Today we’d like to introduce you to Darryl “G” Humphrey II.
Darryl, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My career as a photographer began in 2014. I had always been fascinated with photography, but I never thought I would be a photographer. Furthermore, I was deeply involved in producing music and have been since I was 13 years old. Music actually brought me to Atlanta in 2013 after graduating from college. I’ve always used photography to give a more professional aesthetic to my presence online, but dealing with difficult photographers, I opted to purchase my first camera in April 2014.
From that day on, I began learning as much as I could about photography. I thought I was good at taking photos until I began comparing my first photos to other photographers. It became very clear that I wasn’t doing some things correctly. I knew nothing about shooting in manual and knew nothing about editing. It’s true that we all have to start somewhere!
My turning point came when a good photographer friend of mines took me under his wing to teach me everything he knew about the art. I began to understand exposure, depth of field, composition, especially Adobe Lightroom/Photoshop for retouching/editing. It wasn’t long before I had more clients with my photography vs. producing music.
Upon sharing my photography online, my Instagram page blew up! After years of pursuing music, I’d reached a point to where I was more passionate about photography and decided to put 100% into it. Upon making that decision, my photography has given me so many opportunities! From shooting the BMI Awards to being published, shooting celebrities (Teyana Taylor, Lil Boosie, Lloyd, & Sonny Digital to name a few) shooting weddings and getting contracted work in several states. I must say it took a ton of time and effort to get this point, and I’m still learning!
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
My struggles with photography have certainly been me putting others before myself. Doing that has cost me plenty of time and money. I would easily trust people, and that leads to many people getting over on me as I began not only understanding the art of photography but the art of business as well.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Above The Line Media story. Tell us more about the business.
At Above The Line Media we specialize in photography, film/video, and content strategy. Entrepreneurship is very popular now, and having high quality content is a very important part of getting a leg up on the competition. The average attention span of a human being is 8 seconds, one second less than a goldfish. Getting and keeping attention is no easy task. High-quality content gets consumed, liked, and shared. It also helps consumers remember brands more easily.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
Luck (or I like to refer to it as favor) has played a role in a couple of parts in my journey as a photographer. One story is when I sold my first drone to have extra cash to put towards upgrading my camera. Not even a month after making this hard decision, I was able to barter (exchange of services no $$$) another newer & better drone in comparison to the one I sold.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.atlforever.com
- Phone: 901-334-6490
- Email: Darryl@atlforever.com
- Instagram: gfatherproducer
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/atlforever
Getting in touch: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
