{"id":2079268,"date":"2025-10-09T11:30:45","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T11:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2079268"},"modified":"2025-10-09T11:30:45","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T11:30:45","slug":"samm-blake-selena-gomez-and-benny-blancos-wedding-photographer-is-a-wa-born-and-bred-talent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/samm-blake-selena-gomez-and-benny-blancos-wedding-photographer-is-a-wa-born-and-bred-talent\/","title":{"rendered":"Samm Blake: Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco\u2019s wedding photographer is a WA-born and bred talent"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Last week, as millions of people watched and waited for American singer and actress Selena Gomez to share photographs from her wedding, one person was quietly, anxiously anticipating it more than any of them.<\/p>\n

For months, Albany-raised photographer Samm Blake had been keeping the biggest secret of her career.<\/p>\n

She had been handpicked to capture the celebrity wedding of the year; the lavish Santa Barbara nuptials of Gomez and music producer Benny Blanco, attended by the likes of Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran and Steve Martin.<\/p>\n

<\/picture>
Camera Icon<\/title><\/svg>The celebration, held under a floral arch inside a white-draped tent, featured autumnal colors and dahlia arrangements throughout the candle-lit tables, along with velvet rust-colored lounge seating.<\/span> Credit: Samm Blake @phoebejtonkin<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Blake\u2019s stunning images from the September 27 wedding went viral, a career highlight for the 42-year-old who has been named one of the best wedding photographers in the world by several industry publications.<\/p>\n

Blake spoke to The West Australian this week from her home in Brooklyn, New York, where she is sought after by clients including NFL stars, Hollywood agents, models and the offspring of movie producers and business moguls.<\/p>\n

In May, Blake photographed the wedding of Australian actor Phoebe Tonkin and her husband Bernard Lagrange, where guests included Margot Robbie and Sam Worthington.<\/p>\n

But the Gomez-Blanco wedding was her most high profile yet, and the level of secrecy was such that Blake and other vendors were kept in the dark as to the location until they arrived on a bus and were told to hand over their mobile phones.<\/p>\n

The 15 hours that followed, at the Sea Crest Nursery in Santa Barbara, would be one of the most incredible, stressful and fascinating work days she has experienced.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not like a normal wedding. The thing about a celebrity wedding is you get about 30 seconds with people, so all my training had brought me to this moment,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was really happy with how they turned out, (the photos) were produced under very extreme circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Gomez<\/picture>
Camera Icon<\/title><\/svg>Gomez posted glimpses of her wedding reception, including a sweet photo of her kissing Blanco on the dance floor while wearing a vintage-inspired white dress with a sweetheart neckline.<\/span> Credit: Samm Blake @phoebejtonkin<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It is hard to overstate Gomez\u2019s level of celebrity. The 33-year-old former Disney child-star is one of the America\u2019s youngest female self-made billionaires, on the back of an Emmy and Grammy nominated music and acting career and her make-up brand, Rare Beauty.<\/p>\n

She is the most followed female on Instagram, amassing an astonishing 417 million fans who are drawn to her authenticity. The \u201cSelenators\u201d, as they are dubbed, were heartbroken when she and pop star Justin Bieber split, applauded her honesty when she shared her mental health struggles and a lupus diagnosis, and over the moon when Gomez found her happy-ever-after with Blanco.<\/p>\n

Blake found out early this year, via the couple\u2019s wedding planner, that they wanted her to photograph their big day and she was required to sign a strict non-disclosure agreement.<\/p>\n

While she is familiar with photographing the uber-rich and famous, the Gomez-Blanco wedding was another level. A team of more than 20 people were watching over Blake\u2019s shoulder as she worked, and she had limited time to nail each shot.<\/p>\n

When it came to capturing the guests, Blake recalled: \u201cNo matter where I pointed my camera, there was a celebrity.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a delicate dance, because you want to give them respect and space, but you also want to make sure you get a good shot of them . . . you jump in at the right moments and then get the hell out of there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Samm<\/picture>
Camera Icon<\/title><\/svg>Samm Blake.<\/span> Credit: supplied<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Later explaining the experience to her American husband, Kerry, Blake said it was like being inside a Super Mario computer game.<\/p>\n

\u201cMario\u2019s running through the obstacles, he\u2019s trying to get to the end, and there are all these things coming out trying to kill him, and all the hurdles he has to jump over,\u201d she told The West.<\/p>\n

\u201cSelena and Benny are lovely, charismatic, and so in love. It was motivating, I wanted to work really hard to navigate the obstacles to do a great job.\u201d<\/p>\n

She was relieved to discover she had done just that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was very anxious, \u2018do they like them, do they hate them?\u2019 So once they posted them (on Instagram) and I heard personally from Benny that they love them, that\u2019s what it\u2019s all about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blake was pleased the couple chose to share more of the tender, candid moments.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact she showed the world she was in bare feet for her first dance . . . that\u2019s why she\u2019s so relatable,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe girl next door who made it in the industry, and continues to evolve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blake shoots weddings all over the world; from opulent four-day extravaganzas in Europe to elopements at Manhattan\u2019s city hall. But irrespective of budget and guest list, there is a common thread across the almost 1000 weddings she has shot.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith weddings it can be fantasy, it can be make-believe, but I was always drawn to what makes it real \u2014 the emotion, and all the different social backgrounds of people and cultures and religions coming together, and seeing how families fuse what\u2019s important to them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"Gomez<\/picture>
Camera Icon<\/title><\/svg>Gomez and Blanco got married on September 27 in Santa Barbara, California.<\/span> Credit: Samm Blake @phoebejtonkin<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWhat matters most is families and friends coming together to celebrate. I do a lot of Jewish weddings and rather than it being this big showcase of money, it\u2019s more about \u2018look at where we have come from, look at what our grandparents sacrificed to come to America, look at this party we can throw, this celebration, we made it,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s really fascinating and beautiful to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kojonup-born Blake grew up in Albany, learning hard work and hustle from her parents Gwen and Morris Blake who ran the town\u2019s iconic Dylan\u2019s on the Terrace cafe, which remains in the family.<\/p>\n

\"Phoebe<\/picture>
Camera Icon<\/title><\/svg>Phoebe Tonkin on her wedding day.<\/span> Credit: Samm Blake @phoebejtonkin<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

She was given her first camera by her grandmother at eight, and credits her photography teacher at Albany Senior High school, Kim Byrne, with helping her turn the hobby into a passion. Edith Cowan University lecturers then taught Blake the beauty of social documentary photography, and that passion became a career, which started out in Perth.<\/p>\n

It was the 2011 Fremantle wedding of the now Federal Veterans Affairs Minister Matt Keogh and wife Annabel that proved a stepping stone for Blake\u2019s move to the US.<\/p>\n

The striking photos of Mrs Keogh\u2019s blue-grey Michelle Jank dress attracted worldwide attention, and within two years Blake had successfully applied for an elusive US work visa.<\/p>\n

She describes being Australian as her \u201csuperpower\u201d; her accent has proved the ultimate conversation starter and she is often told she appears cool, calm and collected even when battling intense stress internally.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m determined and stubborn, and once I set my eyes on something I go after it and haven\u2019t let anything get in my way. I think my parents passed on that gene,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"Annabel<\/picture>
Camera Icon<\/title><\/svg>Annabel & Matthew Keogh – Fremantle, Australia<\/span> Credit: Samm Blake<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Blake can remember details from each wedding, and is often reminded of the magic and power her images hold by the couples themselves. Earlier this year a 2008 bride, whose husband had recently passed away, contacted Blake and asked her to re-supply their wedding photos.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn her moment of crisis, the fact I could give those wedding photos to her, to me that\u2019s what it\u2019s about,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause what\u2019s the one thing we cling to when we are in tragedy, it\u2019s generally the big moments in our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.perthnow.com.au \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week, as millions of people watched and waited for American singer and actress Selena Gomez to share photographs from her wedding, one person was quietly, anxiously anticipating it more than any of them. For months, Albany-raised photographer Samm Blake had been keeping the biggest secret of her career. She had been handpicked to capture […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2079269,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25177],"tags":[21741,390646,344802],"class_list":["post-2079268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-regional-news","tag-wa-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Samm-Blake-Selena-Gomez-and-Benny-Blancos-wedding-photographer-is.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2079268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2079268"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2079268\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2079270,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2079268\/revisions\/2079270"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2079269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2079268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2079268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2079268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}