Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah and Darren Hendry.
Hi Sarah and Darren, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Howdy, we’re Sarah and Darren! We’re originally from Scotland but are now LA transplants living our best life in Pasadena! We moved here almost four years ago with our two rescue bunnies and are having a whale of a time in sunny California!
Our journey into the world of wedding photography started back in 2011. Prior to that, we were shooting portraits, music shows, and architectural stuff (Darren has a degree in Architecture) as a hobby, and we were starting to get slightly bored, not to mention, that our lack of creativity was failing us. We randomly put a photography advert on Gumtree (the UK version of Craigslist!) and secured our first ever paid booking after a few days, which happened to be a wedding which we were a little surprised about since that type of photography had never really interested us! Since then, we have never looked back and have now been doing wedding photography full-time for almost 12 years. It was never our grand plan in life; it just worked out like that!
Our photography work ended up bringing us to California, and although the whole visa process was stressful and time-consuming, it was the very best decision we ever could have made! Turns out that the grass IS a little greener on the other side sometimes…
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
For the most part of our life in business, it was a pretty smooth road! But sh*t got really real when we decided to move our whole lives and business across the ocean! Substantial risk, ahoy! But we knew what these risks were and we were at a point in our lives that we were willing to go wild! Acquiring work and clients ahead of time, building up our business SEO from scratch again, making connections with other people within our field, and basically starting afresh and relearning life in a new part of the world (health care and taxes, we’re looking at you mostly!). In our minds, we knew it was now or never, so we took the plunge and started the visa process. Fast forward almost 4 years later, we know we made the right decision.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
We’re wedding photographers, but not your TYPICAL wedding photographers! We go against the usual grain, and that’s exactly how we like it to roll. Normal is boring. Well, for us, at least 😉
We’re constantly pushing ourselves creatively and are incredibly passionate about telling unique stories for each couple, so we aim to go into each wedding with a clear mind and eyes wide open. The most important thing for us is to capture the overall essence of the day so couples can look back on the images for years to come and remember ALL of those good, good times.
Over the last couple of years, we’ve really pushed our way out of the box and have started incorporating some really fun elements into our work to spice things up and bring some 80s vibes and extra color, which is basically soooo us. We go a little wild with our neon lights, atmospheric mist, fractals, and other random light-bending toys! It’s pretty much our signature thing now and what a lot of folks recognize us for, which is super nice 🙂
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
We have felt many varying degrees of success; from when we got our first rental property, when we made our first 1000, to buying our first car, having our US visa approved, and getting ourselves and our little business through a global pandemic, still intact on the other side. The nature of success is just a feeling to us and it can never be measured by how much money you make or how famous you become. There is no limit to being successful!
Pricing:
- Los Angeles weddings start at $4,700
- Los Angeles elopements start at $3,200
- Los Angeles photo sessions start at $1,170
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thehendrys.co
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_hendrys
Image Credits
Space bunny family portrait by Danielle Spires Photography /// All other 8 wedding images are by The Hendrys
