Over the past couple years; I have met a lot of people.
Though they are all great people, one has stood out to me specifically, Tahjee
Wallace. I have known Tahjee for about 2 years now, becoming better friends
with him each day. We were talking one day about how he wanted to be a
photographer when he got older, I had seen a lot of his work and agreed it was
a good idea. Not knowing any of his past or how he had gotten started with
photography I was curious and definitely in for a surprise. I went to him asking
for a little background information so I could write a little about him and
promote his work to help get his name out there, he agreed and I knew I was in
for a challenge. He was born in Wake Forest, NC. Only six months after he was
born him and his mom moved to Hawaii for two years because of a job offer his
mom got. In that two years things happened that some people don't experience in
their entire life. Tahjee was only two and couldn't yet understand what was
actually happening at the time. When Tahjee and his mother had returned back
home, his father had been murdered by a co-worker. He wasn't told what actually
happened to his dad until he was 11 years old; he always wondered where he had
been. Going back to elementary school, Tahjee said he was a big pain to his
mom. He got caught up in the wrong type of behavior from living in his
neighborhood and was into stealing, fighting, lying, and anything else kids do
to get in trouble. Tahjee says, "I wasn't the type of kid who always
wanted his way, my mom taught me better than that, I just had a bad attitude
and didn't care for anything or anyone". Soon after this phase of his
life, Tahjee got into a bad bike accident in his neighborhood and suffered a
potentially life threatening injury. He hit his head hard enough to almost kill
him, suffering a serious confusion. Scaring him so badly, he learned his lesson
and had to change things in his life. He became more focused in school and
positive things, like skateboarding. In sixth grade he met a group of friends
and started skateboarding with him, keeping him out of trouble and in with a
new better crowd. Tahjee says, "My friends I met in sixth grade are what
really made the impact on my life". To this day, I know for a fact that he
still hangs out with these friends he met back then, and he would take a bullet
for any of them. Going back to middle school though, Tahjee said he didn't talk
to anyone except for his group of friends; he was often bullied, and just
figured it was karma from when he was younger. When he hit high school, his
life really started coming together; he knew he had to start deciding on what
he wanted to do after he graduated so in ninth grade he picked up photography
starting with a regular 35mm camera. A year later, his mom passed him down his
first car, which he would later actually sell to buy his first legitimate Canon
DSLR camera. Tahjee and his friends would take pictures of anything they
thought was "cool" he said. Whether it was cars, skateboarding, or
anything they found funny or interesting. Once all of his friends started
purchasing their own cars and making them nice, he focused more on automotive
photography. He took photography all four years of high school and started to
really understand it, from developing film, to editing pictures on Photoshop.
He says "I learned a lot of the skills that I actually use today in my
photography career in my last two years in high school". Mentioning his
photo teacher, Mr. John Pankey, Tahjee said he will never forget him.
Graduating in 2012, Tahjee was a slacker like most high school students, but he
managed to pull through without any setbacks and get it done. He now works
installing heating and air conditioning systems and does photography on the
side. Recently Tahjee got some of his work into a magazine and was offered a
job shooting for an online European car magazine, and also has started his own
clothing line to promote his career and raise money called "The Fitted
Brand". Hoodies, Dog leashes, iPhone cases, hats, key chains, and much more
will be up for sale in mid-October so check him out and get some photography
work done, you won’t regret it!
Through all these struggles, Tahjee managed to overcome
everything and stay positive thanks to good influences he ran into along the
rough road in his life, he found something he was passionate for and is now
pursuing his dream without letting anything get in the way.
Below is a link to his Flickr and Facebook for anyone
interested in checking out his work or getting in contact with him, enjoy!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/d1wallace/
http://www.facebook.com/tahjee
