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

Hi Demetrius, what habits do you feel play an important role in your life?
I feel like my habits of consistency and practicing gratitude is a major reason for any of my success. Showing up every day and falling in love with the craft itself is what keeps me optimistic and goal driven to just keep creating. I believe you can’t grow when you are constantly taking off days, so why not do something every day to build the future I envision myself enjoying? Practicing gratitude helps me succeed in my daily wins of just always being able to step back and acknowledge the blessings I have received in the present moment and how grateful I am for all the experiences that I survived and now have gotten me to this point.

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 feel like what sets me apart from others is my portraits of people in relationship to how their background works to create a full image. I like to emphasize my subject to make sure that the attention of the viewer is directly grabbed wherever I am aiming it towards. I like having everything in all my pictures to be in the frame on purpose and not by chance. I feel like I am much more observant and judging of the background environment before I even pick up the camera to take a picture of the actual subject. With all that said, I try and just make every image my own style of intentionality.

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?
On the food side, my favorites spots in the city are the ones that make me feel most like I am back at the crib in Chicago. If you don’t know about Rickettes Chicken & BBQ you need to tune in. Also tap in to Chicago Pizza & Sports grill they got valid pizza and wings and be open late night. I feel like for my favorite hang out spots I don’t really be in the clubs or parties like that to have one specifically but when I am looking for a good time and something that comes with great conversation I always enjoy going to a Hawks game downtown.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to dedicate my shoutout to my freshman year roommate Tre Byrd, may his soul rest in peace. Tre was a very bright spirited young man. I met him in 2019 when we were both 18. He was the first person I met after I left Chicago and moved to Atlanta to attend Morehouse College. He was a genuine creative soul who expressed himself truly how he felt and his energy was contagiously positive. Tre inspired me to just be myself more openly in spaces where I may feel like an imposter. He was a talented film photographer himself, a couple years before I even thought about buying my first camera which was not until after he passed away in late 2022. Tre inspired me to venture out into the media space here in Atlanta seeing how much joy he found in creating meaningful work. The man was a legend for real like I can’t say much more honestly. LLTB

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meecheyes/

Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@meecheyes

Image Credits
Personal Photo of me is shot by @18strikess on Instagram

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutAtlanta is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.