Life & Work with Kejay Urbane of Atlanta

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kejay Urbane.

Hi Kejay, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
When thinking of how I started my journey with photography I can’t help but give honor to God; and the love He Placed in me for my people. I was born in the late 90’s Atlanta and raised in its early 2000’s era with a deep love for writing; my true first passion and then later photography. Being here, I was always surrounded by such deep roots of black culture. Movements that rattled the country, even the world were held on the very streets my friend and I would trace on marta up, down and across the rail lines on weekends. Seeing black people exist in so many different spaces, lifestyles and depth filled my everyday. As I got older, I became more and more aware that the seemingly black mecca I lived in was much more special than I thought, being that it isn’t like this almost anywhere else in the country, let alone the state. Blackness isn’t able to breathe and move in rhythm like it can here. I realized that people didn’t hang Black Jesus in their homes or churches, they don’t know the early record scratches of R&B; only the radio mixes. Nor do they hold a special place for jazz even on the sunniest of days. Doors aren’t held for auntie at the store and no one’s learning from the cigar uncs at the park on lazy afternoons. Sunday brunch after church was….optional haha. Blackness isn’t celebrated like it is here, anywhere else in the world to me, not the all encompassing celebration of African, and African American communities alike. Meeting people from all walks of life, some on mountain tops and some in valleys lower than low I began to fall in love with the bridges we could build between one another through community; true togetherness. As I got older I felt a need to express these connections in us as human beings just like other races in the world and as an avid reader I started off with what I knew best; writing. Over the years poems of black love, loss and individuality filled my journals while stories of black odyssey and thesis on human existence started to crowd my notebooks. Shortly after graduating I realized that while words are what bring things together for me, I wanted a medium that could transcend with the digital age that wouldn’t read as often, propelling me into photography. I made my way through Atlanta and all its parts; making and losing friends along the way all while finding how to capture those same precious parts of how we live as people, black people. Old, young. Man, woman and all along the spectrum. Together. A picture is worth a thousand words i always tell myself, and with my style pf photography i try to bring the viewer next to me in a sense,and show them how warm the world still is with each other, with ourselves, with God, even in times of anguish without the need to speak.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It hasn’t all been easy. In my early twenties someone told me that to create you must first live; and that is sometimes the hardest part. Everyone has moments in life where things crumble, crack and unfortunately at times dissolve right into dust in our very hands. When things have fallen apart for me I have mourned the loss of what I considered a beautiful city; but ultimately decided that it’s also the perfect time for rebuilding. Maybe it’s me being a Capricorn sun. Four years ago I lost my older brother and with that my desire to create for quite some time but, in that time i needed to grieve and that grieving was a part of me living. I ran, fell and got back up what seems like a million times just in that first year without ever truly touching my camera or journals. I had created enough at that time, it was time I found something to create for instead. The sun began to shine again in life. I reached first for my pen, then for my camera. Everything else is God, and one day at a time. Every day.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’ve always been someone who can lose interest in things pretty quickly; unfortunately this character trait followed me into the work force. Admittedly I did everything under the sun to try and find the right fit for myself. At just 19 years old I got my cdl and drove school buses for Fulton county, that was probably the most fun job I’ve ever had given the age I was. After that I worked as a retail store associate, stylist, and other odd jobs like delivery driving and being a personal assistant before taking a short stint in the I.T world for a few years. I am now a behavioral Therapist and para professional. I’ve worked with early grade school children for about six years now. I got started in my early twenties partnering with Dr Chantrise Holliman, working with her put me deeper into the education world with a focus on children with I.E.P’s. I’m most proud of the impact I’ve been able to have on children who merely learn and live differently than us. One of my favorite achievements in education is simply getting the opportunity to show them the more fun life skills like swinging, how to skip rocks and the hand games I would play at their age.

Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Personally, I wouldn’t consider myself much of a risk taker. I was raised by a mother who majored in education and a father who majored in logistics. I don’t think risk taking has ever been a part of my initial DNA. That being said, it’s always been odd for me to hear the opposite about myself from people. Admittedly I am a 6 ‘1 dark skinned black man with platinum blonde hair down to his waist that lives on the south side of Atlanta; so that may be a risk in itself given the perspective. I left home at an early age knowing that the only way to make sense of the world around me was to fully see it through my eyes. I’ve leapt from job to career to cathodically waking up at noon for weeks answering to no one without a moment’s notice; but again these are only risks based on perspective. In my eyes a risk is something you take not knowing the outcome, good or bad. While I’m not a risk taker, I can at times be a blind optimist. Faith driven. Ignoring any and all signs that things might not work and even when they don’t; somehow feeling like it’s only part of the plan even if its being made up along the way. I admire those courageous enough to admit they’re not sure, and still leap, it’s important to have that but I don’t personally think that person is me.

Pricing:

• Content Creation: Consultation Required
• Digital Shoots: $120hr
• Film Shoot: $150 per roll (32 photos)
• Writing: Consultation Required

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @kejayurbane
• Other: kejayurbane@gmail.com

Image Credits
Photography and styling: Me Models in order of photos @torontoparadise Ameer Reid Astede Jahannes Kaleb Holliman