Meet Edinburgh Photographer Armands Sprogis

Hello everyone. I often get asked where I’m from and why I have chosen to make Edinburgh my home.
As a baby I was a real rascal, full of beans all the time. Very often, I got in trouble and never learned from my mistakes :)  A few fun facts: I was fastest school corridor runner. and was officially given diploma from the school director for achieving this master goal!

The only two subjects I was great at were arts and sports. I believed in Santa for a long time until I started to recognise the voice under the beard. :)  Apparently, up to age of around 7, my favourite toy was a matchbox. I don’t think I was the easiest child for my parents…

Look at that cool haircut in image above and right.  That is my own work of art!  Mum came home and saw me looking at the mirror and “fixing” my haircut with scissors :)

I was born in Latvia and raised in a farming family. If you don’t know where Latvia is, here’s a hint for ya:

From a very early age, I was taught to work hard and that if I wanted something, I had to earn it for myself. At the time before watching telly or going out to play, I had long “to do” list at the farm. Every day jobs had to be done.  However, I’ve come to really appreciate my upbringing and love what I do.  It’s made me an extremely hard worker and someone who’s not afraid to roll up his sleeves and get things done. I always loved fishing and nature. Fishing made me to be very patient, and now this skill is very handy for my newborn photo sessions :)

I graduated college of agriculture, and had a few crazy years. You know teens years and all it’s joys! :)  At the time I thought I would be farmer, but with the whole economy changing in Latvia, it proved to not be a very good idea.

I moved to the city and started to work in local print house. I really loved the job and saw great potential in it. It also gave me a little creative nudge as well.  An artist had lived in me for whole the time, but for some reason it was always pushed down by thinking that you can’t make living with art.  Anyhow, I loved the job and thought–this is it.

I’ve always been a very independent person, and I left home to face life’s challenges at a very young age. I didn’t feel a strong attachment to any particular place, so soon after I left the nest, I started thinking about setting off to explore the world for a bit.

When people ask me why I left Latvia, I honestly can’t give them an answer. All I can say is that there was simply something inside me urging me to find out what life would be like abroad. A few years later, I decided to spend some time living in Sweden; so I did, and actually really enjoyed it.  After a year or so, I returned to Latvia and realised that I still wanted to do more exploring. This time, I decided to head to the UK. First I went to London, where I felt completely overwhelmed by city life. It was all a bit too much for me. I was spending all my time working really hard and it wasn’t easy at all.

My move to Edinburgh.

A few years after that, I moved to Scotland and fell completely in love with Edinburgh. I loved the more laid-back pace of the city and the fact that you could leave town and get to the hills or the countryside within a few minutes.
Something that helped a lot was my positive attitude and outlook on life, which enabled me to make lots of friends here. Later, these friends would help me tremendously in achieving my dream of being a photographer.  Many of them gave me that last nudge that I needed. “Go on, you can do it!” they told me, and so I ended up in Edinburgh College gaining my BA in Professional Photography.

Love and family.

I also met my beautiful wife here in Edinburgh. 7 years later we got married, and now have a two wonderful kids.

Here Anabella is about to become a big sister :)

I really loving being a dad and having a great time with my kids. Sometimes it gets a bit tiring running around and chasing them here and there, but those moments spent with my family are truly priceless.

Meanwhile, my photography business is growing nicely, and I’m actually quite proud of myself for managing to support my family from day one after graduating from university. That has always been my main concern – whether I would make it as a photographer in the ‘real world’.  With hard work and focus, I have been able to achieve everything I hoped for.

That said, I do wish I could have more time for my little guilty pleasures. I love fishing and hiking as well as tea and good cake – although the latter is starting to affect my figure a bit!  :) Perhaps I need to focus more on the hiking and less on the cakes…

I have spent long long hours on the banks of this river thinking about a million different things. This view has huge sentimental value for me, and probably one of the my favourite places to be.  It’s so peaceful and quiet, and I’m surrounded by only the sounds of nature.

Taken during one of my first walks in Pentlands.

Hopefully this gives you some insight about me and the type of person I am. Next time I will continue about how it all started with photography and particularly with newborns.

Thank you for coming along and taking time to read through all this.

Armands