Sam Zalkin is a photographer and musician from Denver. If you’re not from Denver, you might not know who he is but if you’ve been paying attention to the underground scene in the Mile High City you may have run across his photographic work documenting bands playing places like Squirm Gallery, Seventh Circle Music Collective, D3, Hi-Dive, The Marquis Theater and elsewhere. He was born in Houston, Texas but moved to Denver around age five when his father moved to town for a job at Children’s Hospital. In seventh grade Zalkin was encouraged by his school counselor to apply to go to Denver School of the Arts where he would attend through high school graduation in 2026. He was a film student who got into photography when he got access to a camera in his early-to-mid-teens and early in his tenure at DSA he met a friend who introduced him to K Records and Kill Rock Stars bands which lead him to a different world of music than what his parents were into. Zalkin wrote a piece about David Lynch for school and his teacher Amy McGrath told him her daughter was friends with someone opening for Midwife at the Bluebird Theater in 2024 and that lead Zalkin to an internship and then employment at Wax Trax records and being around the likes of the members of Pink Lady Monster, Cherry Spit and going to Squirm gallery for the first time and encountering Ryan Wong and his musical projects. Rapidly Sam became a fixture in the local scene shooting shows and bringing a uniquely creative vision to the visual presentation of the bands in post-processing and honing his photography skills. His work has graced the artwork for east coast-based experimental rock band Neptune’s album Play Some Music (2026) and he has done short documentaries on Denver musician and long-time Wax Trax employee Doug Mioducki (title Common American Crow, Mioducki has been in bands Felt Pilotes, Koala, North Americans, Sparkles, CP-208, Quits etc) as well as Squirm Gallery (titled Something Real). Now Zalkin is off to attend school at Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore where he will likely further pursue his work in film and photography but he will always be a key contributor to documenting the Denver scene the past couple of years plus.
Listen to our interview with Sam Zalkin on Bandcamp and see his band Apple Blossom at D3 Arts at 3:45 on Saturday, July 25, 2026 as part of the Blucifer Fest Satellite event.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
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