We recently connected with Peng Yang and have shared our conversation below.

Peng, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

Taking a risk, hasn’t always been my type of thing back then. I remember always shying away from things and just not take any chances on things. Until the year of 2018, I decided to change my mindset and went full send on being a photographer and also on being a travel photographer. 2018, has been one of the biggest change in my life and I have never looked back since then. Within that year, I have traveled to 2 country, and 2 states outside of the Midwest. Those country were Seoul, South Korea, Vancouver, Canada. And those 2 states, Seattle, Washington, and Denver, Colorado. Ever since then, my eyes has opened up deeply. I honestly, would had never thought of traveling or even stepping in and riding my first air plane ride. There is just so much to do and see. For me, it was all about the experience. If I hadn’t taken that risk, and letting go, of being comfortable. I wouldn’t had made it to where I am today.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I have always been an artist at heart and in person. I first started out as a fine artist in Drawing. I enjoy the traditional route of being an artist and using a medium to portray a meaning and or look. I was drawing portraits especially celebrities, and have progress into drawing architecture and illustrations. However, the traditional is very hard to get into and it was not a career to make out of, and so I have turned into being a Graphic Designer. This is something more modern and it was a career that you can still make some form of income. I have always enjoy digital media, and Graphic Design was the right route to get into. I attended the College of Visuals for a year. Unfortunately, due to financial crisis of that college, I only attend there for 1 year. I took a year off, right after that. Soon after that year, I had attended Century College in Graphic Design. I finished my 2 years and did receive my Associates of Graphic Design. Upon, finishing up my year at Century College, I stumble upon another new medium and it was Photography and Videography.

How did I stumble upon this path? Its a funny story, but I was sitting at my desk at work, and was watching YouTube videos. I clicked on a video called “Insane Island Adventures-4K” by Rob Strok. I heard this very intense and rather very inspiring, and all of sudden a scene of this island popped up, and wow, was it beautiful and breathtaking.

Ever since then, I was inspired to become a videographer and a photographer. All I know is, I wanted to travel, and take pictures. I was so excited, I share this video to my cousin Andy. He was so stoked! He was also inspired to do the same thing. And so we set our journey from there.

So long story short, watching a travel video, inspired me to become a photographer and videographer. Long after that, I took a turned in direction, and went into being a brand, commercial, and portrait photographer that focuses primarily on story telling and creative directing. My work has shifted a lot, however, those were experimental things that I have worked on- and those things that I have worked on was working with lighting, working with models, and other type of brands outside of my comfort zone.

Being outside of my comfort zone, helps me with problem solving and finding quick solution that should be address immediately. Being in this industry is fast pace. And if I miss one step, it’ll deteriorate me. I don’t like that, I hate the idea of missing one step. It’ll throw me off my game. However, that is all apart of the plan, and it is something that will help solve a problem.

I think being a problem solver really helped my work at a lot. It has given me the opportunity to speed up my work flow and also over look at my work. By doing that, it has provide me to be proud of this one piece that I really love and it was a Nike inspired photoshoot that I did. The color, the lighting, and the model, everything turned out exactly to how I want it. And it prove to me and also to potential client that I can do this. Being knowledgeable, with styling, knowing lighting, and proper posture and angles when photographing a model and the product.

If anything, I would like to prove and also provide my potential clients, followers, and or fans that if you can solve a problem quickly and think ahead of the game. You can achieve almost anything and amazing results.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

A resource I wish I knew earlier is, being financially stable, and also having a mentor. First, being financially stable can give you freedom to do things, but in a more budget friendly way. And next, having a mentor, especially in the creative can be so helpful. They can guide you in a pathway that’ll make things so much easier, and it can give you the connection you needed in the creative field.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My initial goal is to definitely work with Nike one day, and hopefully lead to a bigger deal after that and be a well known artist and Art Director/ Creative Director as well. I definitely want to be known as a well known Artist. To be recognize by, “oh that is Peng Yang work, its very cinematic and story telling.”

Contact Info:

• Website: https://pyvisuals.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/py_portraits/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pyportraits
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peng-yang-822774a1/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/py_visuals

Image Credits
Pearl, Cha, Joe, Brandon, and Micky