#WCW Splash Photography

This week I am BEYOND excited to introduce you to an absolute creative goddess, who has been such a HUGE part of creating Sophia V Holistic, and who has inspired me in such a big way. Andrea Husted of Splash Photography embodies living a purposeful life and shines her brightness into the world through her work. I was confident that Andrea would be honoured to contribute to my women crush Wednesday series, so without further ado, Here’s Andrea:

Hi! I’m a Canadian-Based Professional Photographer with a focus on weddings for couples in love, and personal branding for entrepreneurs and business professionals. I have a love for people and their stories. I love networking, brainstorming and finding ways to serve others with the gifts I’ve been given. I believe that if we work together, we can all make it! I’m also a wife, mother, sister, daughter, believer, dreamer, and I love creating. I started my business in August of 2004, 14 years ago and before people were even using Facebook!

1. When I originally decided to embark on this journey as an entrepreneur, my ‘why’ was simply to be happy… to do happy work surrounding myself with happy situations. However, as you well know, there’s so much more to truly finding happiness than just plopping yourself into a new career. I have grown and learned a lot about myself since this time. My journey has been complicated and beautiful (it continues to be).

I truly feel that we all have great responsibility in whatever gifts we’ve been blessed with. In what I do, my ‘why’ is to serve people by providing authentic photographs of beautiful & emotional people. All these little captured moments are the creation of one’s lifetime, and after we are gone it will be these images that bring delightful laughter, or subtle tears to those that loved us dearly. These once-in-a-lifetime moments matter not only today, but will become the chronicles of our life after we are gone. I genuinely care about this because I genuinely care about people. Although I’m technically labelled a Photographer, I believe that my real work is in building authentic relationships with people. I hope to show love to everyone, I believe in the power of positivity, and I think that one interaction can truly change someone’s life. My hope (and I feel my responsibility) is that this will be for better, not for worse. Photography has provided me with the medium to connect personally with people. Taking photographs of hundreds of people’s most important life events has given me the gift of building beautiful and genuine relationships. I don’t ever want to take this gift for granted. For me, the driving force behind what I do is all about relationships.

2. My biggest advice is simply put, ‘to get out of your own way’. I know this statement may sound silly at first, but as Mel Robbins says, ‘through your life there will be many people that doubt you. Don’t let one of these people be you.’ Instead, work on building yourself up. There is no other you, and that’s pretty spectacular. So, you do you because no one else ca ever do that better! So often we can easily get caught up in what other people are doing, or saying that we completely road-block ourselves. It’s hard to push through this, but it is 110% WORTH IT! Surround yourself with people that support and encourage you. Follow your intuition… you know what you’re capable of and you know what you need. Trust yourself! Stay in your lane and stop paying attention to those driving beside you.

 

One other more hands-on piece of advice I have for someone getting started is to start talking about what you’re doing. Find yourself an accountability partner, or a coach and meet with them regularly to outline your goals and intentions. There are seven days in the week and ‘someday’ isn’t one of them! Setting and saying your goals out loud & listing your intentions forces you to move on them. It’s easy to deny those things if they are just in your own head, but if you have vocalized them to someone it forces you to take action.

3. My Dad. My Dad was 100% true to himself and his beliefs. He was strong man and would never falter on his values just because someone important was in the room, or because the majority didn’t agree with him. His integrity was rock-solid and he lived his life with full confidence in what he was capable of and what he believed to be right. He was also so filled with love for his family that it was somewhat  annoying at times. My favourite words from him were “Life is about choices, choose wisely”, “Every day spent miserable is a day wasted.”, and “I love you.” I would do just about anything to have a tea with him again:).

My deepest gratitude to Andrea for sharing her wisdom and inspiration! I can’t wait for our upcoming and future projects!

For all things health, wellness, happiness and freedom, subscribe to my newsletter and stay connected! XOXO

Love and Light,
Sophia V