Check Out Smoove’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Smoove.

Hi Smoove, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
When I was a kid I was obsessed with magazines like The Source, XXL, Slam and Vibe magazine, and this was solely off of enjoying the portraits of celebrities taken by amazing photographers. From the colors to the poses, I knew I wanted to be the photographer behind the camera creating portraits that told a story and caught your eye. When I was in the 8th grade, I got my first camera phone and digital camera, and snapped away, posting to Myspace and enjoying the creative process early from capturing and editing. I had my first DSLR camera in college. Even though I went to college and pursued Media Studies, I strongly consider myself a self-taught photographer, as I spent A LOT of time outside of the classroom, practicing, building clientele and staying up late nights perfecting my editing skills, researching, making mistakes and perfecting a style that was my own. Since then, I have been consistently putting myself in the position to grow into the photographer I am today and excited for the space where more growth will take me.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
My photography journey has been organic, with challenges that allowed me to walk away with lessons and notes to take back to the drawing board. The obstacles I experienced along my journey mainly took place when I was in living in Illinois and feeling like I couldn’t express myself creatively to the extent that I wanted, due to lack of resources, studios and not having the opportunity to challenge myself creatively. Coming to Atlanta, “Home of the Creatives” as I’d like to call it, allowed me to tackle through those obstacles and have such great creative freedom and I’ve been enjoying every single moment of it.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a photographer and I specialize in portrait and event photography. I am mainly known for capturing lifestyle portraits of individuals and groups. The one thing I am most proud of is how I was able to move to Atlanta and get my brand out there in less than 3 years. I believe my aura and photography style sets me apart from others. I have always pushed myself to step outside of the box, by not falling into trends and I truly enjoy getting to know my clients, which has allowed me to create amazing experiences with all of my clients and continuously walking away from shoots feeling so fulfilled in more ways than one.

If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
The quality that I feel is most important to my success is dedication. I am strongly committed to my work and value behind it. Every shoot that I have, I find myself being so eager and excited to tackle on a shoot, and to witness my clients to see the photos I was able to capture of them. In addition to being dedicated to my brand, I am the kind of person who accepts criticism and feedback, actually I encourage it, because it allows me to gain a different perspective and understand areas that I can focus more on, which I feel goes hand in hand with being dedicated to growing and building success.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_smooveshotyou_