The Forms of Silence

<p><strong style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Sam Lee</strong><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> (also known as </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Sam L. Street</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>) is a contemporary street photographer based in Amsterdam. His work captures the quiet poetry of everyday life-fleeting unguarded moments found both in the streets of his hometown and while traveling through other cities. In his new book </span><strong style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>The Forms of Silence: Street Photography</strong><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> Sam continues his search for rare moments when the ordinary transforms into something quietly profound. The project began with a small camera and long walks through city streets-capturing fleeting instances where light and shadow converse.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>In 2024 one of his photographs was selected for </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Tribute to Saul Leiter: Early Color</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> at Belgrade Photo Month. The following year he received the Silver Award in the international reFocus Awards for abstract street photography and his work appeared alongside Tatsuo Suzuki in </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Street Photography France</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> (Edition 11 2025).</span></p><p></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Author of </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Street Level: Poems from the Street</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> (2023) and a member of Street Photography France Sam lectures Theology of Migration at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam where he earned a PhD in theology. He also holds a Master's degree in Development Sociology from Leiden University specializing in Japanese society culture religion and migration.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>As a sociologist and theologian Sam's professional life often unfolds at the intersection of human vulnerability and resilience. Street and urban photography became a refuge from this intensity-offering moments of stillness quiet observation and unexpected beauty. Drawn to the subtle transformations of the city-rain turning streets into living paintings fallen leaves scattering like soft gestures of affection-this book is not presented as a declaration of mastery but as a record of a search: a personal attempt to listen for stillness in a world that rarely stops shouting.</span></p><p></p>