Hey there! My name is Regan, the proud owner of Fortis Media. I wanted to share a brief little history about how I became a photographer. Maybe other photographers have a similar story, but I really feel like mine is pretty special, because it connects to one of my favorite people.

To start this story we have to go all the way back to 2013. That seems like so very long ago. I was just 12 years old, and my dad, Andrew, started doing photography as a hobby. Because he had a full time job already outside of the photography hobby, it meant that he practiced whenever he had the chance, between long day’s working as a Welder at a local steel shop.

Me at 12 years old modeling for dad

He practiced with anyone that would let him photograph them, including me, my siblings, and my mother. Eventually he would go on to photograph high school graduating seniors and weddings, under the name Andrew Zandstra Photography. At that point I wasn’t really that interested in photography. After all I was only 12. But I had an early exposure to the craft. And by the time I was 15, I started to express interest in it too.

A lot of my first photographs and experience was for friends and family that knew I was dabbling in photography, as the story goes for most photographers.

Suddenly 2019-2020, rolled around, and I was in my Senior year of high school. I had no idea what I wanted to do. But I kept coming back to photography. During 2020, before the pandemic started, I was shooting and photographing things, people, and places, every chance I got, under the business name Zandstra Photography.

Then one day we were told that schools were shutting down, because of the pandemic coming in. At that point, I was still unsure what it was that I wanted to do, just photographing people every once in a while after the initial shutdowns where over, and working full time at a restaurant. I became an Assistant Manager at that restaurant and stayed in that position for a full year, before I decided that I didn’t want to work at a restaurant anymore.

I quite working in the restaurant and decide to pursue photography! And when I say it was the best decision I ever made, I mean it whole heartedly.

Since starting my business, I have had the pleasure of photographing so many amazing individuals, families and businesses. In 2024 I changed the business name from Zandstra Photography to Fortis Media (scroll to read more about what this name means to me). In early 2025, I decided to “niche” down to Brand and Headshot photography, since I enjoy working with small businesses so much!

Now I serve small business owners, entrepreneurs and creative service providers across West Michigan helping them elevate their brand visual content, so that they can confidently and boldly talk about and share their businesses within their community.