Meet Aaliyah Man | Food Photographer

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

Hi Aaliyah, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
I am born and raised in Atlanta. My parents worked in the restaurant industry throughout my childhood- my mom was a bartender and a general manager at many well-known restaurants and my dad was a sushi chef and pit-master. Going to my parents’ jobs was a big part of my early life and it also introduced me to a variety of different foods. In high school, I grew interested in doing photography as a career and applied to SCAD in Atlanta. While I was in college, I was also working in a fine dining kitchen making pizzas, salads, and desserts to pay my tuition. The chef and owner asked me one day to do a food and drink photoshoot because he knew I was studying photography at the time. Ever since then, I grew to love the idea of doing food photography because it melds my two worlds into one- restaurant and photography.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
One of the hardest things about getting into the creative field or any business is how much of investment you have to put in before the business really starts to take off. I started art school with a cheaper camera and no equipment, but eventually I had to invest in a higher quality camera, lighting equipment, backgrounds, props, etc in order to deliver quality work. This meant that while I was in college full-time, I was also working a job full-time to be able to afford tuition and supplies. I had no social life and no days off during these years, but in the end I do think that it was worth it because all the hard work pays off when I get to do what I love for my job, which is the ultimate dream.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I would definitely have a day to window shop at Buckhead Village because there are a lot of beautiful clothing stores and cute scenery for taking pictures. While we’re there, we can restaurant hop between Gypsy Kitchen, Brush, Le Colonial, and Yeppa, which are all great for small bites and sharing. I’d also take a friend to Politan Row at Ashford Lane to get a variety of food from the upscale food hall and then go to Okay Anny’s, the retro speakeasy located inside Politan Row. I would definitely need to hit up Takorea for a snack and might as well check out Chattahoochee Food Works while we’re in the area. For a late night out, I would suggest drinking and playing games at The Painted Duck and Puttshack.

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 definitely need to give a shoutout to my family- the first clients I ever had. My mom opened her first restaurant when I was really getting into food photography, so I asked if I could take pictures for their social media and website. Then I started gaining more traction from her restauranteur friends and have been steadily growing my business ever since.

Website: https://www.aaliyahmanphotography.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/a.man_foodphotographer/