Meet Akeem Tulinagwe | Photographer

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

Hi Akeem, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
I have lived in Gwinnett County since I was 6 years old, but I was born in Lithonia. Moving to Gwinnett was a rough move since I was just about the only African American in my school and classes, but I never let that phase me. Growing up I was an adventurous and outgoing person with a little bit of a shy side. I had a very good childhood growing up thanks to my parents and my siblings. For the most part my parents made sure we had everything, but at times we did have our struggles. As a young child in school, I kept to myself. When I got older, I started playing basketball and football. Being a part of the sports teams at school helped me make a lot of friends in the community, so that helped with my social personality, especially going into high school. Before I started, I was given a lot of advice from my older siblings and parents on how to be kind, humble, and cool. I’ve always had the mindset of being nice and humble because I know good things come to those who are nice and I know God doesn’t like ugly. My mom raised me to fear God, so I must say I was groomed pretty well in terms of treating people well and having respect and kindness in your heart. During my junior year, a lot of my friends didn’t know and probably still don’t know that me and my family were homeless and had to stay in a hotel for 3-4 months. This process was hard for me and my little brother, having to go back and forth from school to a hotel and most of our stuff having to be in a storage unit. I even went to my homecoming during this process which was not easy but my mom helped make it happen. Overall high school was fun for me thanks to sports and friends.

In the year 2016 I went off to college at the University of West Georgia, where I majored in Business Marketing. I had an amazing experience throughout my college years and faced different adversities that taught me a lot about life. I’ve met some wonderful people attending this school and even made friends that eventually turned into brothers and family. Even though I was able to graduate and conquer something that no one in my family has done, the biggest obstacle that I had to face was losing my dear best friend, my mom, going into my last year of college. When that happened I felt as if I was not apart of this world anymore and I fell into a dark place. I gave myself time and surrounded myself around friends and family but at the end of the day there is nothing like a mother’s love to a young man in this life of sin. Til this day I still find it hard to talk about it and be around friends and family, but I’ve been seeing brighter days. It’s helped push me to foresee a career in photography because my mom loved art and fashion and her dreams were to be in front of a camera, so I wanted to do something that I know she would’ve loved and been proud to see me do.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
As of now I have two salesman jobs that I work full and part time, but in my spare time I am a photographer. I don’t have a set type of photography that I do because I feel like I can do it all and I would love to do it all. My main focus right now is sports photography and I’ve the opportunity to be around a bunch of great athletes from grade school to the professionals. My next goal is to start doing wedding photography because I love the atmosphere and vibe of the whole event, but I also like the moments that the bride and groom share the whole day with each other and their families. I’ve gotten great feed back of my photos from friends and families and I’m much appreciated for them, but I always feel the need for improvements, and I’m just excited to see where this path of photography takes in my craft and my career. Some lessons that have learned from doing photography, is that there is no need to rush to make it a career, you should have fun with it and want to critique your skills everyday. I would want the world to know that I am a person that just wants the best in life not only for me but for my family and friends and the people around me. I also want them to know that I would want my work to speak for itself because someday I know my work will be worth something.
Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I became more of a homebody after college, but one place I do like going to every once in a while is a place called Fin and Feathers located on Edgewood, in Atlanta, Georgia. I like their live music and food. I mainly eat their BBQ fried chicken sandwich or their lamb chops. For fun I like to go bowling, but mainly skating at Cascade, Golden Glide, or Sparkles.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would like to dedicate my shout out to my father. He deserves the biggest shout out. He’s been in my life since day one and has loved me and showed me how to be a man and that’s one of the greatest blessings ever. To watch him lose a lot of people in his life, especially my mother and still keep a positive spirit it made me want to be like him and more.

Instagram: Tunnelvisiontuli