SamSpecial Professional member

Bio

Samuel Q. Reyes was born on Chicago's northwest side. He developed his love for the visual arts after suffering a double loss early in life. First his parents divorced at the age of two, and by the age of nine he lost his mother to breast cancer. The death of his mother was an unforgettable tragedy.

Through the healing of this major loss, Samuel found an escape by going to matinees at movie theaters. In this therapeutic process he was cutting class but with the exclusion of school came a new love that he would forever be in - films. This fascination was positive and euphoric as he felt like a hero walking out the theater.

"No matter what was going on in my life inside the theater, I was captivated by the hero's journey and the fact that I could feel so many different emotions by watching a movie", he reflects.

Although he cut classes, Samuel continued to pursue his education at Lakeview High School on Chicago's north side. Later he attended, NIU (Northern Illinois University) for a year before another reality faced him in life becoming a father where he left his studies to provide for his family. After having three children and moving Europe and working in retail management, Samuel relocated back to Chicago his home and he soon had an epiphany that would lead him back to his first love film.

It wasn't until thirteen years after he graduated from high school he found out what he really wanted to do. "I took a computer class to brush up on my skills, the first day of class the instructor had made a comment about loving what you do and why one should choose a career in a field in what they love and not chase a job just for money," he says.

This career discovery paved the way for his future. That very next day Samuel enrolled at the well-respected Columbia College in their film/video program with a concentration in editing. During his junior year a promotional tour came to Columbia, The Chosen Few El Documental. The genre of Reggaeton music was about to boom in the United States with the invasion of big radio and club records from Daddy Yankee, Nore and Wisin and Yandel . While the tour stopped at Columbia, Samuel who is of Puerto Rican descent took pictures and documented the event. The next day the tour had an in store at Lily's Record Shop on Division Street in the historic Humboldt Park neighborhood.

"I went to Lily's to see what was going on with the tour I was greeted by the tour manager," he says. "I took a few pictures and documented the in-store and went home; Samuel went back to his apartment and starting writing papers." I took a break from writing and had a look out the window, I saw the tour bus was still there and went to investigate. When I got back to Lily's one of the owners told me there was a fight, I went to explore what had happened and when I entered Latin America restaurant on Division, Boy Wonder the executive producer approached me, there was a fight between one of the artist on the tour and the cameraman," he adds. Call it being at the right place at the right time; from there Samuel continued to record the rest of the events the Chosen Few had in Chicago.

After the final event, the tour bus dropped Samuel off at his front door. Back to reality and finals the music bug bit Samuel. He watched the documentary about reggaeton and felt like he was part of a new movement that was urban and Latino.

The winter break was over while Samuel continued his studies thinking it was a one-time thing. Back in his apartment, Samuel was writing papers and studying, he received a phone call from Swift one of Chicago's record and party promoters .Swift informed Samuel that the tour manager Edgar Teveras was trying to track him down; they wanted Samuel to document the last leg of the tour from Miami and up the East Coast. Willing to escape the harsh Chicago winter, Samuel convinced his instructors he was going to use the tour to do an ethnographic survey since he was going to be immersed in this culture he used this opportunity to observe the culture of hip-hop, reggaeton, the music business and promotional tours.

Once the tour was over, Samuel received a call from Boy Wonder asking him to join them in New York to help with editing and the story line of Chosen Few II El Tour the first national reggaeton tour in the United States. After spending a year and a half in New York City, Samuel started getting calls to direct videos. While working under Edwin Decena during the edits of the documentary. Samuel learned more than what he could have in the classroom. "Edwin Decena is a great director; he's directed a feature "Transformations" that premiered at the Latino Film Festival in NYC and countless amounts of music videos,"

"I look up to Ed as a mentor in the biz, I often go to him for advice when dealing with labels and other situations regarding the biz. Edwin is wise beyond his years and is one of my most valuable resources in this business," he adds.

Samuel has a number of videos under his belt and has and his videos have been nominated for international video awards. His videos include works in Reggaeton, Hip-Hop/Latin Hip-Hop and Dance genres. He has worked with Dominican lyricist Reychesta, former leader of Tres Coronas, and legendary Chicago spitfire Twista, LDA the first male/female reggaeton duo, Baby Ranks, Getto formally of Buddhist Family, and Danielle Bollinger a dance artist. "I love making music videos because it gives me the chance to tell a narrative in three or four minutes, I want to make features, music videos are a good way to get works under my belt and develop my story telling skills. "

Samuel has also entered in the world of fashion photography where he was instrumental in filming the video demo and photos for America's Next Top Model's winner of cycle 8 Chicago native Jaslene Gonzalez who was the first Latina to hold the title. Jaslene is now one of the most sought after models in the fashion industry as her popularity continues to grow and she represents her city, heritage and Humboldt Park beginnings.

Samuel is currently one of Chicago's best-kept secrets, he is open to work Chicago area artists and he strongly feels that the Hip-Hop Crown needs to be in Chicago, he's and advocate and an ambassador for his community and the Chicago's Hip-Hop and Latino Hip-Hop movement.