Member Spotlight: Sam Starns

Creating Intentional Stories Across the Pacific Northwest

Sam Starns

Member Spotlight: Sam Starns

Meet Sam Starns, a former park ranger, TEDx speaker, author of Elope Your Life™️, and Oregon-based elopement and tourism photographer who curates and captures elopement adventures across the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, and beyond.

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For Sam Starns, public lands are more than scenic locations. They are the foundation of a creative career rooted in place, access, responsibility, and trust.

As an Oregon-based elopement photographer with a decade of experience in the adventure wedding space, Sam specializes in intimate outdoor celebrations across the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, and destinations around the world. Having grown up in Oregon, worked as a park ranger on the Oregon Coast, and collaborated with Redwood Parks Conservancy on a Leave No Trace guide specifically tailored to photographing people in the redwoods, Sam brings a deeply informed perspective to the way creative work happens outdoors.

A significant part of Sam’s work takes place on public lands, especially national forest lands, coastal landscapes, and lesser-known wild places where couples can feel present, connected, and fully immersed in the experience. More recently, Sam has also expanded into tourism photography, creating work for organizations including Travel Oregon and Mt. Hood Territory.

“Creating on public lands is a right, but it’s also a responsibility.”

Sam Starns

Q&A With Sam

What public lands, parks, or outdoor spaces are most connected to your work?

While I photograph in national parks, I’m most connected to national forest lands that are less crowded and allow a couple to feel like they are the only two people in the world.

Places like the Umpqua National Forest, the Oregon Coast, and Alaska wilderness are especially meaningful to me.

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  Sam Starns Photography

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  Sam Starns Photography

Sam Starns

Why did you join Public Land Creatives, and why do you think others would benefit from joining?

As the photography industry, specifically outdoor adventure photography, grows, more people are exploring our public lands without always understanding the responsibility that comes with being there. In response, some public lands have implemented more difficult permitting systems to address land overuse or misuse.

I joined Public Land Creatives because PLC is not only a helpful source of information about permits and public lands access, but also an advocate for creatives. PLC has been part of important work around making public lands access clearer, fairer, and more realistic for small creative teams and solo artists, including advocacy connected to the EXPLORE Act.

By joining PLC, you are helping support future advocacy work while also gaining access to information, resources, and a member community navigating many of the same public lands questions. Being part of PLC means being part of the work to keep public lands accessible and reduce unnecessary obstacles for those creating responsibly.

Why does access to public lands matter to your business or creative work?

Without public lands, photographing elopements and other outdoor adventures becomes much more prohibitive.

Private land can mean more paperwork, additional permissions, higher costs, or no public access at all. Public lands make it possible for couples to experience meaningful places and for photographers to tell stories in landscapes that are open, shared, and deeply connected to place.

What do you wish more people understood about creating on public lands?

Creating on public lands is a right, but it is also a responsibility.

Things like following Leave No Trace practices and appropriate drone regulations are not optional.

Proper care of our land is the only way these places will be here in the future.

Joining PLC is one way creatives can do their part as members of the outdoor creative community.

Sam Starns

Is there a recent project, session, story, or accomplishment you’d like us to highlight?

I love when my couples trust me to lead them to lesser-known or less-explored locations, so their elopement destination feels truly personal instead of like the same place they have seen repeatedly online.

One of my 2025 couples trusted me to show them the surrounding area around Crater Lake. They explored waterfalls with no one else around, stood in the shadow of an extinct volcano, and dipped in hot springs on a cliff above a river.

Those are the kinds of experiences I love helping couples create: deeply personal, place-based, and connected to landscapes that feel meaningful rather than overused.

What is one tip, insight, or encouragement you’d share with other creatives navigating public land access?

If navigating a million different permitting systems seems daunting, that’s because it often is.

Do not be afraid to specialize in a few places that require permits and refer other inquiries out. I used to photograph anywhere and everywhere someone would book me, which meant constantly navigating different applications and requirements. It did not allow me to do my best artistic work because I was stressed about logistical issues.

Now, I turn down certain locations because I know there is likely someone else who could serve that couple better. For instance, I leave Colorado to the Colorado elopement experts.

I am an expert in the permit-required locations I photograph, and my couples love it.

You do not need to do everything, everywhere.

Connect with Sam

Business: Sam Starns

Website: samstarns.com

Instagram: @samstarns

Photo credit: Sam Starns Headshot credit: @caravan.content Copyright: Sam Starns