Sam’s passion for nature and working with animals started as a teenage volunteer at the Duke Lemur Center, Durham, North Carolina, where she worked for over a decade while completing a degree in Zoology from North Carolina State University (2003) and a Masters of Science in Primate Conservation from Oxford Brookes University (2006) in the UK. In 2009, while working at a primate rehabilitation facility in Nigeria, Sam also discovered her love for working as a professional photographer.  After years of juggling both her photography and wildlife conservation career, Sam moved to Costa Rica in 2013.  After a year of living and working in Costa Rica, Sam co-founded The Sloth Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing the welfare and conservation of sloths:  www.theslothinstitute.org

Conservation and Photography expeditions have taken Sam to Madagascar, West Africa, South East Asia, Central America, Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and throughout the Arctic Circle.  Sam finds nothing more exciting than capturing beautiful moments from our natural world.  Whether it be a sloth as they experience their first moments of freedom, a black bear catching their latest salmon meal, or the way light dances upon a mountain top; there is so much beauty in the world to celebrate.  Photography gives us the ability to freeze specific moments in time so that we can enjoy them forever while also highlighting important topics that need our attention.

Sam’s work has been featured in numerous local and international publications but most notably her sloth photos have been featured in BBC Wildlife and National Geographic.  She has published two photography books: ”Slothlove" (Inkshares, 2016) and "Destiny Finds Her Way" (National Geographic, 2023).  Sam was also a main contributor to the TV series “Nature's Miracle Orphans" which aired on BBC and PBS.

She is currently based in Manuel Antonio Costa Rica where she lives with her husband, Pedro, and their three rescue dogs and cat.

You can see her photography portfolio at samtrull.com