As a child, Andi Hatch stared at the crack in the bathroom door, mesmerized by the smell of her father producing prints in a makeshift darkroom. While creativity and chemicals always captivated her, she didn’t initially pursue a career in photography, opting instead for the public health field. Eventually, however, inspired by the chemistry between couples, Hatch became a wedding photographer. I posed five questions to Andi, to learn what her profession means to her every time a couple says, “I do.”
AC: What’s your typical day?
Hatch: I don’t ever have a typical day so I will just tell you about what happened today. My days are different if I have my son, Cooper, with me. I check email during naptime and that’s about all the work I can do, or if it’s the weekend and I’m shooting a wedding.
5:00–6 a.m. Cooper wakes up and I haul him into our bed to sleep another hour with us.
7 a.m. Roll out in my sweats, no shower, change Coop’s poop diaper, and make breakfast for the two of us.
7:30 a.m. Eat breakfast with Cooper.
7:45 a.m. Roll Cooper through the neighborhood in his toy car.
8:15 a.m. Return home, make Cooper’s lunch, and play.
8:30 a.m. Nanny arrives (so does the other little boy we nanny-share with).
8:45 a.m. Go to my office upstairs, answer emails, and make phone calls.
10:00 a.m. Head to coffee shop to interview and hire a second photographer for all of my wedding shoots this year.
12 noon. Go to yoga (or run or bike).
1:15 p.m. Shower
1:30 p.m. Say “Hi” to Cooper if he’s awake. Eat lunch at my office upstairs. Today I worked on my December accounting, set up appointments with more potential clients, and downloaded a photo shoot from this past weekend. I worked on two computers at the same time today—editing and downloading on my desktop while doing my accounting on my laptop.
4:00 p.m. Meet with a potential client at my office.
5:00 p.m. Rescue Cooper from the nanny. Play.
6:00 p.m. Feed Cooper dinner.
7:00 p.m. Cooper goes to sleep.
7:15 p.m. My husband, Lucas, and I take turns making dinner (or getting take out) and clean up the house.
8:00 p.m. Back on my laptop, but this time sitting in front of the TV with Lucas. Continue to edit my photo shoot from the weekend.
10:30 p.m. Time for ice cream! Unfortunately, it is becoming a habit for us.
11:00–midnight. Peek in at Cooper and go to bed.
I should probably tell you that when I am at my home office, there are two kids talking, crying, and screaming, and my nanny is listening to gospel music on the stereo. My office does not have a door and overlooks the living room, so, I have learned how to tune everything out or plug myself into my iPod. I also help her with the kids if she needs it.
It’s a huge distraction, but worth it. I sometimes tell people I run a daycare on the side.
AC: How’d you get where you are?
Hatch: Becoming a wedding photographer took a lot of hard work. I had been a hobbyist photographer since high school, but didn’t become serious about it as a career until 2004. At that point, I enrolled in classes at the Academy of Art in San Francisco and began assisting photographers on the weekend. It was not that easy to find photographers who would take on a rookie, but I somehow lucked out and talked my way into quite a few jobs. By 2006, I was shooting for a studio as an associate photographer part-time, assisting other photographers part-time, and still maintaining a full-time job in an entirely different field and somehow managed to keep my sanity. Last year I quit the studio and started shooting under my own name. I have only advertised through word-of-mouth and my business has taken off like a wildfire.
