Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrea Sierra Torres.
Hi Andrea, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My name is Andrea Sierra Torres. I started photography in high school after I thought I failed in the writing portion of journalism. I gave photojournalism a shot, and I quickly discovered one of the reasons why I am on this earth. I became the photography editor for my yearbook, which gave me opportunities to shoot the mayor of Houston and gold medalist Simone Biles. After all of that ended with high school, I worried about what would happen to me and thought photography would disappear from me, but I was wrong. In 2019, I turned an old Instagram account of mine into what is now my photography account, Avertigow. I have had hundreds of different clients I worked with me since, and my community continues to grow. I am not too active on my Instagram account or website, but I am very active, which I think is a business flaw. I rarely post what I produce, but I’m happy as long as I’m busy. This year, I’ve had the opportunity to work with more people than ever, and I plan to share that with all of my friends who follow me on my career with Avertigow.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
I believe that mixing art with business has become one of the most challenging decisions artists have to make. There are times when I dread doing what I used to love to do so effortlessly. With that comes artist blocks, resentment, and burning out. They are so hard for me to avoid as someone trying to be online more. The most prominent artist block I had was 16 weeks, about a semester-long. I was in school, working on photography, and taking a film class simultaneously, and it was all very questionable going back and forth from freelance photography to art photography. I was annoyed with what I was working with. To this day, I still don’t have a good grasp on how to control my work photography and am always open to tips and opinions.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I specialize in freelance photography, mainly portraits, senior photos, maternity photos, family photoshoots, and event photography like weddings and quinceñeras. I’m known for that by my customers, but if you’re a close friend or studied with me in my film or photography classes, you may know me for my more surreal, abstract, blur work. This work is the one I’m most proud of. It’s personal and beautiful to me and also entirely private. I believe only a hand few have seen the work I’m most proud of, like my late professors, Valerie Yaklin-Brown and Lisa Harris, who are two people whose art I look up to a lot. I don’t think I do this purposefully, leave my personal art private. I believe this is due to my inability to execute myself and present myself improperly to the public.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
I’m not sure. I don’t have the best memory, but I enjoyed how close my family was to each other. I miss the naive children plus all-knowing parent relationships. The older we get, the more we see what real life is, and we see the good, the bad, and a lot of ugly, so I miss that childhood ignorance and living life like there were no risks or rules. I didn’t know about money problems or life planning when I was a kid. I miss that, but I think most people do, haha. This is why we hear so many older people say don’t take your childhood for granted! And I agree. So I suppose my favorite childhood memory is when my family was all together and living blissfully.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://avertigow.wixsite.com/mysite
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Avertigow/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andrea.sierra.18007218
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/andreasierratg
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/andreabug01/videos
Image Credits
Andrea Sierra Torres
