The Fundraiser Portrait

I met Vi at a non-profit fundraiser event where I was photographing and she was working at. I was wrapping up photographing the attendees when I caught Vi right before putting my camera away. I waved my hand, gesturing her to come to the small photo corner I set up for a photo. She stood in front of my yellow backdrop timid and unsure of what to do. I quickly tossed my hands on my hip and kicked out my hip saying, “don’t worry, just do what I do.” In less than 5 minutes, Vi went through a variety of poses and she rocked it.

Never to guess what might come next, I shook her hand saying ‘thank you’ and that I’ll be sending her the photo later on that night along with everyone else’s.

“Thank You”

A month later, I received an email on a Tuesday evening with this title and it read this:

“Hi David, my name is Vi Nguyen, and I am Tese Foundation’s Head intern. I am writing to you to thank you for the pictures you took of me at our most recent high tea (I was the last person that you took pictures of!)…

My first reaction was astonishment. The pictures are really, truly beautiful. I have literally never seen myself so beautiful before; I mean I never thought that I could look so beautiful. So, I just wanted to thank you and all that you do. It’s so hard to love yourself sometimes but it’s pictures or moments like these where you are reminded that you are beautiful, no matter what other people say or think. And that’s tough, especially with the beauty standards in today’s society — even worse if you are Asian. That being said, I wanted to thank you again for reminding me that beauty is in everyone and that you just have to really see it.”

I froze there in shock. The bestest kind of shock.

I wasn’t sure what I was feeling but it was a rush of warmth in my heart. I mean how do you even describe the emotion to something like that? When something as simple as a portrait you’ve taken of someone helps them have this kind of revelation.

So I responded,

“Vi this is so beautiful I don’t even know what to say. To hear this response from a simple pop up shoot where we only had less than 5 minutes is so humbling to me. I want to invite you to come experience a full shoot with me and it’ll be on me.”

The Photoshoot

Vi was so excited to hear about the shoot with me but she was also nervous. We talked on the phone to design the shoot and soon enough she was in the studio getting her makeup and hair done by Veronica.

Vi came in nervous and anxious about the shoot but she was a totally different person the moment she had her first outfit on in front of the backdrop.

Vi’s Story

Vi went home feeling like a million dollars and I asked her a couple questions to share a little bit of her story on the blog.

1. What would be a one-sentence bio of Vi? 

I am a Vietnamese-American girl, who is shy and confident, funny and weird, hard-working and people-loving, and I want to make a change in this world.

2. How has growing up in an Asian household influenced your perception of beauty and how you view yourself?

I grew up with a skewed perception of beauty. I still remember navigating through life and trying to understand what that word means, growing up in a world that demands so much of women. I remember looking at the girls around me, as they began painting their faces and altering their bodies to hide features of themselves deemed unsightly by the people around them. I grew up, wanting to be confident, wanting to love myself, and wanting to be myself, but it was hard. I was always compared to my sister. Everyone would say that she is so much cooler and so much more beautiful than me. My family members would joke around and say that she took all the best features. It was so hard to love myself, when everyone told me that beauty was not me.

3. How did you feel when you were invited to the studio for a photoshoot?

I was so shocked to see David’s response. That was the last thing I would ever expect to happen from that email. It took me a while to process that he really invited me to his studio. I probably read that email over like 20 times before I accepted that it really happened. But after feeling ecstatic about the opportunity, I felt a sense of dread overcome me. I never liked being photographed. I was not a photogenic person; I hated photoshoots, especially because it made me feel like I was trying to show a made-up version of myself.

4. What was your experience being photographed by David and is there something you’ve learned?

I am so proud, grateful, and happy that I agreed to the shoot with David. Starting with the hair and makeup by Veronica, the experience was heavenly. I felt so pampered, loved, and important. The whole experience was about me, and the 5 hour shoot was just that. David is such a wonderful human-being, and he made the photoshoot so fun, natural, and relaxing. We got to try so many looks, experiment with different poses, and show multiple beautiful sides of me. I was fierce and powerful, but also relaxed, playful, and happy. I didn’t realize that pictures can capture so many different sides of a person, but I was able to experience that magic with David.

5. What is your favorite photo from the session and why?

I love all of the photos that we produced together because it shows the multiplicity of myself and who I am. I can be bold, fun, stoic, and joyful. If I do have to choose a favorite, I would say that the one where I had a bold face and my hair was blown is my favorite. I have always admired beautiful celebrities and their fancy magazine-style portraits, thinking to myself that I would probably never be able to look like that. I remember looking at Lana Condor’s Instagram photos and thinking that these pictures are the closest thing I will get to seeing someone who looks like me on a magazine cover or in a professional shoot. But that photo of me is what I would have imagined myself to look like on a magazine cover, and now I will be able to remind myself that I can also be beautiful and powerful as an every day woman.

6. After having experienced this, what would you tell someone who might be going through similar struggles in beauty?

Remember to love yourself. The world will tell you otherwise, but you need to remember that you are enough. You are beautiful and you are loved. And if you ever need a reminder, then don’t hesitate to experience a full photoshoot that’s all about you. Don’t let fear and insecurities stop you because the end products are the ultimate reminder that you are beauty.