We recently connected with Jeff Fyke and have shared our conversation below.

Jeff, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

As a creative, I am tasked by my clients with taking a concept and bringing it to life in such a way that the audience can relate with it. More than a creative, I consider myself a storyteller. One of my latest projects was to shoot, produce, and edit a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion video for a real estate association. This is DEI is something I am passionate about and was excited to take on the task. Through a trusted contact, I was able to acquire the use of an empty warehouse. I then set up my mics, lights and cameras. Over a two day period, I interviewed 11 individuals and heard their stories. I had over 3 hours of footage to cull through. Over a three week period, I created a six minute video that told the story of struggles these realtors faced and how their association was welcoming and inclusive to all. The end result was a moving tribute to the strides the association had taken to be inclusive of all.

Personally, I see an individual. I see a person. Race, gender, creed, orientation, etc. do not define a person’s worth. This project gave me the opportunity to affirm the association’s stance for equity in celebrating its diversity.

Jeff, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My story began in Nashville, Tennessee. My grandfather started his own flooring business and I worked with him in my teens and early twenties. I learned from him the dedication it took to start your own business. However, although working for my grandfather was a wonderful experience, installing and refinishing hardwood gym floors was not for me. Through high school, my grandmother paid for art lessons for me. I love painting and being creative. However, an oil on canvas master I am not. In high school and college, I had the opportunity to travel to Jamaica, China and Kenya. I took photos of things I found interesting, so that I could tell the story of my trip to others without having to do a lot of explaining. I fell in love with photography and storytelling during those trips. I decided that my passion and purpose was to tell the stories of others. My background in art gave me a creative eye, and my experience with my grandfather gave me business insight.

Fyke Photography started in 2016. My focus was on family portraits and small weddings. Since then, I have become an award winning and published wedding photographer. I still capture families, high school seniors, expectant mothers, couples, business individuals, and events, but my focus with photography is weddings.

The passion for storytelling goes beyond photography. During my second trip to Kenya, I taught myself how to create documentary style videos. I ended up shooting close to 10 videos for various missionaries and ministries in Kenya, so they could tell their story around the globe. I took what I learned in Kenya and brought it home with me. I now use that experience, and the knowledge I continually gain, to serve my clients in the Middle and East Tennessee regions.

Marketing is also a large part of storytelling. Since the inception of Facebook in 2004, I have been fully ingrained in the world of social media marketing. At the end of 2022, I co-founded a marketing firm called Adessa. At Adessa, we desire to illuminate your brand through photography, video, and social media management. This endeavor is the result of work I was already doing for people over the past five years.

How’d you meet your business partner?

Adessa was birthed out of a desire to help other tell their story. I was asked to create an Instagram account for a client and that they had a volunteer who had a background in marketing to manage it. About an hour or so after I had given them the login credentials, I received a message asking me if I would be ok with them giving the volunteer my cell phone number. I asked why and they said that she needed it for two-factor authentication. I gave permission and all was well. About a month or so later, I got to meet the volunteer. Her name is Savannah. We talked about marketing and she confessed that she was the one who broke Instagram by following too many accounts in a short period of time. I knew then she was driven. We continued to talk and get to know one another. We discovered that we had many of the same passions, experiences, and desires. After much prayer and planning, we decided to create Adessa, which combines both of our individual strengths in photo, video, graphics, social media, and marketing.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

To me, being a creative is telling the story. As a wedding photographer, it is my job to capture the love story of the couple. Those who see the photos should feel as if they were there, sitting front row at the ceremony, and dancing at the reception. I really enjoy when a couple sees their photos and love them, but for me, its the relationship that blossoms as a result of our partnership. Experiencing my clients transition to friends is the most rewarding aspect of my job as their photographer.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.fykephotography.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/fykephoto, www.instagram.com/adessa.design
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/fykephoto,https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100086771170165&mibextid=LQQJ4d
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiamncJj8QEozdnp1uFrJ_A

Image Credits
All images are copyright Fyke Photography