Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrew Burns.
Andrew, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
Native to San Diego, I have lived here for 95% of my life. I grew up in Rancho Penasquitos, went to Mount Carmel High School, and earned a business degree from Point Loma Nazarene University. In college, I took as many art electives as my schedule allowed. I slogged through accounting and finance classes but had a blast learning about sculpture, drawing, and photography. Continuing in my self-directed art education, several years after college, I went to work in the commercial photography studio of Marshall Williams and Tim Mantoani. This was a turning point for me. I loved being a photo assistant, and I ate up every opportunity to learn from these established local photographers that were making money doing what they loved to do.
Backing up a bit, after college, I married this beautiful girl whose family was from Chile. I loved getting to learn about her culture and her family’s stories of coming to the US forty years ago. We now have two boys who we are striving to teach Spanish and to appreciate the cultures of their friends at school. I love being a dad and getting to spend my days taking kids to and from school, all while juggling the endless to-do list of being my own boss.
I’ve been a photographer for almost a decade now. In the last couple of years, I have been blessed to work with many local companies including Sharp Healthcare, Qualcomm, New School of Architecture and Teamwork Athletic Apparel. In addition, this year I’ve had the opportunity to do projects out of San Diego, including a trip to The Netherlands and Belgium.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I am a photographer of people. The perfect day for me is being tasked with meeting someone new, finding out what they love, what they do, and what motivates them, then working out how to translate who they are into a 2D photograph that tells their narrative. I’ve never been the kind of artist that enjoys starting with a plain white canvas. I thrive when given a set of parameters to work within. I enjoy collaboration and the problem solving that comes with working within a creative agency’s direction. I geek out on the magic of light and continue to learn new ways to mold and change it. Mostly, light is my artistic tool, like a paintbrush. However, generally, I don’t get too hung up on the technical aspects of photography because, in my opinion, being a strong portrait photographer means connecting with people. Of course, every person I photograph is different from the last, so it is a continual process of learning how to approach each new person. I enjoy viewing the work of past and current photographers that have a way of pulling unique emotion out of each person they photograph: Miller Mobley, Art Streiber, Tim Mantoani, Marco Grob, Richard Avedon to name a few.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.andrewburnsphoto.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andrewburns_photo
Image Credit:
All photo by: Andrew Burns
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