Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to DeAndré DeRoché. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

DeAndré, appreciate you joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I don’t believe there was ever a time where I didn’t think or feel that I would pursue a creative and artistic path professionally. I grew up with “authentic” written as a label on my forehead for longer than I could remember. However, I can say that a deeper search of what and all I wanted to do really snapped into me with my transition from middle to high school. It felt like I became lost from my own ignorance of how much the world has to provide and how much control I can have to guide myself in a greater light. I never had a large interest in doing anything linear with my life, and the assurance I had obtained towards having an idea of what I wanted to pursue at a young age allowed for minimal doubt to cross my mind. There was a feeling that I had to dive head first.

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?

As an artist, I have a never-ending list of qualities, traits, and characteristics about myself, but I like to be known as a guy that knows no creative boundaries, has a heart for music and photos, loves flowers, and hates black beans. With being born in Marietta and being raised in Dekalb County, the great city of Atlanta has been the home for all my artistic endeavors. Music has always moved my soul and ever since I was young, I could not live without it. My mom was an instrumentalist, so falling down the same path wasn’t hard, and I had learned how to play clarinet. This took me far enough to get into art schools and to play in my school bands, but I felt like I was not doing enough and that I was placed in a box of limited tunes…I wanted more. I wanted to make music from scratch and create sounds that people love to hear. I joined a media club where I started my music production, and I loved it so much that I quit band and started to widen my horizons by learning other instruments like piano to make my sound as pretty as it could be. Now, I make everything from my room incorporating my music with my visual art. Getting into photography was influenced by my fascination with cameras and how art could be created with such a machine. My dad used to take me to photoshoot sets from time to time and I noticed that I started to accumulate an interest to be behind the camera. I would then go on to take photos on my phone until I had gotten my first camera. Gaining more camera knowledge in high school opened the door wide because that is where I would learn I had no boundaries to what I could shoot. A favor to do a photoshoot was asked of me by my friends one summer, and with the blink of an eye, I am doing photoshoots and taking photos of anything that catches my eye. Working in a range from portrait, fashion, editorial, and architectural photography, I put my all into making art with anything that I could find and love. There isn’t any greedy backing or trendy nature to what I do or produce. I have been told that there is true quality and immense storytelling found with my photos and rollouts, and that is what makes me distinctive by society and in the concentration of others like me. I take pride in the attention to detail, emotion, and integrity I put in the craft. Being able to express my truths and experiences to the point of mass understanding through my work is what I am most proud of.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Seeing the products of my arduous work, feeling the energy and time that people put towards viewing my art, and evaluating the creative process are the most rewarding aspects of being a creative. It feels ecstatic to understand the magnitude of what it means to have created something and when people love it, that makes the feeling all the better because I get a sense of validation and feel that people utterly understand me without me having to push an agenda to make my work clearer relatable. It’s like a natural gift. Making things is super dope to me and gets me going, so when I am creating, that is me having the time of my life. Surely there are some stresses, but the good certainly outweighs the bad. A powerful sense of nostalgia stemming from earlier projects feels accomplishing, you know?

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I don’t think non-creatives understand the concept of making something from nothing and generating elaborate ideas pertaining to art. This isn’t general to the non-creatives as I know that there are people who are empathetic to my field, but I feel like it is not understood that creative work is not always cheap especially if the quality is top notch. Non-creatives can sometimes place an unrealistic expectation upon creatives, but I don’t blame them because innocent ignorance can create a disconnect between both worlds.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @justatypicaldre
• Twitter: @justatypicaldre
• Youtube: DeAndre DeRoche
• Other: Pintrest; @justatypicaldre TikTok: @justatypicaldre

Image Credits
DeAndre DeRoche