Why I start doing photography?

Do you look back at things that you chose in life and wonder :”Why?” ? I do.

The clearer I can recall why I am doing something , the more motivated I am to keep pursuing it.

That’s why I want to start this very first blog with why I started this photography business. I know that some day, when things get tough, I’m gonna be grateful that I am writing that :”Why?” down today as a reminder.

*Nick took this photo of me when we’re scouting Atlanta Beltline area as potential shooting location for our clients*

I never thought photography will be a big part of my life. Both me and Nick chose Film Production as our major. As you can see in our biography in “ Our Team” session, I am a professional Script Supervisor in Atlanta Film industry. That’s my job before we started this business.

*Behind the scene photo of me working as Script Supervisor*

Why I chose Film Production over Photography in the first place? I love telling stories. Well, I used to think that a motion picture gives us the ability to tell so much more of a story than a photo can. There’s gonna be picture and music and sound effect and acting and even more elements all combined together to deliver a story to the viewers. How can a single photo do that? I guess I did underestimate photography. Therefore, film industry became my professional career path.

It seems like being successful in film industry means being a part of those Hollywood block buster productions. I graduated and started working for movie sets in Atlanta as “Scripty” (another word for “Script Supervisor”). My position probably doesn’t sound really familiar to many of you. Basically, I work as a “safety net” for Director and the crew when it comes to continuity and script flow of the film. I started with small productions, short films and soon got the opportunities to join bigger projects, working along side with Union members and bigger talents in the industry. I love what I do and I’ll say I’ve made quite good progress with my film career but then something hit me.

*On “Fruit of the Heart” set with Director Coke Daniels*

Working on more professional productions means becoming a small part of a big system. Each department is in charge of their own stuffs and together assists the Director to bring his/her vision to life. A lot of time I feel myself like a small screw in a big machine and things get really industrial, especially when there’s a lot of money involved. I know I am doing my part to contribute to the big picture which is the creative vision of our Director but for a good amount of time, there’s not much of creativity going on with my job, which involves a lot of rules, notes, numbers and keeping things right. Don’t get me wrong, I love being a “Scripty” but I miss the feeling of actually seeing myself directly creating something. Something I am excited about. Something that people will enjoy. I want to tell stories and be able to choose which story I want to tell. Isn’t that why I chose this path in the beginning? I wake up and go work in a creative industry but I don’t feel any creativity runs in me. I don’t like that feeling.

*On “The Fellas” Set with Actor Karon.J. Riley*

Another thing . With bigger scale films, the gap between production (shooting) and distribution (air on TV, premiere in theater) is pretty long . It usually takes months even years in some cases until I can watch what I worked on. Sometimes, the films end up not being distributed at all. You might think that sounds weird but it happens a lot, especially with indie movies. Most of the time, after wrapping a production, I just move on and work on other productions. I usually don’t get to see how the finished product got delivered to audiences. I don’t know if people actually enjoy what we worked so hard for. I just work and move on. I don’t get to see the values I create for the audiences.

I sit back and think. I realize I haven’t create anything on my own in such a long time, probably since I graduated. I keep working as a part other people’s project. The bigger production I work on, the more I believe that you need so much to tell a good story. I understand how important each position or element is behind those stunning footage we see on TV and it makes me believe that it will not be enough without a big crew with all the high-end equipment to create a good product that people appreciate.

Then one day, I cleaned up my hard drive and ran into some old photos I took while I was still in Japan. It was from my graduation trip. I did photography as hobby but never thought of doing it professionally. During that trip, I took many photos of my close friends . We’re all over around the world now: Vietnam, Japan, Australia and US. I sent them to Thuy, the one in Australia, and we had a long chat. All the stories back then came back all at one. We talked and talked. We asked ourselves when was the next time we would all be together at the same place. We were glad I took those photos. Looking back at them, she was happy and I was happy.

*The photo I took of my mom and brother with my close friends Kitsuki, Japan*

After that long conversation, I ask my self does it take that much to create something that valuable to someone. I didn’t need a great camera or sound or script when I took those photos. And more importantly , I got to see how much it means to other people, right away and even years after.

*Thuy then posted this photos on her IG and how it reminded her of our old time. I keep this photo at the first place in my portfolio because it got me started.*

I picked up my old camera and started to shoot again. Honestly, I was nervous. I lost my technical confidence after working industry for a while because my job is mainly involved paperwork, script and planning. I kept shooting and shooting and gradually gained back my confidence that I could work a camera to create something nice. With photography, I can create something and telling stories on my own every day. Just me and one camera. I feel that creativity runs in me again.

Film will always be my passion. However, to be able to choose which story I want to tell and tell it right, I have to work my way up and it will be a long journey that I’ll never give up. Meanwhile, photography serves as a mean to keep my creativity flowing, telling stories and actually bringing joy to people around me.

I want to keep doing this and that’s how we started this business, 508 LLC and I am so glad we did.

Because you know what? I get to create and bring joy to my clients everyday. Here is an example.

DESTINY & CHRIS

Destiny hit me up around 11am on New Year Day for a Engagement session the same day. I was not prepared to work on that day at all but she told me their story.

Destiny was originally from Texas. She came to Atlanta so celebrate New Year with her boyfriend, Chris, who served in the military. He popped the question during New Year Eve dinner and the newly engaged couple had a bit of a situation.

She would be flying back to Texas on the 2nd while he got orders to transfer to Europe the next week. They were soon gonna be in two different continents for a while. She wanted to get some photos of them together before they were apart.

It was bad weather day and they also had plan to do lunch with family the same afternoon so Destiny was really worried if we could made it happen.

To me, that was such a sweet story and I needed to help them tell so I said yes and we did a last minute shoot.

We started at 4. It was still raining while we were on the way to the location but as I arrived, the rain stopped and the gloomy sky actually made the photos look stunning. I had a great time capturing the loving couple celebrate their love and helped share their big events to friends and family.

It was such a great way to celebrate my New Year. At the end of the session, Destiny kept saying thanks to me and Nick for doing the shoot for them and how much the photos meant to them. To me, it was so worth it because that was why I wanted to start this business, I wanted to bring people joy with my creative works.