For Andrew Hutcheson of Voyager, Every Picture Tells a BTS Story
Production company EPs and producers all seem to share one thing: long lists of places where they’ve travelled to shoot. From far off lands to nearby ‘burbs, they’ve been everywhere, either on tech or location scouts or on any number of shoots, ranging from bare-bones, docu-style crews to full up massive productions with hefty lighting and grip rigs, oodles of extras, groaning craft service tables and sumptuous video villages filled with scrutinous clients.
Andrew Hutcheson, co-founder and EP at the production company Voyager, recently spent time traversing several countries on a major campaign set to release next year and took the time along the way to document the experience via photography. It’s not the first time he’s done this, either; his gallery of BTS and location shots, captured over the past year or so, includes everything from relaxed moments on set to stunning landscapes to revealingly personal portraits of people who’ve been part of the process, either in front of or behind the cameras.
An Emmy winner who also happens to be in the Guinness Book of Records (that’s worth a Google search, for sure), he’s overseen the company’s work on a range of projects, from short films to documentaries to commercials and branded content. A graduate of Boston’s Emerson College, he lives in Brooklyn, sharing a home with his wife, two cats and what he describes as “entirely too many books.”
Andrew recently shared a look at his still photo oeuvre with The Howler, and we instinctively wanted to know more. You can browse his gallery, which he’s appropriately titled ‘When the Job Sparks the Art,’ here; it’s well worth a visit. Here’s what he had to tell us.
When did you start taking these images? To date, roughly how many images do you have in your collection?
Andrew Hutcheson: Just about a year and a half ago, Spring 2025. I have no idea how many I’ve taken - several thousand at least!
When you started, was this just a casual thing, or did you kick this off with the intention of making it a creative exercise or project?
Andrew: The goal was to just get a better caliber of behind-the-scenes material for Voyager’s film and commercial projects. However, pretty quickly I caught the bug, and now I’m rarely leaving the house without my camera in tow.
Has photography always been a passion for you? What role did it play in your career development? And does your work as a photographer influence how you interact with directors and DPs when shooting Voyager jobs?
Andrew: I grew up pouring over the photos my mom and dad took, often pulling out their old slide projector to relive memories or sitting on my dad’s home office floor while he retouched countless images in Photoshop. I had a DSLR all through college that I adored, but when it came time to start Voyager, I sold all of my gear to help contribute to the company’s startup costs. Since getting back into it I’ve really come to enjoy much more of the aesthetic process of filmmaking, and not just the problem-solving of producing. It’s given me an even greater appreciation of the craft, which is very rewarding in and of itself.
What are you trying to convey in these images?
Andrew: There’s usually nowhere else I’d rather be than on set, and so I try to capture the feeling of being there, whether that’s a playful vibe, something more serious and considered, or just the sheer coolness of what we’re doing that day.
Any set rules about how you shoot, or where, or when? And how do you juggle the needs to oversee the shoot with your desire to express yourself visually?
Andrew: A big part of why I got into BTS was to get out of video village and spend more time on set, where the work is actually being made. Keeping an eye on everything and making sure our partners are happy is a big part of my job, and I take that very seriously. I try to strike a balance between being in video village when it's important – like when we need approvals, have to make creative decisions or are laying out the plan for upcoming setups – and not getting into the habit of sitting in a chair while our crew is out there working. I’m very much a production-first EP. I try to be as little of the “executive” and as much of the “producer” as possible. I go to set to be on set.
What gear do you use to capture these images? Are you shooting with an iPhone, or do you have a more traditional DSLR and lens configuration? How much post production retouching do you typically do on these?
Andrew: These are all from my Fuji X100VI with no post-production. This was the perfect camera for getting back into the hobby because of the fixed-lens constraint. In that vein, I would just dial in a look and then force myself to use the images out of the gate. This kept me from obsessing over endlessly editing them, and made me have to get it right in camera.
Any plans to publish a coffee table book or do a gallery viewing of these images? Have you ever been asked to provide prints to clients, crew members or colleagues? Any of your images found their way into stock photo collections?
Andrew: I have no real ambition other than to keep getting better and to keep taking more pictures. When our clients and crew reshare them, that's always nice. A few have even ended up as profile pictures, which, in my book, is the highest form of praise online. I'm also looking into getting some prints made down the road to give as gifts.
What sort of personal gratification do you get out of these images? What do they mean to you beyond just remembrances of places you’ve been or projects on which you’ve worked?
Andrew: I still pinch myself that I get to do this for a living; this is my way of keeping a memento from the dream.
