot of it on film and I donβt like staging any of the photos, so most of it is as itβs happening β Iβll just take a couple of photos.
All images: @samearp
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