Andre Hinds admits that his job and his personality are sometimes at odds. He spends many of his work evenings at clubs and parties, surrounded by music and dancing and big energies. This can be a little difficult for Hinds, a self-identified introvert. He views his outgoing, high-energy, high-demand work as a role he slides into, like an actor stepping on a stage.
“I’m an introvert who does an extrovert’s job. So for me it’s very, very difficult sometimes. You don’t have the energy to be around that many people, especially strangers you don’t know. I have to basically turn on ‘theater me’ to do my job.” Hinds finds the energy to keep going by taking life breaks and vacations away from everything, especially after long weekend engagements.
The man certainly earns those breaks, becoming one of the most successful Charleston photographers and videographers over the past five years. He has worked with local clubs and events, organizations, musicians, filmmakers and has taken beautiful pictures for weddings, headshots and other personal events. But he’s more than a photographer. He’s becoming a total social media developer.
“Everything’s all-encompassed. So it just depends on what the client needs. I think it’s cool for me. I like being a one-stop shop,” he said. If a client wants great social media marketing, they would normally need to find multiple people to handle those roles — a talented photographer, editor and videographer are needed to create great commercials and ads. Hinds does all those things himself. So when a company hires him, they get everything in one person.
Hinds has been working in photography for at least a decade, with the last six years having been entirely professionally. Videography is relatively new for him, having added it three years ago. But he’s been editing videos for ages. He used to edit together wrestling compilations from YouTube clips in his spare time as a high schooler, honing skills that have made him a sought-after video editor.
Starting working locally with area DJs, things escalated as people noticed his work and his gear. Hinds’ early days were spent eagerly taking on gigs, paid and not, to give himself the experience and to show off his talents to potential clients. His small gigs led to bigger opportunities, eventually leading to his current collaborations with major national brands. Just this year, he’s been working with Krug Champagne as well as Bud Light. He’s starting work with Southern Eagle Distributing, which also does sports marketing with the Stingrays, CofC and the RiverDogs.
But parties and clubs are how Andre got his foot in the door.
“It’s wild. You’re observing but also in everybody’s face at the same time,” he said.
The position of sticking a camera and light in the faces of people who are trying to have a good time is awkward, Hinds said, but it’s something he’s found ways to work around to capture images that make you feel like you need to be at the next event. He’s a maestro of FOMO — the fear of missing out.
Hinds continues to evolve his artistry. He’s moved into music video production, with five in the works set for early 2022 releases. He keeps adding production equipment and learning to master them. Filming for music videos and cinema brings in different challenges than clubs and parties. He’s excited to shoot for the story instead of exclusively for the edit. He also has a documentary releasing at the end of next year on the life of the late jazz trumpeter Joey Morant.
“I feel like the only way to keep doing this, because you get so burned out doing the same stuff over and over again, is to find new ways to fuel that passion of what you wanna do. So I definitely wanna go and do more music videos. I wanna do more narrative filmmaking. I wanna do short films. I wanna do all of it because I wanna see how far I can take it. That’s kinda my goal.”
With Hinds’ incredible depth of talents and proven track record, he’s going to have absolutely no problem getting the chance to do whatever he wants in this industry. “I’m never afraid to learn. I’m never afraid to try. I’m always afraid to fail, obviously, but it comes with the territory.”
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