The Instagram Interviews: Andrew Pavlidis
1. Could you share a little bit about yourself and how you got started in photography?
I started getting into photography during high school. I had my dads old Canon AE-1 film camera that I played around with for a few years but after I lost access to the dark rooms I eventually picked up a digital SLR which I used mostly for hiking with friends.
It’s when I started to take my camera on adventures with me is when I really fell in love with photography. It allowed for me to share my experiences with friends and family back home because if you knew me you would know I’m pretty shit at telling stories!
2. As a photographer, there are plenty of ways to market yourself these days. Do you use different strategies to reach your audience with each platform?
There are so many ways to get your photos out to people these days. I have used several different methods but nothing has been as useful as Instagram.
Instagram has been the only platform (for me) which has successfully connected the general public to the photographers themselves. All other social platforms such as 500px are great for finding amazing photography but they aren’t regularly used by anyone but photographers. As of right now I have only been focusing on Instagram to get my photos out on social media as it seems to be providing the most opportunities.
3. What advice would you give to someone looking to build up their own community of followers on Instagram?
When trying to build a following the only thing you can do is post often and be active with whatever social community you are trying to be apart of. After that, all you can do is hope that people enjoy your style of photography or story that you are sharing.
4. Your website mentions you spend your summers in Canada and your winters traveling around the world. How do you manage exploring, taking photos, editing, and business inquiries when on the road versus when you’re home?
Trying to balance work and travel is a full time job in itself…especially since I don’t make any money from any of my travel work. To be moving year round I have been trying to pick up weddings to fund plane tickets.
Trying to balance business inquiries and advertising when your living in a car on the road is can be quite difficult but you learn to be quite efficient with limited battery life and you learn pretty quick which cafes have free internet.
5. If there’s one thing that has changed the way you work as a photographer, what would it be?
Nothing has really changed over the years towards my outlook on photography. The kit gets bigger and ideas get better but in the end I’m still just taking photos of what I enjoy doing everyday. The one thing that has changed is the push to create something different. Through social media, we are surrounded by so many talented people making beautiful things everyday and its hard to create unique images daily.