Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrew Vick.
Hi Andrew, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I grew up in Edina, Minnesota, so in a lot of ways this whole journey has led me right back home. I went to school for photography out in La Jolla, California, and that’s really where two things clicked for me: I learned to surf, and I learned to really see light. Both of those things taught me patience, and both of them still shape how I shoot today.
The wedding thing happened almost by accident. A friend asked me to bring my camera to her wedding, just as a guest, no pressure. By the end of the night, they ended up using more of my photos than the photographer they’d actually hired. That was it for me. I was hooked. I fell in love with weddings, with the whole idea of capturing someone’s love story as it’s actually unfolding in front of you.
From there I started a studio in St. Louis Park and slowly built out a team around me, people who cared about the work as much as I did. We started winning some local and national awards, and that opened doors I never expected, I got to travel the world photographing love stories in some incredible places.
As our couples started families of their own, we expanded into family photography so we could keep growing alongside them. And when they started businesses, we expanded again into corporate photography, because I wanted to be there for our clients at every stage, not just their wedding day.
And now, this summer, we’re bringing it all home. We just opened a studio in Edina, right where this whole story started.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Of course there were struggles. If anyone tells you building something like this was smooth the whole way, they’re not telling you the full story.
Balancing growth has probably been the hardest part. Every time we expanded, whether it was bringing on family photography, then corporate, then now the new studio, there’s this tension between wanting to grow and making sure we don’t lose what made us good in the first place. It’s easy to say yes to everything. It’s a lot harder to grow in a way that still feels like us.
Time away from family has been real too. My family grew into a family of four, two boys now, and there were plenty of weekends where I was at someone else’s wedding instead of home with mine. That’s a strange thing about this job, you spend so much of your time helping other people celebrate the biggest moments of their lives, and you have to be intentional about not missing your own. I’m still figuring that balance out, honestly.
But every one of those struggles has shaped how we operate now, and I wouldn’t trade the lessons for an easier road.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
What we specialize in is milestone moments, the big ones. Weddings, senior graduations, mitzvahs, family reunions, someone opening a new business. All the moments that mark a real turning point in someone’s life, the ones you look back on for years. That’s what gets me excited to pick up a camera.
I think what we’re known for is an artful, storytelling approach. I’m not interested in just documenting an event. I want to capture the story of it, the way it actually felt to be there. That’s true whether I’m shooting a wedding or a corporate headshot session, there’s always a story if you’re paying attention.
What I’m most proud of, honestly, isn’t an award or a magazine feature. It’s the relationships we’ve built. Couples who come back years later for family photos, then their kids’ senior photos, then maybe their own business launch. Clients who are friends at this point. That kind of trust doesn’t happen overnight, and it means more to me than almost anything else we’ve accomplished.
If you ask me what sets us apart, I’d say it’s the experience. Anyone can show up and take pictures. We try to make the whole thing feel personal, whether that’s how we work with you leading up to the day or how it feels to actually be in the room with us. People remember how you made them feel, not just the photos you handed them.
Who else deserves credit in your story?
So much of this credit doesn’t belong to me alone. My friends have supported me in ways big and small over the years, showing up, cheering me on, believing in this before it was much of anything.
But most of all, it’s my wife, Janelle. She’s been there through every version of this business, the early scrappy days and the growth and everything in between. She’s put up with the late nights, the missed weekends, the constant juggling act that comes with building something like this while raising a family together. I genuinely don’t think I’d be here without her.
And my team is incredible. I couldn’t do any of this alone, and I don’t want to. The people who work alongside me care about this work as much as I do, and that shows up in everything we create for our clients. They’re the reason we’ve been able to grow the way we have without losing what makes us, us.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://vickphotography.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andrewvickphotography/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VickPhotographyMN
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/vick-photography/
- Other: https://www.vickstudios.com
