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

Patrick, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

I think success is defined differently by various people. Others view on success may be completely opposite on what yours and my view on success is. I believe success only comes by persevering despite failure. Kind of how I’ve lived a majority of my life by trial and error. In life we walk down the path we choose for ourselves. Along that path there will be road blocks and obstacles in our way to prolong progress. The choices you make to overcome these challenges has a lot to do with success in my opinion. Some chose to go around the blockage while others decided to tackle it head on and remove it completely from the path. Either way you chose some will succeed and progress forward and some won’t. Moral of the story is you can’t be afraid to fail or you will never succeed. That’s what true success is to me.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

Back in 2019 I was working a dead end job for a lighting company and miserable. I was expecting my first child and really didn’t know what I wanted to do with me life. I knew I wanted to give my daughter the world but I didn’t know how. Then the pandemic hit and like everyone else everyday life came to a screeching stop. The normal things I did in my spare time I could no longer do. So like a lot of people I spent most of my time gaming. It was my peace after dealing with all the stress from work and life. Then my babygirl was born and life hit me square in the face and I then realized I had to get my hustle up so I could provide like a man is suppose to for my family. I had a choice to make. Pursue my passion for Art and photography or keep gaming and living pay check to paycheck.
The choice was simple. LEVEL UP!
I sold all my gaming equipment and bought my first professional camera. I spent countless hours self educating myself through YouTube and online material until I became confident enough to venture out and take some photos for experience. I’m not going to lie, it was hard learning my camera and how to get the photos to look professional. A lot of my early work looks like crap but I respect it because it was the building blocks and foundation to my craft.
I want to shout out my family for being the drive I needed to get my business and craft off the ground. Waking up beside them everyday was the reminder that I’m doing this to make a better life for us.

My photography style is like water. I let the creative ideas flow freely and let the vision come to life. I never wanted to be stuck under one style of photography. It’s so many different beautiful styles and I want to be able to master each one. I started off with a sort of street style and slowly transitioned into a studio portrait style. I then went into a more dramatics outdoor scenery style then back into a portrait style. I reached to a well known photography out of Nigeria named Ibor “@edos_artistry” Victor who helped me get into cinematic photography and I fell in love with it! I have not yet mastered it but I’m excited about working on my first shoot with this certain style.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

It would be the reaction people have to my work. When I capture a dope shot or look and put my artistic touch on it admirers of my art are normally blown away. Having people I’ve never met love and appreciate my work is the best feeling you can get. The money that comes with it is a big plus too! I continue to put my best work out in the world in hopes of landing the big clients like Rihanna, Beyoncé, Erykah Badu, Vogue, etc. That’s the goal!

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

My message to them is simple. Be yourself and find your niche in art. Find what truly captures your interest and what inspires you and focus in on that. Don’t try to be exactly like other creatives and be a copy cat. Be true to you and find your signature look. That’s how you stand out. That’s how you get the clientele. It’s ok to take an idea from others and put your own spin to it but make it your own. Soak up as much knowledge in whatever artistic or creative field you go into and apply it to your style. The world of photography is really saturated and watered down because it’s so many people doing photography without the proper knowledge and they simply don’t see the artistic side of it. A majority of people do it for money and the work is more than likely subpar. A photographer must possess the passion, creative eye, and overall love for the the craft. It’s is all about a dollar it’s not much in it. Master your craft first them focus on the money.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.cmp-photography.com
• Instagram: P3__Photography

Image Credits
Patrick Pree Michael King