Meet Peter Bahouth: 3D Photographer & minor hospitality mogul.

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

Hi Peter, why did you pursue a creative career?
I didn’t really pursue a creative career, but I realized it was the creative and artistic things in my life that sustained me when nothing else did. For most of my life I was an advocate for environmental issues, and the director of 3 large organizations – Greenpeace US, The Turner Foundation, and the US Climate Action Network. This work was geared towards social justice and change, which is great and can be fulfilling, but its hard to see what you accomplish in any visible way – like painting or building something. I felt like I needed to do things with my hands. To make something. I ended up doing 2 things… I taught myself how to take 3 dimensional photographs, and I built a 3 room treehouse using found materials in my back yard. The photography took about 10 years to learn before I was good enough to exhibit. I built the treehouse for myself, but years later I began to rent it out and it became the #1 most wished-for Airbnb in the world. It was the photography and the treehouse – the creative projects – that ended up sustaining me, both emotionally and financially.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
As I said before in the first answer, I was fortunate to have been involved in a cause I believed in. That work took me all over the world. The later creative work allowed me to do things that were more personal. Working for organizations means working with others, whereas in art, you are more on your own to produce what you want., Also, advocacy work can help change what people think, but culture and art can change the way people feel.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
The warhorse coffee shop at the Goat Farm 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?
The friends and crew that helped build the treehouse – led by Nick Hobbs and Sue LaCraw Ted Turner and Jane Fonda for teaching me to be bold. Greenpeace for allowing me to be an irritant for a good cause. My mom for teaching me how to look at beauty.

Website: peterbahouth.com
Instagram: @pbahouth @treehouseatl
Facebook: peter bahouth
Other: Airbnb treehouse – www.airbnb.com/rooms/1415908

Image Credits
Peter Bahouth Sarah Dorio