Rising Stars: Meet Andre Hinds of Charleston

Today we’d like to introduce you to Andre Hinds.

Hi Andre; so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I’ve been working in photography for almost a decade, and the last six years have been entirely professional. Videography is relatively new for me, having added it three years ago. But I’ve been editing videos since I was 16. I used to edit together wrestling compilations from YouTube clips in my spare time as a high schooler, honing skills that have made me a sought-after video editor; starting working locally with area DJs, and things escalated as people noticed my work and my gear, which is always important for some reason, optics are crazy important in this industry. My early days were spent eagerly taking on any gig I could get my hands on, some paid and some (well, most) not, to earn a little experience and show off my still budding talents to potential clients. Not too long after, my small gigs led to bigger opportunities, eventually leading to my current collaborations with some major national brands. This year, I’ve worked with Krug Champagne, Haven Hill Distillery, and Bud Light via a partnership with Southern Eagle Distributing, which also encompasses sports marketing with the Carolina Stingrays, the College of Charleston, the Charleston Battery, and the Charleston RiverDogs.

But parties and clubs are how I got my foot in the door, to begin with. The position of sticking a camera and light in the faces of people who are trying to have a good time is awkward. Still, it’s something I’ve found ways to work around to capture images and videos that make you feel like you need to be at the next event that that club or concert hall, or even fitness center holds.

Filming for music videos and cinema brings in different challenges than clubs and parties, with their merits, but being able to shoot for the story instead of exclusively for the edit is enthralling and reinvigorating. To continue to evolve my artistry, I’ve recently moved into music video production, with five in the works set for early 2022 releases, adding more production equipment each time and learning to master them as I go along. I also have a feature-length documentary releasing at the end of next year on the life of the late jazz trumpeter Joey Morant.

The only way to keep doing this, because you get so burned out doing the same stuff repeatedly, is to find new ways to fuel that passion for what you want to do. So I want to go and do more music videos. I want to do more narrative filmmaking. I want to do short films. I want to do everything to see how far I can take it. That’s my goal. Push it until either it breaks, or I do. I’m never afraid to learn. I’m never afraid to try. Obviously, I’m always afraid to fail, but it comes with the territory.

Would it have been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Your dream will always be work, but you want to ensure your work becomes a job. It hasn’t been a smooth road; looking at my work when I first started and knowing how little I didn’t even know it is crazy. And that initial struggle to find clients, show your work, and get opportunities to grow is so tough when you’re starting, especially in a town where there is so much competition and so much talent and trying to find that foothold to make yourself stand out among the crowd is the tough part. Still, once you figure that out, you start to figure out who you are, why you do what you’re doing, and the type of work that attracts you and best fits your style.

Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
As a Photographer, I think I’m a jack of all trades. I shoot weddings, portraits, models, food, fashion, lifestyle, headshots, live music, and events – I like to have my hands in every pie I can because I never want to get bored. As a Videographer/Filmmaker, I specialize in making mini music videos for brands, doing things like interviews, promotional/commercial videos, filming live music and fitness, and even branching out into full-fledged music videos and documentaries as of late. I’m most proud of some of my work filming for Bud Light and working with their brand ambassadors over the last couple of years. I think the fact that I won’t live in one lane with either of my creative endeavors sets me apart from everyone else; there isn’t anything I won’t at least try to do.

Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting?
Oh, man. Yeah, and this is the most important thing. When you start, the biggest thing you must remember is that even though you should know your worth, I promise you that you will get more paid work from free work than you ever will from the work you’re paid for. Word of mouth is so incredibly important, and building those relationships when you’re first starting will build a foundation of trust that will carry you through the hard times of being a starving artist to the point where you find yourself out of the red and into the black. Those customers/clients will always come to you first and recommend you to everyone they know, like a proud parent. Also, secondly, especially in what I do, when you’re starting, do not fall into the dick-measuring contest of gear comparing. Buy what you need to get to a point where you can learn and not break the bank, and then as you grow, grow your gear game because if you don’t know what you’re doing, that $5,000 camera with that $1800 lens might as well be paperweights because you’ll have no idea what you’re doing with it which will cost you in the long run as you destroy jobs, mess up footage, and drop the ball by not knowing the basics – whereas going to eBay, grabbing an older camera, a few used lenses and learning your brand, your focal lengths, building muscle memory, figuring out the buttons, and learning stuff like what ISO means, or why shutter speed is important, and how frame rates work. Crawl. Walk. Run. It’s simple and much more fun watching yourself grow in those ways.

Pricing:

• Portrait Photoshoots (60 mins) $200
• Wedding Photography $1800
• Wedding Videography $2,400
• Branding Photography (hd/fd) $800/$1600
• Event Videography $165/hr

Contact Info:

• Website: www.hindsightsocial.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andre_hinds/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andrebhinds

Image Credits
Andre Hinds