We were lucky to catch up with Andrea Belk recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Andrea thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you tell us about a time where you or your team really helped a customer get an amazing result?
I recently had a wedding that was planned very roughly. The bride and groom were very casual about everything before the big day but I knew that once the big day came that would change, family adds a ton of pressure. About 3 weeks before the wedding I nicely put pressure on the bride to collaborate on a timeline and a family formal list. I felt awful putting pressure on her and made sure to be as nice as possible when doing so. The wedding day came and sure enough her mom was a wreck about the day in general but as we moved through the timeline and things fell into place the bride started thanking me, which she didn’t have to do. By the end of the bride & groom portraits she was like oh my goodness you literally saved the day, it’s amazing what having a timeline and keeping things in order will do for the stress on the bride day of. I LOVE when wedding days end in pure bliss.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’m Andrea, the face behind the lens. My love for photography started very young, my poor siblings spent years getting dressed up and standing in front of my camera. My parents are very practical so as I got older they pushed me to find a career and like any kid I pushed back and joined the Army. All my creative goals took a pause until we fast forward 4 years. In 2011 I got out of the Army to put being a mom and wife at the top of my priorities. After a few weeks I was bored, not shocking going from 14+ hour days out of the house to being home all day. My husband suggested a hobby and I got a dslr. At this point I was rusty and found a few classes at Savannah College of Art & Design to be pretty helpful. At this point I was also taking classes for nursing school and clinical became overwhelming so I again put photography on pause. I actually sold my camera to pay for books for nursing school. Fast forward 8ish years, I now have 4 kiddos and just finished my masters degree in public health. My husband asked me what I wanted to do and it was easy, I wanted a camera. I did my research and decided to go big and grab an r6 and a few l series lenses. Let’s just say after a few months things really started to click and I was SO excited to be making magic. We then moved from Georgia to New Jersey and the wedding industry here set my business on fire. I could not be any happier to be doing exactly what I LOVE and getting to be creative.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I’m a Veteran and military spouse, in the last 14 years I have lived in Korea, Georgia, New York, Michigan, back to Georgia and now New Jersey. I really feel like my life is a huge mix of winging it and being resilient. On top of that I have 4 kiddos ranging from 12 to 2. To make my wedding photography dreams come true I really have to push for what I want. So to be resilient in this industry I just make sure to be optimistic about restarting my business and understanding that I will have to prove myself every single time. I won’t even lie sometimes it’s just purely exhausting but I WANT THIS.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
I have gone back and forth from career to photography so many times. I put it down to have a “safe” career but it seems that I ALWAYS come back to it. I have taken downtime after having each of my babies to enjoy the stage of life. I’m finally forever done with college and my husband fully supports me growing with my dreams.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.andreabelkphotography.com
- Instagram: @andreabelkphotography
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/andreabelkphotography2022
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreabelk/
Image Credits
Me (Andrea Belk Photography) The picture of me (Rebecca Norris Photography)