We recently connected with Kim Nguyen and have shared our conversation below.
Kim, appreciate you joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
At the beginning of this year, I found myself at a crossroads. I had a stable job with great benefits and a pension—something many people dream of. Photography had always been my passion, but it was just a hobby. It wasn’t until I started taking it more seriously and honing my skills that I began to imagine a life where photography wasn’t just something I did on the side.
Still, the thought of stepping away from the security of my 9-5 job was daunting. I had a family to consider, and stability meant a lot to me. But my husband, Khoa, has always been my biggest supporter. He encouraged me to follow my heart and pursue my dream. With his unwavering support, I made the decision to reduce my hours at my job and give more of my energy to photography.
So, I took the leap—I didn’t quit my job entirely but reduced my hours significantly. It felt like a huge risk. Would I be able to make it work? Could I build something sustainable out of my photography? The journey is still ongoing, but so far, it’s been worth it. I’m living my passion, and that’s a risk I’ll never regret taking.
Kim, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Hello, my name is Kim Nguyen, and I’m a 38-year-old photographer based in the Anaheim, California, but my story starts in Vietnam. My family and I immigrated here when I was just 1 year old, and like many immigrant families, stability and success through education was a top priority. Growing up, I was always intrigued by photography and loved to capture moments with family and friends. Despite my interest in it, photography wasn’t something my parents considered a career option. They believed that earning a college degree was the only way to achieve financial security in life. Because of this, I got my degree in Business Management and landed a stable job, even though my passion for photography never faded. I found so much joy capturing moments with my nieces and nephews during family gatherings, and over time, my parents saw the happiness photography brought me. Today, they’re some of my biggest supporters.
Other than a single photography class in high school, I am self-taught. Through years of trial and error, learning something new with each session, I steadily improved my skills. Today, I specialize in family, maternity, and newborn photography. What makes my work unique? I aim to capture my clients’ real essence. For family and maternity sessions, my focus is on authentic, candid moments—laughter, connection, and being truly themselves as opposed to stiff and posed shots. I want to create images that families will cherish for a lifetime. In my newborn sessions, I make sure to customize each session to the family’s interests and hobbies, making each one as unique and meaningful as possible. Being a parent myself, I understand how hectic and overwhelming the first several weeks of introducing a newborn into your life and home can be. At the same time, these are the precious moments we all want to capture since they are so fleeting. This is why I give the option of having your newborn session in-home. We’ll bring the studio to your home, so you won’t need to worry about traveling with a newborn and the stress that entails.
Besides my art, I am incredibly proud of my own little family. My kids—my 12-year-old daughter and two sons, aged 9 and 8—are my heart. They are smart, compassionate, and wonderfully weird in the best ways, constantly pushing me to be a better mom and person. A huge part of me being able to pursue photography is my husband. You’ll sometimes see him at newborn sessions, quietly helping with setup and breakdown. He’s the “muscle” behind the scenes, supporting me every step of the way, even when my career path was uncertain. He is my rock and my loudest supporter, encouraging me to pursue this dream wholeheartedly.
For my future clients, I want you to know that I’ll approach your session as if I’m photographing my own family. My goal is to create a time capsule filled with genuine, meaningful memories that your family will cherish for years to come.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
A significant goal driving my creative journey is to pursue photography full-time, creating a sustainable career from my passion. At the same time, my mission goes beyond that—I want to inspire Vietnamese-Americans and others from immigrant backgrounds to follow creative paths and to help break the long-held stigma that success is only found in fields like medicine, law, or engineering. I hope to show that art, too, can be a fulfilling and successful career. Through my work, I want to encourage others to embrace their passions, even if they don’t fit traditional expectations.
What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?
In today’s digital age, social media, especially Instagram, has been my best source of new clients. It’s an amazing platform where potential clients can immediately see my work, connect with me, and inquire about sessions all in one place. Instagram allows me to showcase my photography portfolio and make it accessible to anyone interested. In addition to social media, referrals from past clients have been a tremendous source of leads. I truly value each client’s trust and appreciation, and it means the world to me when they refer me to friends and family.
Contact Info:
Image Credits
Van Vo Photography – she took the picture of me
Last picture of the 3 kids are my little ones.