Meet Amani Batura

Today we’d like to introduce you to Amani Batura.

Amani, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Today, I am eighteen years old and living on my own in the City of Los Angeles. The reasons for moving out here being all rooted back home, in Denver where I grew up. I started training as a Theater major at the Denver School of the Arts when I was in Sixth Grade, and little did I know what I was signing myself up for would be hard, but I would fall in love with it.

I decided to stay at DSA for the full Seven-Year Program, being driven by my love for performing and being able to step out of my life and into another with characters who would come to know me more well than I or anyone else ever had. Theater had allowed me to express who I was in a way that was more comforting than throwing any kind of ball could be or tackling several other kids my age on a field was. Through my time at DSA, I was introduced to several other art forms, constantly being surrounded by Dancing, Singing, painting, music, film, etc. I was lucky enough to discover my love for the camera when I was thirteen years old. What began as a hobby of taking photos of my friends just to hold onto the memories of being a kid, turned into a burning passion to produce work that could make others feel, without doing something in the moment. It was a direct contrast to what I had been studying for years, but could still get the same response from others, some kind of feeling or reaction from those who would see my images.

Growing up and having been in a position to know of not only one, but two passions of my life that I care for deeply has set me up artistically and mentally to know what I want in life and what I want to do professionally. That’s why I moved to LA. Not only am I allowed to continue my path along with performance out here but also photography. I have a large connect of friends who are incredible artists out here (most of whom are from Denver as well), and the biggest thing for me in pursuing a life in art is COLLABORATION. Los Angeles has an Artist Community like no other, and you have to be brave and put yourself out there. Create Original Content. Be Truthful. Be You.

I wish I could give you all more of a story; however, this is just the beginning of my story. I just graduated from High School this past Spring and decided to take at least a year off from school to pursue what I love professionally and more importantly, learn who I am outside of the classroom. It wasn’t a decision in which I was choosing no longer to learn, but instead I decided to make Everyday Life my classroom. I’m learning more now than I ever have and like I said, this is just the beginning.

Has it been a smooth road?
It hasn’t been a smooth road but it also wasn’t the bumpiest. Life is all about perspective and the outlook that you have on what happens to and around you. Now, yes, I did go through several challenges growing up in terms of coming to acceptance with who I am, learning to be comfortable in my own skin, and the typical growing pains for a child coming into themself. Especially growing up in the arts and being open about the fact that you wanted to pursue Singing or Dance or Music and the stigma that lies around being a professional in some form of Art. It’s risky and not always financially a viable career option, but I’ll tell you that anyone pursuing an Art truly out of the love for it, is not doing it for the money.

I think the biggest challenge was learning to tune out all of the other voices and opinions of others and to start truly listening to myself. What everyone else thinks doesn’t matter. Life is different for every person, and every experience you go through is unique to you in some way. It gets tiring trying to keep up with what everyone says or thinks about you and your work, so I just stopped. I do what I do out of love and happiness. I do what I love because it brings me joy.

Despite all of the trying experiences I’ve had, I refuse to play the victim for all of the challenges and obstacles I’ve gone through in life because they shaped me into the person I am today and brought me here, to this exact moment.

What do you do, what do you specialize in, what are you known for, etc. What are you most proud of? What sets you apart from others?
I’m an Actor and Photographer! I’ve been doing both of these arts since I was a kid and I fell in love with them both. I can’t imagine doing one and not the other, seeing as Actors need images and Photographers need people and productions/events to photograph! I had always done theater and it was apart of my schooling, so it wasn’t something I was known for necessarily, but people knew I act! Going to school for theater was draining at times so that’s when I got interested in photography and my name started going around the last few years. It started with, like I said before, just taking images with friends so I could have these memories forever. Then, it turned into more when I started seeing people’s reaction to my work and the face of those who I had photographed. It’s pure joy. I then started doing Senior Portraits and weird concept shoots with friends in my last few years of school and I just kept going with it! I think for me, I’m most proud of my work because I can visually see the growth and difference from just a couple of months apart. I’m also proud of the fact that I’ve remained passionate about both of these art forms and continue to do both to this day! I think what sets me apart from others is my ability to bounce around from project-to-project, and I don’t feel as though I need to label myself, professionally at least, as just one thing. I’m young and curious and want to do it all, so I’m going to find a way to do it all.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I am not sure. That’s a big question to think about. Ideally, I want to be established and in what? I’m not sure yet. If anything, I think either industry I wish to be apart of is going to get more competitive but there’s now more work being produced than I’ve ever seen. In the day and age we live in, you can be creating any kind of content at any time of the day, and I think that it’s only going to continue to boom.

The resources one needs in order to be knowledgeable in a field-of-work are at all of our fingertips, making art and collaboration with others so much more accessible these days and it’s a beautiful thing.

Pricing:

• 25 Images for $250.00 (Full Shoot including 2-3 Outfit changes)

Contact Info:

• Phone: (720)425-0322
• Email: adbatura@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amvnib/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Amani-Batura/100008289433883

Image Credit:
Garrett Reed ( Insta: garrettreedfilm)- Photo of Myself!

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