We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Andrea Reid a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Andrea, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

As a photographer we strive to capture a moment and freeze it to look back on later. There will come a time when all someone has is a photograph and memories. My mission has been to make sure everyone has those memories, photographic ones. In 2018 I suffered a tragic loss that I will truly never really move on from. I lost my youngest son to suicide. I know, a sensitive topic. Adrian was 18. He was 10 days away from graduating high school. He was 34 days away from turning 19. He was young. Healthy. He had so much more to do and see and accomplish. After Adrian passed I remember looking at pictures and school memories and thinking, “ this is now all I have left. What if I didn’t even have this?” When all you have is a photograph you want to hang on to it forever.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Andrea and I started my journey into photography when my kids were in elementary school. Around 5th or 6th grade (think 2004-2005) is when my kids became interested in sports and school plays. I had bought a small canon point-n-shoot so I could take pictures of all they did. I was so proud of them and wanted to have those memories saved. At some point I upgraded camera equipment and also started taking pictures of the schools football games. From there I started taking pictures of the teams for the other parents. As time went on, life got busy. I started my nursing career and eventually sold my equipment. I would take pictures and video with my phone but that was it. After my youngest son passed I needed an outlet. I talked about taking pictures again over the years but never took the leap. My husband ended up buying me a camera with the intention of distracting me from myself. He had listened to countless stories of my love of photography. He gave me not only an outlet but my passion back. After jumping back into the photography world and realizing so much has changed I researched and practiced my butt off. I am now the Owner/Operator of Drea Reid Photography. I now specialize in Family and Children. I am a big kid at heart so photographing families and children comes easy to me. It helps to understand that kids are learning and experiencing the world. I’m just allowing them to do so while following song with a camera in hand. I’ve come a long way in a short time. With the help of my family, especially my husband, I have passion in something. I have goals and dreams. I am able to give my clients memories to hold forever!

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

My best source has truly been word of mouth. We live in a small town in Northern Michigan. I had already made friends with many locals when we moved here. From the local hardware store down to the local party store. I have done so many free shoots for the families who own these businesses. Honestly, my first one was for the local hardware store. They had a senior who was about to graduate and wanted photos. Small talk every time we went into the hardware store lead them to me. I make sure to talk about and show off pictures when I go in. I have now taken family pictures for them every year. They have also become some of my biggest supporters. They like, share and talk me up to others constantly. I am eternally grateful for them.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Originally I was absolutely terrified to share anything on social media. I was not a person who could handle criticism. I started with a Facebook page. I took the leap and invited everyone on my friends list. I then started inviting everyone on the kids friends list and my husbands. What could they do besides decline it? I refused to let it bother me. Despite my efforts to possibly sabotage myself, it worked! They liked and followed and then even shared it! It’s was a slow process. I started following other photographers. I would watch and see how they were progressing. From there I started an Instagram page and eventually a TikTok. Again, it’s a slow process. It has steadily built up over time. Advice? Take the leap. Share, share and share some more! Follow others. Out of all the social media platforms, my favorite is tiktok. It’s just fun! I will say that the TikTok community can be the most harsh but also the most confidence boosting.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://dreareidphotograph.wixsite.com/dreareidphotography
• Instagram: Instagram.com/dreareidphotography
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DreaReidPhotography
• Twitter: Twitter.com/dreareidphoto
• Other: https://unscriptedforphotographers.com/b/dj5kP8nceMYa2E

Image Credits
Drea Reid Photography