Today we’d like to introduce you to Tolulope Gangbo.
Tolulope, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I started out as a graphic designer initially and this began back in 2008/2009. Fast forward to 2010, when my mother sent me a camera from London, I took photos of everything I could possibly lay my hands on. A little bit of love for the camera had me taking photos of people at some point. I left Nigeria for London in June of 2011, and I got another camera from my mother.
Even though both cameras weren’t DSLR cameras, they were doing the job sort of. I was at Tralfagar square in London where my mom worked at the time and I took a very cool photo of a bird, achieved a smooth depth of field with the image which is something I’ve always wondered how it gets done and ever since then my love for photography grew even more than it was. I left London, went back to Nigeria and said to myself I would come to the United States to study graphic designs which was a darn lie to myself lol. I came here in 2012 to the states to study graphic designs, but for some reasons, I couldn’t complete that which includes financial issues. I left school and moved with my cousin in San Diego, California, and that was where it all fully began.
I couldn’t afford to get me a DSLR camera for proper photography and asked my cousin to lend me some money ($600) to get a camera and pay him back gradually as I made money off it, but he refused. A friend of mine named Sayo felt my pain and got me one as a gift. From there on, life changed for me. I began taking photos of people at the beaches, events, on the streets and so on and when I showed it to them, they showed me love and wanted to pay me for them. Not long after, I became a little bit popular in the African community, people would call me and ask me if I could shoot at the events and id show up even if the pay was peanuts.
All I wanted to do was get my name and my craft out there in public. A few months later, my cousin threw me out and I ended up in Minnesota where I knew nobody but my now ex. Being an international student, it wasn’t easy for me. I went from sleeping here to sleeping there, trying to do this and that to get money to keep up to doing a whole lot of things but as time went by life went easy with her by my side to help. I continued doing the photography for another two years, trying new things on my own and watching endless YouTube tutorials.
Later on, I could afford to go back to school, so I wanted to go back in for my first love, graphic design. I did my placement test and was short by one point, and I was told I couldn’t go in for the program, what a bummer! But they said I could go in for something else which photography was one of the options I was given. My girl at the time told me to go for it since it was something I loved doing, and also my mother wanted me to get a degree in whatever career I choose to pursue, so I went for it while in school learning nothing for real (because I already knew way past what I was being taught in school), I continued shooting for the new people I met here, and in no time people knew my name.
Although it was hard for me to go to school as well because I had to pay tuition out of pocket, buy all my equipment myself, pay rent, this bill and that bill. I got to the point where I had to set up a GOFUNDME account just to get a $2000 lens that I was banned in school from renting because I rented it ”too much. ”School got done, and I was already famous. Crazy how that happened because I can’t even tell myself. I became the ”Tberry” I am today. Everyone wanted me to serve them a dose of my creativity, even kids loved my work. Soon enough, I had so much love from blogs, websites, Instagram pages and so on when a couple of my images went viral. Pages like Viral thread, Yahoo styles, The shade room and so on featured me.
Also, a lot of blogs made up articles about me based on my Instagram page and the things they saw and how fast I was growing in the photography industry. As of right now, it’s been said that I’m one of the top 2 photographers that came out of Minnesota and I know I ain’t number 2 . A few have said I’m number one, lol, but I don’t want that getting in my head at the same time. I’m known as the ”melanin photographer” because of my love for black women/people of color. It’s not intentional that who I mostly shoot are dark-skinned women/black women
Recently moved to ATL to further my career cause it’s more like black Hollywood here, creatives are appreciated and definitely needed. it all just happened to be, and I’m grateful to God for creating such masterpieces that will forever interest people.
Now I’ve become a photography instructor and a mentor to so many which gives me so much joy. I also have a clothing line called TheTberryBrand (www.thetberrybrand.com). So In all, this is who I am, I am Tberry.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Oh no, it’s never been smooth. Matter of fact it’ was super rocky at some point and almost gave up. A lot of times I get into a creative block where I don’t know what I want to do or who I want to do it with, emotions also come into play where I don’t have the mental strength to do anything or even touch my camera/laptop, Also ended up having clients who refused to pay up their end of the deal, hitting road blocks like equipments that get faulty somewhere along the line and all that. I’ve also had to deal with rude clients or just flat out disrespectful, clients who don’t understand the process of things and the ones who become disrespectful towards me due to the fact that they don’t get their way with me. But so far I think the biggest challenge I’ve had would be the slow months like winter which ive found ways around it to stay motivated. I sometimes just turn them into rest months because I work all summer long.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I specialize in beauty, fashion and portrait photography and here and there I table into weddings and certain events, my favorite would be beauty/fashion because I get to express myself through my art and explore certain things that I generally might not want to do like playing with lighting diagram, color pallets and so on.
what am I known for? lol this might sound a way but I don’t want anyone to read any meaning to it because its just how its been for me but im known as the ”melanin photographer”or ”the black women photographer”. its so crazy that when people see certain photos of black women online they are so sure ”Tberry shot it” and voila , when the check I indeed did shoot that image and I think the reason behind that is the style of editing I created for myself as a signature. its easy to detect when I do something and with the whole black women thing, its not intentional, I shoot anyone of any race but I won’t lie, im IN LOVE with my black women and won’t trade anything for them. The feeling I get when I get them in front of my camera or say the joy I feel is unmatched which also gives me reason to want to do more. Some photographers out there in todays world either turn them down because they don’t see beauty in them or just don’t know how to properly retouch melanin skin so they just tend to run away from it as a whole which is quite sad. so I welcome them all.
what am I most proud of? hmmm Im proud of a lot of things I’ve done but one id say im most proud of is getting myself to the point im at right now. I created a name and a brand for myself where I now have big brands reaching out to me for my services without having anyone push my name out or promote me. I spent sleepless nights and endless days working non stop, hours over hours and it paid off big time.
what sets me apart from others? with that, mostly its the way I make my clients feel and how flexible I am with them. I make them feel like the best thing to ever happen to the world which they are because a lot of people deal with issues where they either don’t have that confidence or feel they arent good enough which I never agree with. And may I add my editing style again ? I know there are great photographers doing great things out there but my style is still mine and unmatched. gotta be proud of that distinction
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
success is when you have people who genuinely love you around you and are there for you no matter how hard life could be for you or them and vice versa. be it family, friends, coworkers or significant others. many say success is tied to money but for Me success isn’t measured by how much you have but how much impact you can make in in the lives of others.
Contact Info:
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- Website: www.tberrypictures.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/iamtberry
