Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Andrea Coan. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Andrea, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Do you think folks should manage their own social media or hire a professional? What do you do?

I currently manage my own social media accounts. I can see it being beneficial for outside assist on this as well as some drawbacks when handing your voice over to someone else. Depending on your vision on goals this answer could be more obvious to some businesses. As a photographer, I like to have control of the vision I share. I also merge some personal life in my feeds and keep it real to connect to my followers. For me the community and connection is important than gaining followers. I like the authentic tone I keep on my platforms!

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?

My name is Andrea, though most people know me as Dre, and I am a lifestyle photographer currently based in the PNW. I have been photographing since I was a young teenager. It all started when a good friend of mine handed me her camera at a local underground show when I was 15 years old. As soon as I put the viewfinder up to my eye and the rest of the world got quiet and dark, other then what I could see in that little box I was hooked. It truly was love at first shot. I immediately invested in a camera and started to practice and take self portraits ( before selfies were a thing ) to learn light and angles. I would document shows and take summer photo programs to understand the mechanics of a camera. It felt magical and romantic to me! Because it felt so personal I went into photography not trying to make ‘ it big ‘ but just share my vision.
I think I stuck with it for 20+ years because it was so personal to me. It was my outlet. My voice. My passion.
I did end up getting a BFA in photographer and choose this as my career path. Sometimes I stay busy with clients and other times it’s a challenge. The freelance world is tricky. But if you have the drive to work for yourself and the discipline, you can make it happen! And in my eyes, it’s totally worth it. I was lucky to have found my path at a young age and remember who helped me get here – by placing that camera in my hand in the first place.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I think a time when I unexpectedly changed the course of focus in my subject matter or style of photography was when I moved to Seattle in 2013. Being new to a city and trying to establish yourself or find your footing and new clients can be super daunting. I landed an inter job at Seattle Magazine were I was primarily photographing spaces and portraits for their stories. Then an opportunity landed in my lap when the main staff photographer was out of town and they were in a pickle of needing images for their ‘ Best Restaurants’ issue! Before this time I had never photographed food other then cake at weddings. This assignment changed my photography future. I was running around the city to multiple restaurants setting up shoots with some of the top chefs and restaurants and capturing the environment/ experience and most popular dishes they served, The rush of getting that many photoshoots done and making the quick turn around time that was needed for print not only proved to me what I was capable of but also the magazine. From that point on I became a contracted photographer for the magazine and was assigned all stories that were food and drink focused,

Still to this day, the majority of my work is not in the hospitality industry.
I still photograph portraits, selfies, and landscapes – but most of my paying work is within the food industry!

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I don’t necessarily have a goal or mission, but a mantra to myself with my career. And that is –
To be real. To be open. To grow. To be humble. And to love what you do.
The industry has changed, and will continue to. And I love what I do, but I have to be willing to grow with it, but also stay true to myself in the process. An example of that would be that I do not overly edit my images- and I may loose jobs because I will not make something look fake. I do very natural editing to keep the respect of the history of photography and the fact that I learned in the darkroom, with film! Personal images, I may play with filters or have fun, but food, nature, and portrait photography I don’t lean on tricks. I try to keep things as natural as possible.

This has been a goal of mine and I continue to stand by it the best I can in a world that just keeps advancing.
I do my best to show up as authentic as possible when I have an assignment. I am an outgoing, slightly loud, fun, focused person who really wants to do my job right. I want them to feel comfortable and confident in being able to hire me again. So I am upfront with what they can expect from me. And I accept when someone is looking for a difficult outcome, and I may not be their person for the job.
I have learned my strong suits and what subject matters or projects I would or would not be a good fit for.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.andreacoan.com
• Instagram: @andreacoanphoto

Image Credits
All images taken by me – Andrea p coan