The streets of New York City–nothing but lights and amazing fashion may seem a bit intimidating for some. But for sixteen year old Andrea Hansen, the thought is otherwise.
Hansen knew from a young age she wanted to be in the fashion business. When most little girls dream of being in the fashion industry, they think of designing their own clothes, but actually there are so many more branches that many people don’t have a clue about.
“Once I learned there is more to fashion than just designing, I fell in love with fashion photography.” Hansen said.
Hansen has had her dream school in mind since the 7th grade and there’s no doubt she will pursue that dream. F.I.T (Fashion Institute of Technology) in New York City, New York has been one of the most top rated schools for the Fashion Industry. From fashion management to Cosmetic and Fragrance Marketing, F.I.T. has it all, and that’s when Andrea fell in love.
“I knew I wanted to go to F.I.T. since I went to my first summer program between 7th and 8th grade”. Said Hansen
Hansen has been taking summer courses on photography ever since then, but there are many other classes, like jewelry design or the fashion cycle.
“The classes are for various weeks and you get taught by people who are in the business, which is even cooler”, explains Hansen.
Hansen also mentioned that she has gone to portfolio day that F.I.T. hosts, so that you can get your work reviewed for when you apply to colleges.
“I get great feedback on my strengths and how I can improve in the future,” describes Hansen.
Going to a school in New York City you obviously have to have some amazing story to tell (don’t worry Andrea has a pretty cool one). Andrea said she made some amazing friends over the summer program at F.I.T.. One of her friends that was modeling for her actually got scouted by a very famous company called “IMG models”. IMG has scouted models liked Gigi Hadid, Hailey Baldwin and even Karlie Kloss, so yes that’s a really big deal.
“So now I can say I have pictures of her before she even got famous,” Hansen says while talking about her friend.
Of course you can’t forget how going to Woodland helps so much in Hansen’s career. She has been taking Photography at school for a while now and I can fully testify that her pictures are amazing. She also started to become apart of Journalism for a while now which helped capture some amazing moments.
Hansen tries to take as many pictures of different events as she can. She recently started taking pictures for little league football and this year also started taking pictures for Woodland high school football team, which helped her learn how to experiment with sports photography. Hansen also took the senior cheer portrait and has done a few miscellaneous events. This year, she also took magazine layout class at F.I.T so she can apply those skills for yearbook for her senior year, of course.
So as the Andrea Hansen would say herself, “ When I am working before I shoot I always think what is the message I am trying to convey, because what I want to do with my life is literally tell a story with just my photography”.
So whatever your dream job may be, always think what story you want to tell.
Maria is a Staff Reporter who has spent two full semesters at Hawk Headlines. She enjoys binge-watching Netflix and getting lots of sleep.
