“This is a big deal for me, to walk in a room and see my work,” said Sameer Khan h21, with his arms crossed in a soft gray quarter-zip, scanning the walls of Campus Club, the home of many of his photographs.
At Princeton, Khan can usually be found in the corners of a room with a camera, snapping pictures of new administrators around campus greenery or photographing campus events while joking with students. He currently works as a contracted photographer for many events run by the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students (ODUS) at Princeton, and he is the owner and founder of his photography company, Fotobuddy. Khan’s photos hang in Prospect House, Nassau Hall, and Campus Club.
A visible and invisible figure on campus, Khan and his camera have shaped some of the most integral parts of Princeton life.
Khan never wanted to be a photographer. It wasn’t until he joined The Daily Targum, Rutgers’ student newspaper, that he started taking photos. According to him, he only attended the first meeting because a friend didn’t want to go alone. Only a sophomore in college, Khan was asked to photograph an event without any prior experience.
“I show up, [and] they give me a camera. They say, ‘whatever you get is gonna be better than not having a photo,’” Khan recalled. “And I took a great shot.”
Khan’s editor was impressed. “You can teach a lot about photography,” they said, according to Khan, “but you can’t teach somebody composition — not the way that you’re seeing images.” That was the catalyst. From there, he became a photographer at the Targum, and occasionally wrote feature stories as well.
After graduation, Khan went into the corporate world, but tried to continue pursuing his passion for photography on the side. After a year, he started working with his former Rutgers editor on smaller political campaigns. In 2002, he finally had his “big break.”
Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA), at the time referred to as the Woodrow Wilson School of Public Policy, needed a photographer for an event. After the original photographer from Rutgers could no longer attend, they recommended Khan for the job.
“I show up,” said Khan. “[And] it’s Henry Kissinger.” Not what he expected, he noted.
The encounter was a turning point. Impressed by Khan’s work, SPIA invited him back. For the first few years with SPIA as his client, Khan photographed several of the department’s afternoon lectures.
“[I get] my first corporate client, and it’s Princeton University,” said Khan. “It was like [I had] bragging rights.”
In 2005, Khan convinced SPIA to let him photograph events for its 75th anniversary. “They could hire somebody local and take a chance, or spend a little bit more and hire me and get guaranteed results.”
In 2012, Khan started to photograph department and program events, but Princeton remained a small part of his business. However, in 2017, Khan got a chance to photograph an event hosted by the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students (ODUS), which would go on to become his biggest client at Princeton.
That was when Tom Dunne, former Deputy Dean for ODUS at Princeton and current Dean of Students at Harvard, caught wind of him.
“I remember distinctly looking at the images he delivered for that [ODUS] event, and he had some really amazing pictures in the balcony area of Richardson,” noted Dunne, a fellow photography enthusiast. “And I know how hard it is to shoot photos in that space.”
Once Dunne found out that Khan was a contracted photographer for the public policy school, and not part of the department, they began working together.
“Initially, it started out [that] we would conceptualize an event, and we’d have him come and cover it.” said Dunne. “But with his rapport and the way that he interacted with students, Sameer became a co-creator of some events.”
For example, the first day of classes photo with the “FDOC” banner was created with Khan’s contribution in mind. Today, it is a highly coveted photograph for a student at Princeton.
“He was more than just a contracted photographer,” said Dunne. “He, in many cases, became someone who was really closely working with our office and students in developing programs.”
Khan also became involved in the thesis photo, a longstanding Princeton tradition, helping to provide photos for students that may not have the funds to hire a photographer.
Khan has also influenced the very location of photos taken around campus. Today, many administrative portraits and student portraits are taken outside in the greenery of Princeton’s campus. Unbeknownst to many, it was Khan’s dislike of the “cold” studio setup that began this trend that now is prevalent in many a student and administrator portrait.
The COVID-19 pandemic, however, was a moment where Khan and Dunne’s collaborative efforts became concentrated on helping students connect to campus remotely.
Dunne and Khan worked together on the “Princeton is Wherever You Are” project, a collaboration between ODUS, the Class of 2021, and Khan.
“[The pandemic] was really challenging… especially at a place that I think has such a particular type of physical resonance,” said Dunne.
Khan had initially ideated the project, suggesting that he would photograph the students remotely, guiding their friends and roommates to take their photographs. After, the photo would be edited and placed somewhere in Princeton that was important to them.
Morgan Smith ’21 was one of the students who participated in the “Princeton is Wherever You Are” project.
“As someone who graduated in the Class of 2021, there’s often times where I feel like I was only at Princeton for three and a half years because of the COVID-2019 pandemic,” she noted.
“[Because of Khan’s work], I’m able to say four years, because it didn’t matter that we weren’t on campus anymore,” said Smith, recalling how Khan “coached” her sister to take Smith’s photo for the “Princeton is Wherever You Are” project.
“He really came through for us,” said Smith, “Especially when you think of photos as memorializing people in a place at a certain time. His ability to transcend that, I’ll always admire him for that.”
Khan’s impact on students reaches far and wide, and one of his favorite aspects of Princeton to photograph is student life.
“Everybody that goes through here is going to be something phenomenal one day,” he said. “All of you are folks that will change the world, and that’s kind of cool to see you in your developing stages.”
“He’s … generous with his time,” said Stephen Padlo ’25, who currently serves as the Treasurer for the Class of 2025. Padlo noted, along with Khan’s sense of humor, how “he’ll work overtime just because he loves his job and loves us.”
“[Sameer] captures the smiles outside of the bad days,” said D’Schon Simmons ’27, who serves as the president of the Class of 2027. “He serves as somebody who captures the moments that we can sometimes take for granted.”
“He documents student life like no other person on this campus does,” added Padlo, referencing the ODUS SmugMug page, where photos from many ODUS events are posted.
Khan said he envisions his relationships with students at Princeton in a similar light to his bond with his daughter, who is about to leave for college: Although they graduate and leave campus, they’re not really gone.
“When these students leave after four years, I’m gonna see them at Reunions,” he said. “That’s my hope.”
Khan also refers to his honorary membership in the Class of 2021 as “one of the greatest things that’s ever happened to me.”
“My dad always would instill [in me] … ‘listen, it doesn’t matter how much money somebody pays you, but if they give you that title, they value you, because then everybody knows what you’ve earned.’”
“I felt like this was one way of being recognized as part of the campus community,” he noted. “I hang that plaque with pride in my house right next to the most expensive painting we have. Because to me, that has more value.”
This show of acceptance and recognition from the Class of 2021 helped Khan realize his effect on the Princeton community.
Smith was also a co-chair of the Class of 2021’s Class Day. “When I think of who an honorary class member should be,” said Smith, “It should be someone like him who has been there every step of the way.”
Especially because Khan played such a large role in creating the 2021 virtual Class Day, “getting to honor the person who helped to make that all happen ... it just made so much sense,” Smith said.
“I’ve realized that I’ve actually had a positive impact on people,” said Khan, “I never thought that way, and I think most photographers don’t think that way because we’re never recognized.”
Through his photography, Khan has also had the chance to connect with high-level Princeton administrators, share his craft, and build relationships. Even in rooms with actors, administrators, professors, and students alike, Khan’s approach remains similar.
Khan recalled the way in which a dean at the University summed his approach to photography. “When you approach a subject, you approach them on a very personal level, so they’re comfortable with you.” According to Khan, that skill is his strength.
Khan recalls taking this approach during his first of many sessions photographing President Christopher Eisgruber ’83.
“I asked him to sit on my case, and he looked at me, and I said, ‘It’s okay. I’ve had presidents of countries sit on this case. I’ve photographed a lot of famous people, but I’ve never been this nervous for a photo shoot.’ And he just chuckled and that was it. He was warm,” Khan recalled.
Eisgruber commented in writing to the ‘Prince’ on his relationship with Khan. “I trust him,” he wrote, “and I’ve learned to do whatever he says — whether he’s telling me to smile more, turn slightly to the right, or adjust my jacket pocket.”
“He is creative, he pays attention to every detail, and his sense of humor makes him a pleasure to work with,” Eisgruber wrote.
Having taken photos of presidents, world leaders, professors, students, and administration alike, Khan doesn’t usually get nervous.
“[But] when I don’t have my camera, I’m the complete opposite,” he noted. “If I have a camera, I’ll go up to anybody, and it doesn’t matter who you are: president, king, celebrity … When I don’t have a camera … I’m the guy standing by the punch bowl by myself,” he said.
But Khan, behind the camera, is everywhere at Princeton. “There’s so many great Princeton events where you look around, [you think], ‘I love this place,’” added Dunne. “And there’s Sameer in the corner photographing it.”
“One of the things that I’ve realized in the last few years is that … I’ve impacted the direction of photography at some of these places, on how photographs are valued,” said Khan. According to him, Nassau Hall only recently began hanging photographs in its hallways alongside the artwork.
Now, according to Khan, the second floor of Nassau Hall is filled with photos he has taken of conferences at Princeton.
“I think there’s a whole new level of appreciation for event photography and portrait photography, where it doesn’t have to be somebody famous, or taken by somebody famous, and I like that,” said Khan. “I like that direction.”
As a photographer who now passes by his work in the many hallowed halls at Princeton, Khan will always stop and say: “I took that photo.”
Mira Eashwaran is an associate Features editor for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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