We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Viet Le. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Viet below.

Viet, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. One of the toughest things about progressing in a creative career or as an entrepreneur is that there are almost always unexpected problems that come up – problems that you often can’t read about in advance, can’t prepare for, etc. Have you had such and experience and if so, can you tell us the story of one of those unexpected problems you’ve encountered?

On Christmas 2019, I was delivered the worst gift; I got a call from the hospital telling me that my mom had just suffered a stroke. She ultimately lost 3/4 of her body’s function. On March 2020, as we all experienced it, COVID shutdown began – one month before my wedding. This is when I began to recede and stopped creating. I was uninspired. That creative flame that was in me was dying. Later that year, my mom passed…

I was going through a rough patch and my outlet was mountain biking. I didn’t care about anything and was riding way beyond my limits. At the beginning of 2021, I broke my wrist and ribs. It took me 3 months to recover from that injury. Later that year, I had another mountain biking accident. But this time was different… I initially thought I just had a dislocated shoulders and drove myself to urgent care for some x-rays. It turned out to be a fractured scapula. A few days later as I walked into my day job, I suddenly felt disoriented and everything went dark. It felt like someone had just turned off all the lights in a theatre and the only thing I could see was a spot light. Initially, I thought it was just because of my lack of sleep from the previous night. I walked back to my car to take a nap. However, when I woke up, I felt the same. I decided to call my wife to pick me up, but it was so hard to focus. I finally managed to do it and she came to pick me up. I threw up on our way home.

When we got home, I rested a little in bed, but began to be concern about a possible concussion from the accident. So she took me to the hospital and what we heard from the doctor was worst. I just had a stroke and the cause was due to a tear on my artery resulting from the crash. I had irreparable damage to my brain and lost a part of my vision and balancing abilities. My wife and I both cried as I lay in the hospital bed awaiting for more tests. We were told that I was still not in the clear for the possibility of another clot dislodging until another 6 months. I remember for the first few months my wife set up a camera to watch me as she go work her night shift. It was a long and arduous recovery. I did EVERYTHING I could in physical therapy to get back to my baseline again. This was my wake up call to stop spiraling downwards. I sold all my bikes and started to focus again. I began to pick up my camera and started creating again…

I created one of my best shoot ever and made it my “come back shoot”. To prove to myself that I can still create beauty and it was not the end for me, but only the beginning. I have reignited that creative flame.

I am grateful to say that I am doing MUCH better now. My vision loss is no longer noticeable and I am actually better at balancing than I was before.

Viet, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Viet Le, I am a wedding photographer from Southern California and I’m obsessed with traditional analog film. My business name is basically my last name and first without the “t”, Le Vie Photography. I started back in 2013, however, I didn’t truly find my footing until 2017, when I started dabbling with analog film. My first wedding was a friend of a friend’s wedding and I charged only $500 for a 12 hour day with an engagement session. To me it has always been about the story and preserving that story. I feel like this is what sets me apart from most photographer. Before I begin shooting, I seek to see what’s the story. I focus on the narrative and how can I write it with my artistic eye. I also believe in a refined and quiet approach as I am not a loud or bold person. I look for subtle details that are important to my clients. I try to highlight them in the most elegant and artistic way possible. I also don’t follow trends as I feel like these things fade. I prefer to keep my imagery looking timeless. I look to great artists like Claude Monet, Ansel Adams, Rodney Smith, Vivian Maier, and Terrence Malick to name a few for inspiring artwork.

I still shoot on film today and you can often find me holding a medium format camera on one hand, either a Hasselblad or Fujifilm, and a 35mm camera on the other. I love the medium format look. It’s a look that is hard to replicate with a 35mm.

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

I started budgeting and planning since grad school. I remember having to go to grad school far from home and having to budget on a $1,000 stipend. This taught me how to be extremely frugal. When I first started the business, I had just started my job as clinical lab scientist. I used my budgeting skills from grad school and applied it to my business. I started setting aside 20% or more every paycheck and when I worked overtime, I made sure I never saw that money. It was immediately invested in the stock market. After 10 years of doing this and experiencing a life altering stroke, I felt like I had enough to fully quit my career and pursue my dream full time. Anyone can do what I do if they are young, living at home, and have no financial obligations. However, I think it’s always smart to live only with 80% of your income and set aside the other 20% to let it grow. In 5 years, you’d have an entire year’s of income to pursue any project you want without the fear of not having enough money. Granted, you have to put it into something that can beat inflation. A simple fund that tracks the S&P 500 would be good.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

We all have finite years in our lives, some more, some less. We can live a lot longer and become wiser through reading and learning from other’s experiences, knowledge, and insights. I try to read and learn as much as I can. A few books I would recommend that have impacted the way I invest, run my business, and live my life are One Up On Wall Street by Peter Lynch, Unshakeable by Tony Robbins, Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink, Shoe Dog by Phil Knight, Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh, The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy, and Atomic Habits by James Clear. These books have solidified my beliefs, provided me great insights, prevented me from making missteps, and have encouraged me to continue on my journey to live a fulfilled life.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.levie-photography.com
• Instagram: @levie_photography

Image Credits

Le Vie Photography