Today we’d like to introduce you to Rob Andrew.
Hi Rob, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I’ve never had a “real job.” As a kid I would “freelance” doing odd jobs and in high school, I was all about music. I started independently teaching guitar in my teens and worked in music as a freelance teacher and performer through college, earning a master’s degree in music performance. Then, a few years after graduating, I discovered photography through some close friends and started to work a bit shooting products and portraits and really anything I could get my hands on.
Photography suited my ADHD personality perfectly because the creative outcome is so instant and there’s so many genres you can explore.
I slowly started to build a client list shooting in a wide variety of genres and was able to slowly phase out my guitar teaching job within about four years and become a full-time photographer with a small studio. I drew on my music teaching experience to teach photography on weekends and supplement my cash flow.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It depends how you define smooth. In the beginning, the hours were long, wrestling with marketing, stressing about not having enough clients or having a wave of photoshoots followed by extended dry periods. I also had to learn how to handle a production with a crew and write a decent estimate, which is essential for a commercial photographer.
I also wasted a ton of money buying the wrong equipment, overspending on gear and learning some hard lessons in paying off debt. Some lessons have to be learned the hard way though.
Between shooting free or cheap stuff to build my portfolio, constantly tweaking my website and learning lots of new skills on the fly, there were LOTS of long days for a few years in the beginning. But now that I have more regular clients, I’m able to design a schedule that really fits my lifestyle and allows a lot of free time.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m known for being all over the map. Some of my clients know me purely as a portrait photographer and some know me as a food photography specialist. My friends call me ADHD! I am really proud of being technically strong in photography so that I can do high-level product shots and still have the personality type to do solid portraits and headshots.
I think shooting for magazines extensively has given me a really diverse skillset because you have to shoot say a cocktail, a chef portrait, a plate of food and some documentary/action shots all in the same session.
I am most proud of working with some large brands on product and lifestyle shoots (HP, John Deere, Razer, Vistaprint) and photographing Todd Gloria, our mayor, but it gives me just as much joy to make a great headshot for someone for their Linkedin profile or to shoot a small startup’s product for Amazon.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I was a little shy and awkward growing up but curious about a lot of things and very outdoorsy. I grew up going everywhere on a bike, fishing, hiking, basically being outside all day. I was a shy kid, so later in life when I found photography, I had to force myself to be more outspoken to direct subjects and take control of a set more. This was a challenge at first.
Contact Info:
- Email: robandrewphoto@gmail.com
- Website: https://www.robandrewphoto.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robandrewphoto/
Image Credits
Rob Andrew Photography, Inc.
