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

Hi Adrian, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking.
I think taking risk is a part of everyday life. If you are not taking risk than you are not living. Risk plays a major part in being successful not only in your career, but in life. Life is about taking chances, regardless of the outcome you can still learn from the situation. Taking risks has and still to this day played a major part in the development of my career. An example would be when my crewthick members and I travel to a new city. The risk we take is being in unfamiliar condition, time constraints, etc. but it’s all worth it for the great images and time we spend with each other.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I believe what sets me a part from other photographers is my creative authenticity & also my love for reflections. I love to showcase my hometown (Atlanta) in different and unique ways. I didn’t notice too many reflection shots of Atlanta a few years ago so thats when I started my reflections of a Gemini series. Where I post nothing but reflection shot from May 21st until June 21st on my instagram page. Now I see a lot of photographers using puddles, mirrors & even glass windows to get creative reflection shot off of. That’s what I’m most proud of is that I could show the photography community a different form of photography. I got to where I am today professionally by just putting in the work. When Crewthick first started Rod (@rod_cali) and I would shoot almost 3-4 times a week. It was either work or somewhere in Atlanta getting some shots. At the time our knowledge about photography was minimum at best but we enjoyed each other company and learned by trial and error. It definitely wasn’t an easy process. Anything that’s worth something is going to be a process of work that needs to be put in but it was fun. I have created so many memories and stories just from traveling as shooting with Crewthick all over the country. Some challenges I had to overcome were building confidence in myself and my craft, breaking my shell and networking, finding good locations and quality studios to shoot at to name a couple. A few lessons I learned along the way are to not let anyone tell you what you can and can’t do and also don’t be afraid to fail. Because you never really fail….there is a lesson to be learned. I would like people to know that my story wasn’t planned or mapped out when I was a kid. When I was 8-9 walking around with my father while he while he took pictures of me never in my wildest dreams did I imagine being a photographer. It was the furthest thing from my mind but I was destined to be behind a camera.

Any great local spots you’d like to shoutout?
Ok if my best friend is visiting for a couple days each day we’re going to hit up a different spot to take some pictures at like the famous Jackson st bridge, Oakland cemetery, krog st tunnel, midtown or 17th St. bridge. For breakfast one day I will hop in the kitchen and Chef boy RD it and cook breakfast. Another day we can hit up Waffle House and also we can go to Thumbs Up diner, who I believe sells the best French toast in the city Piedmont Park… you never know it’s always a festival going & we can even hop on the scooters and ride the belt line. And for the evenings go downtown by the varsity and get some light trails of the city and then head over and enjoy the company of the lovely ladies at either Magic city or back to the west side and hit up the blue flame.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
The person & organization I want to dedicate my shoutout to is CrewthickATL & my father Kenneth Thomas (@kencinema). My father is really the person who introduced me into photography. When I was younger I was his Muse. We would travel all over the city of Atlanta or even visit north GA mountain and he would practice taking pictures of me. Now that I’m shooting, any questions I have about photography I know the perfect person to ask!! And Crewthick (@CrewthickATL) is a photography group/organization that deserves a lot of credit in my story because they are the ones who push me everyday to get better at my craft.

Instagram: @TheGreatKingAce & @ADTImagesllc
Facebook: http://facebook.com/adtimagesllc

Image Credits
Bernita Nana