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

Hi Antonio, what role has risk played in your life or career?
How do you think about risk? Above all things in my business, I’m a Cowboy first. The cowboy way is looking risk dead smack in the eyes and taking em dead on. So when I think about risk, I think that anything worth having is worth riding the bull for. Risk means it’s a reward at the end. What role has taking risks played in your life or career? A big role! I have a degree in the dental field. That’s right, I went to dental school just to work it for 3 months and then take a risk… I quit a good paying career, not job, CAREER! I took the risk and went full on in photography. It’s been one of the best decision of my life. I have gained so much happiness, so many buds worldwide, I get too travel to amazing places with that amazing woman I love. I wouldn’t be where I am today without taking extremely difficult risk. Sometimes the risk didn’t add up for a while but the longer I stood my ground took more risk.. everything always eventually fell in line. So taking risk doesn’t mean the first time you hop on the bull your going to win the PBR but if you keep hoping on even after you fall off bad you’ll get there eventually. Risk is always plural because it takes more than one to hit the end goal.

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.
How did you get to where you are today professionally. Was it easy? Not one bit! I had so many times I felt like quitting. Many times I felt unaccepted in the industry. Many times I felt like a weed in. a field of blooming roses. I hit a lot of walls, I don’t mean sheet rock walls I mean diamond walls. Walls a sledge hammer and muscle wouldn’t get you through. How did you overcome the challenges? Remembering who was in my corner helps me a lot to push out of my mind those who aren’t. Even when I feel like I only have 5 in my corner and 1000 against me putting my full focus on those 5 helps me keep moving forward. Many challenges I face I look at them as new parts to my story. No book is good if it doesn’t have the dramatics right? yo need climax, downfalls, thriller moments, and everything else to make the story good. I also tell myself if you think this bull is mean imagine how good you’ll look when you ride for the full 8! Problems to me are chances to shine, also I was also taught to pray for the best, but train for the worst. So before any problem comes I make sure I’m ready way in advance.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Deep Ellum! – This entire area is amazing! Everyones welcome and accepted here! And no food or bar here is a bad choice! Fort Worth Stock Yards- Because well why come to Texas to not see some cowfolk stuff? Uno’s – Best Pizza in Dallas Fort Worth and don’t forget to go across the street to the leather shop after to pick up some quality items that’ll last a few generations! I could go on and on…. I suggest also getting and Airbnb on a ranch or barn land. They have a ton of shipping container ouptions that are modern but when you on the balcony or come outside you see the pasture full of Texas finest animals. They’re usually outskirts of the city but so worth the serenity of a Texas sunrise and set.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My wife. Always in my corner. Backed up my risky ideas. Sacrifices the time it took me to get here. Always encoring me to take the risk or lose the chance. when I was starting out I had no ideas where to start but she always reminded me all I had to do was start and we’ll figure the rest out from there. My Homegirl Grace Trout ( @gracetphotography ) When I started out no-one and I mean NOONE would respond to me, help me, dm me back. I got left on read a lot back then. But GT From my beginning was always helping me answer the hard questions. She never asked for anything in return even to this day, years later! She even went beyond just answering my question. She took personal interest and now we hype eachother up! Now she mentors photographers all over and I highly recommend her to the world. because she’s a golden star in this industry y’all. My Sister Grace ( Grace.j.photo ) We just became family instantly from our first instagram comment. She’s moving to Texas soon too! We’ve been hyping each other up and sharing tips and tricks we learned with each other from the beginning! She’s a freaking rockstar y’all! The cowboy code I wouldn’t be Carpe without it. and last but certainly not least my clients are amazing and my followers are so supportive I couldn’t do any of it without them. I don’t know where I’d be without these folks but I sure as heck wouldn’t be where I am now.

Website: www.carpediembyantonio.com
Instagram: @carpe.diem.by
Facebook: Carpe Diem By Antonio

Image Credits
All Taken By Me @Carpe.Diem.By

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