Today we’d like to introduce you to Abbi Hearne.
Abbi, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I grew up in Austin, Texas, went to UT Austin, and then lived in The Woodlands for two years before my husband and I hit the road full time to live in the western US. I started photographing weddings in 2014 with a prominent Austin photographer and then started my own business after I graduated in 2015. When we hit the road in Fall 2016, we started shooting more adventurous weddings in National Parks and other public lands. We did that for a few years, and now we live in Moab, Utah and photograph elopements primarily in Utah, Yosemite National Park, and Alaska. We are rock climbers, ice climbers, hikers, licensed solo skydivers, and outdoor advocates!
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Taking the leap to hit the road full time was certainly a challenge! We were giving up a really amazing community of friends and a great church in The Woodlands, but our hearts felt at home out West and we knew it was where we belonged. We didn’t have much money when we hit the road and didn’t make very much that first year, but we were happy living in our tiny camper and eating peanut butter tortillas! There were certainly difficult times, like getting sick on the road and not having the budget to get a hotel, but it was always worth the adventure and the amount of beautiful places we got to see!
The Hearnes Adventure Photography – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We are adventure elopement photographers. We help couples have small, intentional weddings in beautiful places. Most of our couples don’t like the idea of being the center of attention or throwing a dinner party for 300 people they sort-of know, so instead they put that toward a really epic adventure and have a destination adventure wedding either with their closest friends and families (up to 40 people) or just the two of them!
I am really proud of the niche we’ve formed and helped grow. I love seeing our couples choose a wedding day that fits “them” and feels exciting and fulfilling for them! It’s such a fun job. My husband and I have always put the outdoors first, and we know our couples feel the same way, so I’d say something that sets us apart is how much we adventure in these places! We don’t just go to Yosemite to shoot weddings. We go to rock climb and hike and shoot weddings in between. When we’re in Moab, we are climbing towers, skydiving, jeeping, and catching up on work in the evenings — not the other way around.
We started this business to give us more time in the West, and now that it’s grown to what it is, we have to be intentional about our time and bookings. We have chosen not to grow the business past the two of us, and not to book more than 25 elopements a year because we want time to play and enjoy these places. We don’t want to be managing employees… we want to be climbing! With that, our couples get a really intimate experience with us. We get to know them well and form a friendship with them that allows us to photograph them in an accurate way.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Staying true to ourselves, always doing what’s right for us instead of what the industry is telling photographers to do. We define our success, not awards or bookings or the size of our company.
Pricing:
- Elopements start at $11,000
- Adventure Sessions (2 hour engagements, anniversaries, etc.) start at $4000
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thehearnes.com
- Email: abbihearne@gmail.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/thehearnes
- Facebook: facebook.com/thehearnesphotography
Image Credit:
The Hearnes
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