MILWAUKEE — Chances are you've seen the beauty of Milwaukee from a camera - on the ground or from the sky. And you may have seen the work of Appleton's very own Samuel Li. He's been sharing the beauty of Brew City and the Badger State with people all over the world.
Sam's videos have drawn thousands of followers on Instagram & Facebook. He has joined projects with Visit Milwaukee and Destination Madison among others. But he says none of his work would have happened without inspiration and motivation - without seeing others like him.
"Some of the earliest people on YouTube that I watched were Asian. It gave me confidence to put myself on camera, to put myself on social media," he says.
Sam's parents immigrated from Taiwan and he grew up in Appleton for most of his life.
After graduating from UW Madison in 2018, Sam started his own production company. TMJ4 had the opportunity to follow Sam on a video shoot in Milwaukee. Even though he has a process and his equipment is top-notch, we quickly learned that every shoot has its difficulties.
As soon as the drone went up, a dozen seagulls began circling the pier we were standing on. Sam tries steering the massive drone out over the open waters of the Milwaukee harbor.
"The biggest danger to drones are definitely seagulls here in Milwaukee," Sam says.
Li is no stranger to challenges - both creatively and personally. As a second-generation Asian American, there were people who let him know he was different.
“I’ve definitely experienced discrimination. A lot of people in the beginning of COVID [blamed] China for it. So they would say things to me on the street. That’s something I experienced on a regular basis".
It's as if Sam was like his drone among the birds. But that difference doesn't stop him from getting the perfect shot.
Even though there are so many places to photograph in the world, Sam keeps coming back to Wisconsin.
"You have Milwaukee with Lake Michigan. You have Door County and Lake Superior farther up North. You have all these beautiful, under-appreciated areas that people need to know more about," Li said.
Sam hopes to take his work to other locations - including internationally in the months and years ahead. Despite these goals, you can always count on Sam keeping our Badger State in mind.
"Wisconsin will always have a special place in my heart...because it’s where I started," he said.
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