Meet Albert Pham | Multi-Creative

We had the good fortune of connecting with Albert Pham and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Albert, how has your work-life balance changed over time?
When my career first started, I was all in on work. I took up just about everything I could and it was a lot. I did that for about 4 years but throughout those years it would gradually decline each year. Until ultimately I burned out. That feeling of burn out is real. You just feel lost in a way, no motivation and you’re never content. It’s a horrible feeling and I try my hardest to advise friends about that. Since experiencing that, I really took a step back to figure out what fulfills me. For me, spending time with loved ones, servicing at temple and travel are essential to me. Each of those things fulfill me in a meaningful way and I now try to balance those things with work. I know sometimes we have prior commitments and we get hit up last minute to work something, early on in my career, I would cancel my plans to work because I think I can’t miss an opportunity. That’s not true, at all. Opportunities will always come and go. Work will always be there but our time in invaluable. Time with friends and loved ones are invaluable so that’s how I think now with balancing work.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Art and creativity has been around me my entire life growing up. My mom was a musician so me and all of my siblings were in music lessons our entire childhoods. Starting from drums, to guitar, piano lessons; our mom put us through all of the classes. It wasn’t until in ninth grade that I had my first camera. I remember a friend of mine got one for Christmas and was taking some really artistic photos when it snowed; I thought to myself, “I want to do that.” My brother and I also did theater throughout high school so having my own camera led me to having my first clients by taking pictures for headshots, productions, etc. and then eventually senior/family photos. While balancing those small jobs with school, I was still trying to develop my own artistic style. I was really interested in conceptual photography back then. Flickr photographers such as Joel Robinson, Sam Hurd, etc. really blew me away with their pieces. Fast forward to college, I started getting heavily inspired by this artist named Elise Swopes (@swopes). Her work is unbelievable, I swear. Also, with the fact that back then she did all of her photography pieces on her iPhone with apps she found on the app store. Same conceptual style I loved but she combined it with cityscapes, for example, she would put like waterfalls running throughout Chicago. So I started trying that style out for a bit and it wasn’t until about a few months in that I realized what I was doing is borderline graphic design. From that point on I started collaging my feed on Instagram, making different designs inspired by the music I was listening to at the time, and really experimenting with different art styles.

About a year after that, I was introduced by a friend to a close friend of mine now, Mustafa Abubaker. At the time he was a freelance writer for music publications so whenever he needed photos for certain articles, I would come out. Many professional relationships and friendships stemmed from those jobs but two prominent ones were meeting my brothers, Nathanial (Nat) Johnson and Childish Major. I met Nat sometime in September I believe, and that same night we met, he came over to kick it. He asked me, “Where do you see yourself in five years?” I said, I want to be known for my photography and to go on tour, then I asked him the same question. Fast forward later to the end of November in the same year, I met Childish to pitch an interview Mustafa had with Billboard regarding Childish. A week after our initial meeting, Childish posted a story saying he needed a photographer for a weekend tour, Mustafa saw it, shot it over to me and that was that. I went on my first mini tour and at that point I realized I really spoke it into existence with Nat. My two strongest passions are music and photography, so when presented an opportunity to combine both I knew I had to do it.

There isn’t one particular thing that I’m most proud of but I do have highlights which include, the tour with Childish Major/Billie Eilish, co-producing with Groove for Childish Major/Ludacris and executive producing my older brother’s album for him. I also learned a lot of lessons throughout the years but the ones that stuck with me to this day are, 1. be you, do you. 2. Be comfortable being uncomfortable and 3. we’re our worst enemies. There’s a lot of content and creative work being pushed nowadays, don’t let it discourage you from putting out your own, otherwise it’ll still just be on your hard drive 5 years from now.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Personally, I’m a home body now. There’s a lot to do in Atlanta, especially with all of the construction they’ve been doing recently so don’t come at me if I missed something new or am out of touch. I love the GA Aquarium, I always recommend it so that’s up there. Hiking at Stone Mountain, Arabia Mountain or Indian Seats. All of them are great. Other activities would probably be some outdoor areas with games such as, Ponce City Market, The Works, Avalon or Top Golf. Even walking the beltline or Piedmont Park can be very fun too. Places to eat would hands down say, Ecco, Eight Sushi, or kbbq or hot pot off of Pleasant Hill in Duluth. I haven’t tried it yet but I’ve heard great things about Bastone as well. Lastly for drinks, I would probably say Palo Santo, Habitat, or Rooftop LOA. All of them have great environments and a lot of seating.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I feel strongly about the saying, “it takes a village,” and I would say my village are filled with people that I consider all of them family. First and most importantly, my parents, siblings and fiancée for their constant support. To my brothers, Nat, C, Mustafa for being vital to the growth in my career. Childish Major and Dashawn for bringing me into a new family with open arms and for pushing me to grow as a creative. Lastly, to any clients I’ve ever had because without them, I wouldn’t be here. There are a lot of people I want to shout out but for the sake of keeping this short, I’ll keep it where it’s at now. Anybody who I’ve ever crossed paths with are integral to the person I am today.

Instagram: @avpham

Twitter: @avpham_

Facebook: Pham Photos

Other: TikTok: @al____pham

Image Credits
First image by Anthony Supreme (@anthony_supreme) – ROTD3 Sessions Second image by Constantino Borelli (@scattered_perception) – Isaiah Rashad’s Lil’ Sunny’s Awesome Vacation Tour The remaining images are taken by me. 3 – Portrait of Stoop Lauren 4 – Portrait of Champ Bailey 5 – Isaiah Rashad on tour 6 – Summer Walker at the Cobb Center Galleria 7 – Mt. Fuji 8 – London