Meet April Diallo | Photographer

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

Hi April, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
Diallo Studios isn’t my only job. In fact I work a pretty stressful day job that is quite demanding. Fortunately for me, photography is a creative outlet that recharges my batteries. I find being in nature and attempting to capture the scene that I see really calming.

Managing my time is pretty simple because my day job doesn’t offer much downtime – I do my work for Diallo Studios in the evenings, and I make a point to go out and capture and edit photos on the weekends.

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.
I’m a nature landscape photographer – which is a pretty saturated genre! I considered portrait and real estate photography, but I quickly realized that they didn’t provide a creative spark for me.

Artistically, I search for komorebi, which means sunbeams and shadows filtered through trees. It’s is one of many Japanese words that have no direct English translation. For me, so much is packed into one word – komorebi isn’t just about the phenomenon, the shadows or the light, it’s about the feeling of experiencing it as well.

The photos that make me most proud feature komorebi!

As far as lessons go, I think the biggest thing I’ve learned is to trust my intuition. My intuition said to continue photography throughout the years, but my brain found reasons to deprioritize it. Now that I’m trusting myself, my intuition will pull me toward the shot I need to take and my brain will name the photo before I even capture it.

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?
This’ll be an unsurprising answer, but as a nature photographer, the beltline is Atlanta’s best attraction. I would take a scooter from the West side beltline (Cascade) over to Krog Street Market. Brunch at Superica and biltong at Ponce City Market.

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 have two shout outs. The first is for my friend Calven Mitchell and the second is for my father in law. Both of these guys are photographers that encouraged me to start photography and to resume it.

Calven Mitchell (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063580330673) was the first person to put a film camera in my hands in college and snapped a few photos of me. While I’d had cameras before, I was basically compelled to purchase my own Minolta 7000, which started my photography journey in earnest. The decision to buy that camera turned into collection of vintage lenses which fit my first digital camera.

After college, I dived headfirst into the corporate world. I found that the higher my stress level, the harder it was to pick up my camera. Photography takes a real connection to self, and when stress clouds my mind, it’s difficult to hear my instincts.

Ghainous Diallo, my father in law, played a pivotal role in getting me back into photography. Ghainous is a professional-level photographer who takes photos for fun in the Cleveland Ohio area .A few years ago, I decided to give my DSLR away and I had no idea how much I would miss it. I told Ghainous that I wanted to get more serious about photography again, and he gifted me one of his cameras to start my journey. His encouragement and guidance helped reignite the spark.

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