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.
AC: What’s the best thing about your job?
Hatch: If I had to pick just one, I’d say that being my own boss and having the independence and flexibility to do whatever I want is the best thing about my job.
It allows me to work from home and see my baby whenever I want. I can work wherever I want—at home in sweats or a local coffee shop or even outside under a tree. I choose how much I want to work as well as my hours.
There’s more to it than the logistical things though. I always have felt that if you have to spend such a large chunk of your life working, you might as well do something you really love. For the most part, I’ve had jobs that I really liked, but this one might take the cake. I love meeting couples and hearing the stories of how they met, what they love about each other, how they became engaged, and their plans for the future. I love the look in their eyes as they argue about who was the first to say I love you. I love the build-up and excitement of weddings, the nervous mothers, the high stress right before the ceremony starts, and for me, and the adrenalin rush of capturing all of it. At the end of a typical ten- to twelve-hour wedding shoot, I am completely exhausted emotionally, physically, and artistically. However, I never fail to call Lucas as soon as I get in the car to tell him excitedly about every detail of a wedding, the mishaps, the beauty, and whether or not I got “the shot.”
AC: What don’t you like?
Hatch: I don’t like the feeling that there is always something I could be doing. Watching TV without feeling guilty is a thing of the past. A close second is the fact that I had to invest quite a nice sum of cash in equipment and had to max out a credit card or two in order get my business to where it is now.
AC: How much money do you make?
Hatch: I am projecting that I will gross $45K this year.
My Gig is a series of stories about different careers. Trying to figure out what to do when you grow up? My Gig, which provides a quick glimpse into a person’s work life, may inspire you!
Photo courtesy of Andi Hatch Photography