Check Out Patrick (Joon Young) Park’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Patrick (Joon Young) Park

Patrick (Joon Young), we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I started in this industry as an assistant during the 3rd year of my University.
Bit clueless at the time, I was neither interested in fashion nor had a serious outlook in the world of photography.
It was just all for ‘fun’ at the time. Long story, short- I photographed a friend that eventually became a model and that friend’s mother agent/photographer offered to get connected and showed me world of photography.
I assisted him for a bit and got my foundation that I still hold valuable till this day. He embedded a great mindset for the curious, young guy that was ‘interested’ in becoming a photographer. Time flew and this has been nearly a decade now.
Currently, I work as a full-time photographer, photographing fashion/entertainment and people of fashion and managing my studio when I’m not photographing.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I wish it would’ve been smooth! it was hardly a road.. haha..
It was a tough journey, financially and mentally.
With so many competitions and talented people, it’s a rough industry to establish any sort of position as a photographer.
Although I do like to believe I’m graduating my baby phase on my 10th year of this world, I am still always working towards becoming a photographer I aspired to be when I first started.

Balancing work between what I want to photograph and what I need to photograph was and still is the hardest dilemma as a full-time photographer but I’ve made friends in the industry along the way that made this journey more enjoyable.

The goal is to eventually be versatile enough to expand my work into documenting more artists of every caliber.
Who can say ‘no’ to meeting amazingly talented people and having an opportunity documenting a piece of their history right?!

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I like to believe that I stood the test of time (or will in the future) and have been stubborn with my work when it comes to following trends.
My intentions when I started was to have a body of work or at least a reputation that would be less sensitive to trend.
I want to be a ‘must visit’ small restaurant than a trendy restaurant that comes and goes, for the lack of better comparison.

If there’s one thing I can say about my work is that I truly am amazed and excited to meet new people.
The people I photograph often times are admirable and I want my work to portray how amazed I was of these people.

I like to say that I document more than create and I think this is very true when it comes to the core of my work.
“Does it separate myself from the others?” I do not know but I am grateful that my definition of the perception of beauty has been equally understood and agreed with the people I work with, and that’s what matters the most for me!

Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
I’ll take the same advice I gave to myself!

If you’re a photographer, photograph.
A fling or a phase only gets you so far.

I love it and I make sure I remind myself of this, every day.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.patrickjpark.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/patrickjpark
• Other: https://www.instagram.com/bypatrickjpark

Image Credits
all images are shot by me