We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tommy Khuong a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Tommy, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with 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?

When I first start with photography, I had no idea about functions such as shooting in manual or editing with programs such as Lightroom or photoshop. Some of my earlier work, when I first created my photography account, I would use iPhone apps to edit my pictures. It wasn’t until I linked up with a friend of mine who also does photography taught me the basics such as shooting in RAW, aperture, ISO, and other features as well. Also, he introduced the editing software Lightroom where I started to play around with the functions like exposure, contrast, and much more. Over the years, I started to develop my own editing style for my content and was fortunate enough to receive a positive reception from my audience. I look back and I believe one thing that could of speed up my learning process was to watch tutorials about tips on using my camera and understanding the features and watch how other photographers edit their photos to get a better understanding on what to do with each tool. The most important skill that was essential to me was to shoot at different angles because you can shoot anywhere and make it creative by playing with your surroundings and hide things that you wouldn’t want in your shots. The one obstacle that stood in the way for me to learn more about photography was being creative by not having concepts for my shoot. In the beginning, when I first started off, I would drive to places that were popular on Instagram such as Urban Lights or a park overlooking the city, but I would take standard shots and not play with my surroundings or props. Eventually, I created boards of ideas from websites such as Pinterest, TikTok, or Instagram and my recent shoots I was able to be more creative.

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

The year 2016, I was going through a deep depression due to stress of in college and with stuff that happened in my personal life. One day, my sister approached me about splitting the cost for a camera that her friend was selling which was a Canon T3i in which I decided to go through. From there, I picked up the camera and went on adventures with my friends and we would take pictures with each other at various locations ranging from Orange County to Los Angeles County. It wasn’t until one of my friends said I should create a separate Instagram for my photography, so I made one called Tkhuongprod, but overtime I thought my photography isn’t a production which is why it is called Tkhoungshots now.

As of right now, I do portrait photography where my work deals with people whether it’s solo sessions, engagements, or graduation photos. When I first started, I struggled to find a style to satisfy my clients because I did not want to give them edited photos that they disliked. Before every photoshoot, I would ask them what kind of images they were looking for such as retouching their face, more vibrant colors, or even telling me just do whatever I want. One thing that sets me apart from others is that I try to work with my surroundings and shoot at different angles to test out what section would work best for the concept of their photoshoot. In the end, I would end up with hundreds or even thousands of photos, but my logic is there should be at least 20 good photos to satisfy my clients because you can never be too safe!

Throughout my journey in photography, my proudest achievement would have to be growing a following on my account because I would never imagine hitting a thousand followers or even four thousand followers. I created this page to showcase my work to my friends, but to have people dm’ing about collaborations was something I did not expect at all.

How did you build your audience on social media?

When I first created my photography Instagram, I did not know how to promote my page. The only thing I did was tell my friends and peers if they could give me a follow and show some support on my photos. Eventually, my account grew slowly by posting pictures of my friends and tagging them which resulted in them sharing it on their stories where more people discovered my page and followed me or even reaching out to work with me. It wasn’t until in the year of 2019, I saw a story from one photographer that I follow where he was hosting a photo meet with models and photographers in Los Angeles. I decided to attend because I felt like networking with other content creators would be beneficial for me to work with more models/influencers. At the meet up, I was able to see how they work during the photoshoots and ask questions about how they got into photography and styles they used. I would say it was a fun experience because I have a hard time putting myself out there to strangers and got to make some connections. A couple months later, one of the photographers I met at the meetup, Max, invited me to a group studio shoot with other photographers and models, so I immediately accepted where I shot for over 4 hours. The models/influencers there had followers ranging from a thousand to hundred thousand which left me in disbelief because I never imagined working with people with a huge following. After the models posted my work of them, I experienced a huge boost in following where I finally hit my first thousand followers. Also, I was able to form a friendship with a group of photographers where we do group shoots which helped me to work with more influencers resulting in more growth for the next two years.

My one advice for any photographers or content creators who want to start building a presence in this platform is to network with others that have the same interest as you because helping one another will result in growth for each other business or following. If I didn’t put myself out there, I wouldn’t have achieved the success I have today and I am grateful for all the connections and friendships I made through in this photography journey.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect of being creative is the positive reception I receive whenever I post a picture that captures my audience because I enjoy reading comments complimenting my work. Even when I get messages from other creatives critiquing my work, I appreciate the feedback because it helps me with what I need to work on in order to get better. Photography has helped me to bring out my creativeness because I try and research other concepts to test out and see if it would work or not. Before I got into photography, I had no passion whatsoever, life for me would consist of going to school and going home playing video games. Now I try my best to get out of the house and pick up the camera and capture more shots to share with my audience.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tkhuongshots/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommy-khuong-668308138/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/tkhuongshots
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@tkhuongshots