We were lucky to catch up with Akila André recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Akila thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I discovered my obsession for photography while in college studying fashion marketing & management at SCAD. Even though I was studying marketing, I realized I needed art like I need food, so I taught myself how to shoot. I practiced by doing a lot of self portraits, taking pictures of my siblings, and of my classmates at school.

To speed up my learning process, in hindsight I would have gone to school for photography; but realistically the path I’m on now makes more sense, so maybe having a mentor would have sped up my learning curve.

Essential skills boils down to knowing how to use your camera. I learned composition before I learned all of my camera settings, so that was just backwards and some photos are anti-crisp for no reason because I was being hardheaded. But that didn’t last too long. Another thing is learning how to edit; because I shoot digital, I edit in particular ways for stylistic reasons.

When I got my first camera out of high school it was really hard to learn how to shoot like some of my favorite photographers (i.e Nick Knight). Youtube had like 5 tutorials at the time and they weren’t helpful.+ I always gravitated towards a 90s style where the images looked infused with ink or like it was run through a printer but still vibrant, but I do truly love so many different styles and find inspiration in them.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Akila André. I am a creative; a fashion and brand photographer, stylist, and assistant muralist. I provide photography and styling services for businesses, brands and creatives. My favorite part of my work is when I’m able to help a brand or business reignite their vision by providing quality work. I think my understanding of the art of fashion helps my photographs to stand out whether or not it’s a ‘fashion image’. My particular understanding of the texture of clothing, or how a fashion editorial composition should feel and look informs my work a lot, and I hope to push the envelope even more in 2026. Having a family of artists also helps expand the vision of my work, shout out to my siblings @azizaandreart and @amarioandre

I’m proud that I keep striving to be better as I get older, instead of settling into what I already know. I truly think I’ll be creating some of my best work in 2026 and can’t wait for that.

One thing I’d like people to know about my work is that if any client I have has no idea where to start when working on their brand, I help them foster a vision or take over the creative aspect entirely if they allow me to. It’s so fun to have creative freedom and to help others expand their own perspective too.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

I think society has to set the intention to support creatives/each other. I believe the tides will change soon where we will start spending our dollars more wisely by way of supporting each other instead of feeding industries that are gluttonous and ultimately don’t serve the greater good (i.e making sure society is well fed with our basic needs met so we are able to thrive).
The way we view investing in stocks, bonds, bitcoin etc. we should see the same value in investing in each other without a big name having to co-sign our greatness first.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

Asking for help! It’s a great resource that I’m learning to use more often.

Believing in yourself + being self-sufficient is also very resourceful

Contact Info:

• Website: https://akilaandre.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/akilatheperson

Image Credits

Models:

Samia @the.samiaangel
Chase @era_cntrl
Courtney @cococam16
Sara @goldenovaries
Maleah Matias @maleah.matias
Allyson Jordann @allysonjordann