Photographer and Owner,
He Shoots Studio
You have to admit DeShaun Adams’ tagline for his photography company, “He Shoots Lyfe: What u Don’t see Eye Will” is pretty clever. But what is more awesome about this young man is that he donates time and art works to the True Star Foundation to teach aspiring photographers how to take pictures.
Adams said he has been with the program since early 2006 via a social service extension program working with Chicago Housing Authority residents at Altgeld Gardens on the city’s far South Side. “I took the photography [approach] to help me get involved in those households,” he says.
Adams enjoys his work with the True Star Foundation and True Star magazine, in particularly to show the program’s African American young men that there are other life choices than gangs and drugs. “Working with them allows me to bring them back to what [it’s] like being ‘cool,’ but not being plugged in with thugs,” he says. “{In] every neighborhood I’ve lived in I’ve never had to join a gang. I didn’t have to sell drugs. What people see is this camera. I’ve gained their respect.”
The photographer passes along his talent and other life lessons to the eager ears and eyes of his charges. “I would like to tell young people how to manipulate – ‘manipulate’ is looked upon as a bad word, but it’s not. You can manipulate people for the right reasons,” says Adams. –tbinns
