Andy Hann – Hollywood Boulevard Up Close and Personal

Miami Street Photography Festival Submission Deadline Extended

Before we get to today’s show I wanted to let you know that the Miami Street Photography Festival (MSPF) will be live and in person this year at the History Miami Museum December 2 and 3. This is the premiere street photography event of the year, so we’re very happy that it’s back after the COVID interruption.

Also, they have extended the deadline for contest submissions through Sunday, October 23 2022 (Midnight EDT). So there’s still time to submit your favorite single street photos or series. Use this link to visit their website. Use the links under Contest in the top menu to reach the submission forms. There’s one form for each contest, Single Photos, International Series and Miami Series.

Now on with the show

Editors’ Note: This show from our archives originally aired in October 2018. It’s one of our very favorite conversations that talks about the payoff of being persistent and passionate about a project over the long-haul. That’s why the subject is what I call the three P’s. Project, Passion, and Persistence.

It’s really The hero of our story is Andy Hann, a creative director with Sony Studios in the Los Angeles area.

Andy decided one day that he wanted to create a photo project about the people who frequent Hollywood Boulevard.

If you’ve never been there it’s probably one of the quirkiest places in America with people dressed as movie super heros, famous people like Marylin Monroe and Michael Jackson as a way to make money to feed drug habits or just survive.

This is a place that most of us would find as an interesting place to shoot for a few hours. But Andy saw it differently. He kept coming back…for over 3 years. And it’s not a pretty place because most of the regulars on the boulevard are homeless due to mental illness, drug addiction or both.

Over time he became passionate about the people themselves and began to use his own time and money to help the homeless. It wasn’t always easy because Andy had to deal with his own bouts of self doubt and the imposter syndrome.

Although he is a skilled designer, Andy wasn’t an experienced photographer. But he used the the project as a way to become familiar with the exposure and working in a variety of lighting conditions. At firstAt first and he wasn’t even an experience photographer

And he didn’t even have a fancy camera…just a basic Digital Rebel, with 3 prime lenses.

Despite bing a new photographer Andy persisted and finally after three years decided it was time to create a finished product which is his book Welcome to Hollywood. He tried to get it published and came close a couple times. But when that didn’t pan out he chose to publish it himself.

The result is is a collection of intimate up close and personal images that together tell his story of people most of us pass by…often in a hurry. He shows the human side of this weird and gritty uniquely American place.

Andy is one hell of a storyteller both visually and verbally. So I encourage you to hear the stories directly from the photographer himself by listening to my conversation with Andy Hann.

A selection of photos from Welcome to Hollywood

Andy’s Links

• Andy’s Instagram
• Andy’s Facebook
• Doing the Most – Andy’s article in the June 22019 issue of Street Photography Magazine