Today we’d like to introduce you to Andy Phan.
Andy, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Growing up in Houston, my family and I had a very simple living situation where we had only the necessities, nothing outrageous. I find myself drawing and using my imagination to creatively entertain myself through my every day. Throughout school, I would participate in many art and photo classes, activities and contests, going into college, I decided to pursue architecture at The University of Houston. There at UH, I was exposed to many mediums of design and was really focused on the graphics visualization aspect of architecture. Composition was a main element where I studied photography and how it can really hold the key to telling the story of one’s vision and design.
After finishing school, I focused on my career to become an architect at Page where I have been for the past 20 years. Currently, I am the Visualization Director and a Design Associate Principal for the Houston office. I was able to work on many different types of tasks through the years from designing a building, to participating in branding/marketing the firm, and project/headshot photography. While being active in the industry, there were many industry social events where I have been hired to do photography. Having done the event side for over 7 years has gotten my name around where several of my industry peers would refer my photography services to many other people outside the design industry. Since then, while maintaining the architecture career, I have been enjoying my photography business where I am shooting personal portraiture, to corporate headshots, event photography, branding/product photography, architectural/interior photography and many more.
So, in a nutshell, it’s Andy, just your everyday-typical image ambassador. Though I have been doing photography for over 25-years, I took the leap forward and have started doing it professionally for the past seven years. It started out with a few client corporate head shots to a few industry event photography efforts. And since I am in the architectural design industry, I was fortunate enough to have continual photography work by word of mouth.
Fast forward a few years, I have been putting a load of different types of photography in my personal portfolio. I love the arising opportunities and have been enjoying being able to see many familiar faces of the industry and networking with new people. And every time at these photo gigs, I love to doing selfies with the clients or party guests. This makes the job very memorable and fun! I look forward to meeting more friends!
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I wouldn’t say that there were huge-terrible obstacles. I have always been quick at learning and adapting to change. With that said, one of my main struggles would be having the availability and the time to pursue more opportunities.
Please tell us about your business.
On the photography front, I have been enjoying my photography business where I am shooting personal portraiture, to corporate headshots, event photography, branding/product photography, architectural/interior photography and many more. I have always enjoyed putting out, what I hope it to be, great work. What is great work? It’s the excitement of either posting up an event that I have photographed on social media and then receiving positive and fun comments from the guests. Also, it’s when sending the photo deliverables to a client and getting similar gratitude along with more repeat opportunities. That really goes a long way in telling me, I am doing something right. I have been putting a load of different types of photography in my personal portfolio. I love the arising opportunities and have been enjoying being able to see many familiar faces of the industry and networking with new people. And every time at these photo gigs, I love to doing selfies with the clients or party guests. This makes the job very memorable and fun! I look forward to meeting more friends.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
I am just going to take it one day at a time and enjoy the current ride. I hope that I will be able to continue to make some great memories from the event photography side or capture some awesome shots moving forward. But one thing is for sure, I will keep on improving and having fun!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.andyphan.com
- Phone: 832-228-2976
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andyphanphotography/
Image Credit:
Armand Kostanian, Law Stewart
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