Andrena’s passion for documenting the world around her began at the age of 12, when she purchased her first professional camera. After working for magazines and newspapers, and winning numerous state and local awards in photojournalism, she put her photographic inclinations on hold in favor of a corporate career. She spent six years at the world’s largest consulting firm and another four years working for Silicon Valley high-tech startups before getting laid off during the tech crash of 2001. After a few months of soul searching, she decided to leave the corporate life behind to see if she could give photography another go. And she’s never looked back. She’s now the go-to girl for multicultural weddings of all shapes and sizes, and in any location in the world.
Andrena’s award-winning images have been featured on the cover of Professional Photographer magazine, on two covers of Ceremony magazine, and in the pages of Grace Ormonde Wedding Style, Bride & Bloom, Ceremony, The Knot Weddings, Inside Weddings, South Asian Bride, Chicago Social Brides, Beautiful Weddings (UK), Fleur D’Orange (Ukraine), Shaadi Style, Rivaaj, Paste, the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times. Her work has also appeared on MTV, Platinum Weddings and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.
She has spoken at two international photography conferences, and has been profiled in Rangefinder and Asian Photography magazines. A 12-page interview with Andrena is featured in the 2008 book “Professional Wedding Photography: Techniques and Images from Master Photographers” (Amherst Media). Her landmark documentary work with early 1980s punk rock musicians is featured in “Punk’s Not Dead: The Movie.” Andrena holds two degrees in journalism and has studied photography at three universities.
FUN FACTS:
Real name is Andrena.
Nickname is Dina.
Either name is fine.
Dad is a doctor. Mom is an artist. This leaves Dina with a left brain/right brain personality.
- Loves photography.
- Has traveled to 26 countries, including 17 cities in India.
- Feels honored to work with every ethnicity and religion.
- Wishes she didnt like gelato so much.
- Hates spelling errors with a passion.
- Loves bringing out the beauty in everyone she works with.
- Sang lead for several swirly-girly alternative bands.
- Is sometimes a bit too Type A for her own good.
- Photographed nearly every punk band that every played in Los Angeles. See the work at The Hidden Punk.
- Honored to have Shepard Fairey use one of her images for an auction piece benefitting the Lance Armstrong Foundation.
- Worked at Arthur Andersen for six years.
- Worked in Silicon Valley tech companies for four years.
- Broke her arm four times as a teenager.
- Parents eloped and got fake wedding photos several weeks later (at the request of grandma).
- Loves all of her clients and absolutely kills herself to do the best possible job for them.