Today we’d like to introduce you to David Chan.
Hi David, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
As an art student, I was always interested in portraits. I had an incredibly drawing teacher, Chawky Frenn while studying at George Mason University. They way he taught us how to draw the body, to depict light, and introducing us to ideas such as chiarscuro was the beginning. It led to lighting and photography for the referencing for drawing projects. This eventually expanded into getting my first camera a Nikon D50 and my first lens. From there I was photographing all my friends.
As I moved out to Los Angeles, I became aware of headshot photography for actors. This part of my journey began around 2008 where I started testing new lighting methods, upgrading my gear, and studying the popular headshot photographers around that time and my curiousity about how they lit their clients, what background they used, etc.
This went alongside my own journey as an actor, studying at several schools, and being a student of film. I did many test shoots, went through many pieces of lighting gear until I began to find the flavor of my work that I liked and more importantly that resonated with my clients and acting agencies. I saw that my work started to stand out in a good way so I knew I was on the right track. I’m fortunate to be on several agency and manager recommendation lists and have countless clients and number of shutter clicks under my belt.
As an actor myself, I also see the trends of what’s being asked for by my clients because those same things are being demanded for myself. I’m in the same trenches so I feel for my clients and take each individual that steps in front of my camera personally. I want to help this person succeed. I don’t want them to waste their money and more importantly their time. I know how hard this business is and we all need all the help we can get. As always, I try to deliver more than what was asked for. To show kindness and attention to detail as if this were my own shoot for myself.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
As with anything, there always are challenges. I’m just too curious to be turned away from the obstacles. For one, photography is EXPENSIVE! Gear, lighting, time, etc. But my passion for it drives me forward. I used to do web designs early on while in LA, and I used a lot of those funds to keep funding this obsession. Also to mention getting on recommended lists by agencies was mystery. I don’t know how it happens but glad it did. I’m not the best salesman. I don’t reach out to agencies to introduce myself as maybe I should. Honestly, I’m a bit of a shy person, I’m working on that! But I like to have my work speak for itself. If the work doesn’t speak, no one will speak about it. Fortunately, the wonderful people I’ve shot have been key in spreading my name by word of mouth. Introducing my work to their agencies and even relaying how much the agents/managers liked the shots back to me. This is fuel for my soul. So I’m very thankful for that.
Another endless struggle is evolution. Since gear is expensive, you can only work with what you got naturally. So I started with one strobe and softbox indoors and a plain backdrop which I quickly got bored with. Then natural light outdoors, which satisfied me for a while, but realized something was lacking. Through other people’s lessons and educating myself, I found a method of shooting outdoors that I liked. But outdoors come with all sorts of challenges such as finding locations and moving clients from place to place in a timely manner and then of course the time of day and the elements. There were days where it was over 100 degrees in the Valley and my client and I brave those conditions. Some days the Santa Anita winds just won’t quit blow my client’s lovely hair all over the place. This led me to want to master shooting in studio again and to be able to control those conditions.
Back in studio, it was about fighting the right lighting gear and backgrounds that were interesting to me. I threw lots of paint around on several kinds of surfaces, building out of wood and all sorts of materials. I learned that some backgrounds looked great in person but terrible when photographed. And some backgrounds that looked boring in person somehow looked brilliant when photographed. It continues to make me scratch my head. But after MUCH headache, I’ve finally found a combination of lights and backgrounds that meeting and sometimes exceeding my expectations.
I do occasionally get tired of repeating the same shots, so I’m always looking for new ways to light and new ways to help my client look their best. Always trying to evolve.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
So as I mentioned before I’m also a working actor and proud to say that. I’m very humble (people will say too humble) and it took me a while to figure out how to be proud of saying that. Early on I felt like a poser and unworthy of saying that “I’m an actor”. If I had not been cast in the next HUGE film then who am I? But over the years, I realized that was a silly way of thinking. I had been fortunate to amass over 20 credits from popular TV shows and personal and collaborative short films. So after 15 years with skin in the game, I can confidently say I’m an actor! I’ve been on shows such as Criminal Minds, SWAT, Lethal Weapon, 911 Lone Star, working with actors such as Eric Bana, Jim Carrey directed by Michel Gondry, LL Cool J, Joseph Gordan Levitt, and so many more amazing people. And I learned an important thing, as cool as they all are, they’re just people like you and me. I’m deeply passionate about being an actor and I think this is something that sets me apart from some other headshot photographers. There are a few other actor/photographers out there and I do feel like we’re a certain breed. I’m like you, trying to figure out how to book my next job.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Loving what you do. I’m a creative and love to collaborate with people to create something that didn’t exist before. Whether it is a set of headshot looks, ideas, a certain casting type they’re trying to showcase for themselves, it’s a collaborative creative process. And it’s soul-fulfilling for someone like me. We’re telling stories frame by frame.
Pricing:
- 1hr for $350
- 2hrs $450
- 2hrs 2 Person Shared Session $600 (subject to change)
Contact Info:
- Website: www.davidchanphoto.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidchanphoto/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidchanportfolio
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/david-chan-photo-los-angeles?osq=david+chan+photo
