We’ve all heard that public speaking makes most people really, really uncomfortable. I personally believe the camera comes in at a close second. Nothing makes people act more bizarrely than whipping out a camera and telling them to “act naturally.” Thankfully, the last time my family participated in a staged photo shoot, we were lucky enough to have Andrea Farmer Photography do it. Not only did we end up with gorgeous photos, but every single family member had so much fun we can barely wait to do it again.
Andrea Farmer Photography – Their Story
As a girl Andrea found herself playing with her grandfather’s old 35mm Minolta. In her own words it was her “favorite toy.” She went on to study photojournalism in college and fell in love with the darkroom lab and its endless possibilities. At the time, she also studied fashion merchandising and wound up working in that field for about a decade. Once she and her husband had their first son, Andrea decided it was time to find a career that involved less travel. Naturally, Andrea was drawn back to her first passion of photography. After spending several years working for successful, long standing studio in New York she was ready to launch a business under her own name. She now has a much loved, established studio of her own and was voted Best Family Photographer by Best of Parenting last year.
What You Will Love
- Andrea – She is an incredible combo of generosity, humor, wit and energy. All of which work in her favor as a photographer because she brings that to the shoots. This puts her clients at eases and translates into very naturally styled photos. Yes, babies are impossible to mess up on, but how about an awkward adult (**cough, me, cough**)? Not a problem for Andrea as she will have you genuinely laughing and loosening up within moments.
- Creativity – Let’s face it, there are a lot of photographers out there. Andrea stands out by offering her clients an entire, unique experience, complete with fresh ideas and assistance with everything from outfit selections to locations to props.
- Images – her shots are clear, crisp and interesting. Andrea’s images are breathtaking and stand out, edited just perfectly enough to look like very best of your family, naturally.
- Professional – Andrea takes pride in continuing to learn and grow her business, studying business classes and taking additional photography workshops to keep her skills sharp. She has some very exciting things coming soon, so stay tuned to find out what comes next!
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Community
Andrea is on the Board for Next Generation Heritage Foundation in her hometown of Franklin. It’s a great group focusing largely on preserving the town’s heritage and saving the historical homes, buildings and land. They also host great community events and fundraisers to fuel efforts and the keep the energy of the group fresh and fun. Her husband and she are also proud to be involved with Autism Speaks, Second Harvest Food Bank and several other nonprofits. Andrea Farmer Photography donates portrait sessions to many fund-raising efforts and silent auctions because they believe it’s important to give back to the community that’s been so loving and giving to them.
Social Media
Since Andrea is quite savvy on Facebook and has such enthusiasm for it, I thought it best to provide her own thoughts on social media:
I LOVE using Facebook for keeping in touch with friends and clients, seeing everyone’s vacation pictures and keeping up with everyone’s day to day adventures. It’s also a great business tool. It allows you to reach a lot people in an organic way. I also use it to share sneak peeks with clients. It’s been my only “advertising/marketing” vehicle. I haven’t done any of the Facebook ads but just utilized the organic marketing from when my clients share their photos, make their images their profile picture, etc. I don’t do a lot of email blasts because I know I get a flood of emails to my inbox every day and it becomes somewhat of a chore to cull through those, dump the spam and take time to read those that are of value. If people are reading your posts on Facebook it’s because they’ve either purposely gone to your page or are on the page of a friend so it’s not an imposition. Don’t underestimate the power of Facebook. Just 6 months after changing the name of our business (which we didn’t do a big launch for or anything) we were voted Top Family Photographer in Nashville/Franklin above photographers who have been in business for YEARS and who have ads in every magazine, paper and media outlet available. WHAT?! We’ve ONLY used Facebook to market and this tells me that people are paying attention and people are invested in the happiness and success of the people they connect with and build relationships with through social media. It’s not as impersonal as a lot of people believe. Especially for busy parents, sometimes Facebook is the only social life we have time for on those busy days when we feel like we live in our minivans and on the sidelines of soccer fields. 😉I’ve not yet ventured into Twitter, Instagram, etc. but I’m sure that’s a matter of time as the world becomes more digital and more social-media based day by day.
Tell us, are you already a Fan on Andrea’s page? If so, share this article with your friends! If not, book a session and see what all this fuss is about!
