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

Hi Andres, where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?
I am born and raised in Atlanta, GA. I think being born in the city of Atlanta you tend to have the hustle breed into you and it can be for anything like nursing, restaurant, arts, or even being a waiter. If ask a lot of OG’s that have been here since birth, they will say the same. Atlanta is known for its hustle, drive, passion, and consistency no matter the field. There is a lot of growth here for many artists. I never really came from an artistic family as half my life was mixed in with gang members, having people in my life that were immigrants, having friends from different cultures, being able to travel at a young age, and just being able to appreciate life throughout all aspects. I must say though, I did enjoy understanding the culture of local & country wide gangs as you get see how they work, how manage things, the way they act towards one another, and how they hustled throughout their life. I think that small scope I got to see from that culture is what has helped me today to become a better photographer each month and grind as much as I could for anything.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My journey started in the early years of 2013 where I had an android (I think it was a Nexus) and I was driving around photoing different things, while editing them on the photo editor app that was built into the phone. Man, looking back at those pictures, I wanted to throw up as they were terrible and yet it was a stepping stone for what was to come. A few years later I was able to buy my first camera, which was a Nikon D3300! Thats around the time I started to get into cars and photographing my friends drifting, car shows in GA & TN, full track access at Gridlife, The Mitty, and much more. I was able to meet a lot of people through the car community and still friends with some to this day, but sadly got bored of it to which I switched to portraiture. I never really the idea of portraiture as I thought more o it was family photos, weddings, senior pictures, or baby picture. During this time of trying portraiture, in 2018 I learned about street photography where I first fell in love the genre of documentary. This is when I knew I wanted to be a documentary style photographer as I was spending many days walking around the city of Atlanta from the moment I got off work which about 6pm, taking Marta to Five Points, and walking till sometimes 1am to get as much material as I could. I was never nervous out in the streets alone even with my new upgrade (Nikon D610) and felt safe most of the time photographing them close up or far away. Since then I have fascination with documenting travels, hikes, towns, and seeing life in a different way as in everything has the ability to be photographed in different angles.

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.
Man, I would probably first take them thru cabbagetown which is a small little community fill with wonderful restaurants/small jam sessions at times, go visit the State Farm arena to watch a hawks game, go to 529 to watch a underground band that’s trying to make a name for themselves, Variety Playhouse in L5P as it is one of the best venues in the city of Atlanta, take them up north to see the Blue Ridge Mountains, drink some good coffee at Corner Cup in Decatur (Where it’s Greater), and end the trip on the Roof Top on Ponce.

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?
Not that I’m aware of other than my mother Paula Piedrahita.

Website: https://www.andresfpiedrahita.com

Instagram: san_andreas_93

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