Today we’d like to introduce you to Catherine Chuang.
Hi Catherine, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I picked up my first DSLR camera, Nikon D90, to take my older sister’s wedding BTS. Nothing came out good, obviously, since I wasn’t even trained to take professional images at the time, and this was 11 years ago. Three years later, I met this wedding photographer guy from my friend’s wedding, I hit it off with him and his assistant, so immediately I joined his team and started assisting, then later on I was the second shooter for him. Somewhere down the line, I wanted to have my own photography business, so I parted ways with this photographer and started my own journey in Fine Art wedding photography in 2018. I relearned everything about wedding photography, marketing, communications, branding, editing, etc. This is how I got here to where I am today, and I’m very proud to say that this past January, a rehearsal dinner that I photographed at a French chateau was featured by BRIDES on their website. I have just recently rebranded with my own name as the business name, so my photography business, website, and IG are now all reflecting that.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I think it was smooth in general. There was a lot of struggles to find answers and overcome some obstacles in technical skill and marketing, but somehow things fall into place at the perfect timing. It’s weird, but I think the Universe has heard my prayer and gave me what I needed to most to keep going on this path. This is the most easiest career path I’ve ever walked on.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I specialize in wedding photography in destination weddings, specifically wedding venues that are Italy villa or French chateaus. I’m a huge fan of historical architectures, so even when I travel for my personal trip, I’d photograph tones of images of cityscapes and historical buildings. That also leads me to be very interested in Interior Photography, because you do need to be comfortable working alone and know how to light dark corners to make a room look gorgeous.
Wedding photography opens up my eyes on fashion. Many many brides would splurge on jewelries and gowns for their special days. I had one bride who wore 4 different gowns in one day and we joked that she’s having her own fashion show and she was very happy that we like every gown she wore. That leads me to start studying couture gowns that also design bridal gowns. And boy, what a lovely world to step into. I eventually ended up photographing Tony Ward Couture’s Paris Fashion Week collection as a guest photographer in January 2023, one of the gowns from that new collection ended up on Chinese actress Bing Bing Fan for her 2023 Oscar carpet look!
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
This is going to sound crazy, but I realized you gotta have a Plan B and C during Covid 19. Many of us had weddings postponed and that means no income. So quite a few photographers that I know of started rebranding, getting into podcasts, or came up with an online course. Just anything to get the income coming in. Which tells me we must rethink about our ability to generate income as a photographer.
Contact Info:
- Website: catherine-chuang.com
- Instagram: _catherinechuang_
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/133196630161693
