We were lucky to catch up with David Choe recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi David, thanks for joining us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I learned almost everything I know about photography through trial and error, but YouTube was a huge resource when I was starting out. I have to give big props to those content creators who spend their time and energy creating useful tips for beginners and professionals alike. Without YouTube, I wouldn’t have been able to learn as quickly as I did when I started doing photography.

I believe making mistakes and collaborating with other creatives helped me speed up the process on what I should be doing on shoots and eventually weddings. When you’re starting to learn any skill, I believe it’s crucial that you learn early on what you should and shouldn’t do so you can avoid making the same mistake. I wish I had someone to coach me through a wedding day and what could go wrong because there are so many variables that go into shooting a wedding and one mishap can mess up the whole flow of the day.

Utilizing available light and knowing when to use a strobe, flash or continuous light with modifiers is key as a photographer or videographer, so it is absolutely essential to learn how light reacts to certain materials, skin, eyes and hair. You really need to study light to understand how it effects photos and videos.

With that being said, you can master lighting and expose a scene beautifully, but doing photography full-time is more about connecting with your client and less about the actual photography itself. You can have an amazing portfolio, but if you cannot connect with people and show them what you can do, you will get overlooked. You need to sell yourself first and foremost and that was definitely an obstacle when I was starting out because I didn’t want to have to do that. Ultimately you are running a business, and I realized that I need to treat it like one, and I’m still learning how to improve the way I handle my business.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I got into photography in high school mostly taking pictures of my family and friends with disposable cameras and a Sony Cybershot point and shoot that my parents bought me for my birthday. When I started college I bought a Nikon D40 with a 50mm f/1.8 because I wanted a camera that was higher quality than my point and shoot and was curious to experiment with a DSLR which was new at the time.

Now I own several mirrorless cameras, video cameras and DSLRs to help me provide photography and videography services focusing on weddings and commercial work. I believe my editing style and use of light sets me apart from my fellow creatives.

I am most proud of the work I have done with weddings. I have done over 100 weddings now, and each one has taught me how to get better as a photographer and videographer. Doing those weddings allowed me to share important moments in people’s lives that I wouldn’t have been able to experience if I didn’t start doing photography. I have kept a connection with some of those people and when I take photos of their families occasionally, it makes me feel like I am a part of their family when I see them year after year. I am truly grateful to have met them and all the second shooters and videographers I have worked with throughout the years.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

I’ve had several jobs after graduating from the University of Georgia, but I always shot photos when I wasn’t working. After posting those photos on social media, I had people ask me if I do weddings, and at the time I had no experience so I told them that I haven’t done one but I would love to shoot it for them. When they received their files, they uploaded the photos on their social media accounts, and the next thing you know I had their friends asking me to do their wedding. I didn’t know if wedding photography could be something I did full-time, and eventually I quit working my conventional 9-5 to focus on building my business to where I could sustain myself financially.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Referrals have been the best way in booking clients for me. If you do a great job, people will notice and they will share your work for other people to see. You can implement all the best marketing and advertising strategies available, but I believe positive word of mouth is the strongest selling point for a business.

Contact Info:

• Website: itmomentmedia.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/itmomentmedia
• Facebook: facebook.com/inthemomentmedia