Life & Work with Tommy Khuong

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tommy Khuong.

Hi Tommy, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I first started in photography back in 2016 when me and my sister bought a Canon T3i from a friend and ever since, I have been adventuring out with my friends and used them as models for fun! After doing a lot of photoshoots, I created a new Instagram for my photography @TKhuongshots and would post photos of my friends since I strictly do portraits. Suddenly, I would get random messages from people/models wanting to collaborate with me which helped me network and shoot with many models over the years!

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?
At first, being creative and learning how to edit was the biggest challenge for me when I started photography because I did not know how to use software such as Lightroom or Photoshop and would use other photo editing apps on my phone. As the years progressed, I managed to learn to adjust features such as exposure, temperature, and others to create the final product to post on my Instagram. In terms of venturing out and collaborating with new people, I struggled to message random people because of the fear of getting rejected or ignored, but with the connections I have made through photography by meeting other photographers (shoutout to petengyn, max.aperature, spiralideas, and thejonnyadventures) they helped me get in reach with the model I was interested in collaborating with!

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
As for now, I strictly focus on portraits because I love to meet new people and it is easier to have a subject in front of my camera so I can play with different angles or put some creative props around them. I try my best to find new locations around California and see what kind of ideas I can come up with whether it is in the middle of the desert or an abandoned area. Currently, I am focused on shooting with film because I am so intrigued about using different film rolls and see how my photos come out when developed. The work I’m most proud of is when I drove all the way to Bombay Beach with friends and captured a shot that consists of my model friend standing on a bed which was floating on the Sultan Sea because the reception I got in that photo was overwhelming! Also, it was over 110 degrees and we were all dying in the heat, but it was worth it in the end! Aside from portraits, when the opportunity is presented, I shoot for EDM shows for my friends who are DJs (shoutout to BTO Collective). Shooting for those shows, I find myself having the most fun in photography because I love the atmosphere of people jamming out the music while I am shooting in the back of the crowd or on stage and to see the lights on the stage when editing is fun to play around with!

Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
I hope to find the time to continue my photography because this year, I have been busy with my career where I have not shoot as much as I wanted to. In changes, I would love to start videography and making videos on highlights of shows I have shot at or behind the scenes of my photoshoots. Currently, I learned to make reels on Instagram which has been really fun and feel like reels/videos are the new trends on this app.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Tkhuongshots

Image Credits
@winnieechang @shun.right @cynthia.phan @mynameisdkt @m3ngo_music @dj.ramen @sandeeecheeks @kaylarg_ @jessicalanguyen