Two factors inspired Torrie Hudson to become a photographer: Attending photoshoots with friends and watching “America’s Next Top Model.”
“I only watched it for the photography and for the creative directing,” the 33-year-old Noblesville resident said. “They never showed the actual shoots enough, and I was always curious how they got that picture or what lighting they used.”
That curiosity compelled Hudson to buy his first camera, a Nikon D3000, at age 19.
He started photographing friends, family and objects around the house and dabbled in lighting and learned the basics of editing. Now, his photographic taste revolves more around a certain vibe than a certain subject.
Fourteen years after taking up the hobby, Hudson recently left his job as an assistant manager at Kiss Kiss Bang Bang Salon in Fishers and Carmel to pursue his passion full time with Torrie Hudson Photography.
“What I like about photography most is, I want you or anybody to look at a picture and not just say, ‘Oh, that’s a cute person.’ I want them to look at the picture and say, ‘I feel it’ or, ‘I can imagine myself being there or imagine being in that situation,’” Hudson said. “It’s nice when you get someone who hates their picture being taken and you hang out with them for a bit and get a picture of them and they see it and they say, ‘Oh, that’s a good picture’
“I want to bring whatever my client is trying to accomplish to life.”
Now, Hudson shoots with a Nikon D810. He is self-taught, having learned the craft through research and trial and error.
Reflecting on when he first started shooting, Hudson calls his early work “cringey.”
“I did senior pictures for a friend’s daughter,” he said of his first organized shoot. “It’s super cringey, but when I look back at it, I’m grateful for that. At first, I was going to delete everything, but now I can go back and look at it to see my progress.”
The COVID-19 pandemic helped Hudson launch his creative pursuit full time.
“I had a lot of free time during (quarantine), and going back to work, I learned what was possible,” he said. “It’s scary leaving a full-time job because you have a consistent income, but in the beginning of COVID, COVID was scary because you didn’t have consistent income. But that fear went away really quickly once I was able to realize everything was going to be OK. I want to be able to spend all my time doing exactly what I’m passionate about, and I feel it’s important everybody do that because that’s the only way you can make the world a better place.”
Hudson is accepting clients. He recently booked his first international photoshoot for October. Some of his past work includes photographing Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters and pop stars P!nk and Cher, among performers. For more, visit torrieh.com.
