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

Hi Tylar, maybe we can start at the very start – the idea – how did you come up with the idea for your business?
The idea for Taken by Tylar was initiated by my love for photography and taking photos of everything — and I mean everything — growing up. When I was in my freshmen year of college, one of my family friends trusted me with doing a shoot for her birthday. After seeing how serious I was about taking pictures of others, my mom surprised me with my first camera the following Christmas. I began shooting my friend for her lifestyle blog and doing impromptu shoots here and there. Since I work in sport media, I also had the opportunity to take photos during Atlanta Dream games. After working on my craft for a few months, I built up enough confidence to start posting my work on Instagram and created my freelance photography business, “TakenbyTylar.” From there more and more people saw my work, engaged with it, and began reaching out to me about doing shoots for birthdays, events, graduations,​ and headshots.

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.
My photography is my art and I believe that that is how I express myself creatively. I truly believe that a picture is worth a thousand words and each set of photos I take tells a story. It can be difficult trying to get the perfect shot and try out new edits, but it is even more rewarding when you put the work in and see it turn out how you imagined it. The best lesson I learned early on is that quality is better than quantity and that it is quality that will set you apart. You can take hundreds of pictures, but it’s the quality of your pictures that will speak for you and express your creativity. Whether it’s searching for new equipment, trying a new editing software, or watching youtube videos on photography, I constantly want to upgrade my quality as much as I can. I hope that as I continue to grow as a photographer that I will continue to get better with each shoot and people will see how much effort, time, and hard work I put into my craft.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I unfortunatey haven’t gotten to explore Atlanta as much as I want myself. However, if I had a friend visiting I would definitely take them to some of my favorite food spots in Atlanta and a few tourist sites as well. On the first day I would make sure we have a good welcome dinner at South City Kitchen and get some Strawberries and Creme doughnuts from Sublime. The next day, I would take them to Ponce City Market for shopping and lunch. Ponce has a lot of food options so we would be able to try different things. That night we could go to Puttshack for putt putt since it is a place that I want to try as well. I don’t think you can come to Atlanta without doing brunch atleast once, so the next morning we would wake up and go to Breakfast at Barney’s for brunch. We could spend the day afterward painting or relaxing at Centennial Park and possibly take a spin on the ferris wheel. For the fourth day, we could go to more touristy places such as the Aquarium, the World of Coke, or the Trap Museum in Atlanta. I would also want to take them to Plant Based Pizzeria because I am in love with vegan pizza and think that they have the best. For dinner I would want us to try the Atlanta Fish Market since I have been dying to go and it’s one of my mom’s favorite restaurants. For thier fifth and final day, I would want us to do brunch in the morning at Milk and Honey and end our day with candle making at Candle Fish.

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 want to thank my mom for believing in my talents enough to support me financially with my first camera. I also want to thank my best friend, Taylor, for giving me my first freelance job, shooting content for her lifestyle blog.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tylardione/?hl=en

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylar-norman-46749416a/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/tylardione?lang=en

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCA9AOW9DKlSpTQJKlN50ZJA

Other: Photography Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/takenbytylar/?hl=en

Image Credits
Cullenary Arts

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