We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sheldon Kearse a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Sheldon , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

When I first got into photography I would just go out and about with my friend James and I would take pictures of him and he would do the same for me. We didn’t know what we were doing as far as controlling the settings for the camera or anything so some pics would be horrible and others would be decent. However, doing that made me want to get into it more even if the photos were bad I was having fun and it really struck me to want to learn more about photography and to get as good as I could at it. From that point on I would watch YouTube videos of beginner tutorials and camera settings videos to understand better. I would take whatever I learned from the videos I watched and practice on anything I could whether it was something in the house or outside of the house. I practiced as much as I could until I got to the point where I was comfortable enough and had an understanding of photography to start doing photo shoots for people. Patience and dedication were the two skills I would say were the most essential for my experience for sure.

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?

I got into photography about 4 1/2 years ago after I got a camera from my Dad as a gift for Christmas. I would go out with my friends and practice using the camera and messing with the settings. I would watch YouTube tutorials and google any questions I had and that’s how I learned mostly everything I know. Shortly after I got into shooting concerts, the first concert I took photos at was a Da Baby one in Charlotte, NC. After the show I sent the photos to him and he liked the a lot and we exchanged phone numbers and I would work with him for about 2 years. I provide photography and videography services with my business partner Zebo. We work hard to give our clients a quality product and conduct our business in the most professional way possible. We put our clients first which is what differentiates us from others. I’m most proud of my accomplishments. I have photos in the Trap Music Museum in Atlanta, Album cover with DaBaby (Blank Blank album), and a repost with credit from my favorite rapper Lil Wayne, as well as other reposts from artists too.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

What helped me build my reputation within my market and within the city I’m in is branding your business but also branding you name. I feel like it’s important for people to know your name or nickname and be able to put that with what you do. So for me people can say Shell and if they know or have heard of me or seen some of my work on social media they can pair my name with my work. That helps build you reputation, and also networking with people that could help get you more exposure to what you do. If someone already has a reputation and they can recommended you to people that gives you a boost as well so it helps to know people that are already established and can vouch for you.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My goal is to be the best photographer I can be when it’s all said and done and to know that my photos will live on forever in some way. Whether they get put into books or magazines, used as song or album covers for artists or get put into a family binder of photos. I love creating timeless photos that will live forever for whoever. The thought of someone 20 years from now being able to pull up one of my pictures and show it to their son or family members is really cool to me. Some thing else I strive to do is to motivate others to do photography and get creative with it and have their own style with it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.allanglesclt.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/areyoushell/?hl=en

Image Credits
Myself