Meet Ian Chin | Proposal, Event, and Wedding Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ian Chin and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ian, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I initially took up photography in high school, learning with manual exposure, manual focus, and the good ole days of film. As I entered the college years, I realized I would spend my time in between classes going over photography forums in the library, and continued shooting and learning by critiquing images online. Eventually, I thought to myself – I knew enough to take a photo and had taken thousands of photos and learned from them, so why not create a website! Then I put myself out there to see if anyone would pay me to take their photo, which happened two weeks after I published my website. It was more of a test to see if I was “good enough” at that point rather than “I want to start a business.” Fortunately, things started rolling along and it all just occurred organically.

What should our readers know about your business?
I’ve been a fulltime photographer since 2013, having photographed hundreds of events, weddings, proposals, and most everything in between! I’m most proud of building an associate team that can help me scale my business and cater to more couples!

Getting to where I am today definitely took time and growing pains. Through a lot of trial and error and learning what it takes to maintain a business, it took me a while to realize I’m not the best at everything and I shouldn’t be doing everything.

Everyone who wants to become a photographer enjoys it and wants to take photos. But what no one tells you is that you should learn business and marketing first, and photo technique second!

A few of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is the importance of SEO, speaking to your ideal client, and focusing on the experience overall.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
As a tourist or photographer, LA offers some awesome and unique places to see and visit. Griffith Observatory (any La La Land fans?), the Urban Light exhibit at Lacma, Disney Concert Hall (so fun for a photographer!), and Santa Monica Pier for sunset are some of my personal favorites. LA offers so much interesting architecture it is easy to just go around and appreciate the buildings you see all around such as the Broad Museum and Bradbury Building.

For a little more adventure, hiking the trails leading up to the top of the Hollywood Sign offers a unique view of the city!

If you’d like to stay near the beaches, then I’d suggest Santa Monica or Venice. For those wanting a more city vibe, staying between Beverly Hills and West Hollywood offers a central location.

If I were planning 5 days in LA, I’d recommend some of these in no particular order.

Visit Santa Monica and enjoy the beach life and people watch. You will definitely want to walk along the Third Street Promenade and visit the local shops. Fia and Elephante are some popular restaurants around there but make sure you make reservations ahead of time. Then stay around the pier for sunset and perhaps catch a ride on the ferris wheel for a unique view. For nightlife, Bungalow is the place to go to rage! 🙂

You should get your art walk on and check out the Getty Center for one of the best collections of paintings of all the masters of the past, and an epic view of LA. Then continue your car tour in Beverly Hills along Canon Drive, and perhaps check out iconic Rodeo Drive for its glamour and shops. Sunset Boulevard is another iconic drive that you should check out while you are doing your car tour of TV show LA.

Downtown LA is one of my favorites since it is walkable, and shows off some of the top sites I mentioned earlier. Both the Broad Museum and the Disney Concert Hall are here, which offer some fun and unique backdrops for photos. The Disney Concert Hall is one of my favorites because of its metallic facade that is so unexpected (for me anyway!) for a “Disney building.”

Have lunch at Grand Central Market, a large open air food market. EggSlut, StickyRice, and Lucky Bird are some of my favorites but you can’t go wrong with any restaurant here. When you finish, check out some historical sights – Angel’s Flight and the Bradbury Building. Staples Center is around here as well if you wanted to check that out (or better yet catch a game!). Bottega Louie is one of the most reviewed restaurants on Yelp, so if you want to wait for a table and deal with the lines, feel free to order the lasagna! Clifton’s Cafeteria offers 3 levels of rooftops if you wanted to get some drinks and enjoy the view.

If you wanted to squeeze in a trip to the Arts District, this area has some of the best food options in the city (Bestia or Bavel). Or if you want to keep it more casual, check out Koreatown and get some BBQ and karaoke!

Hollywood is one of those iconic touristy things that locals may not love, but is perfect for your first time. If you want to check out the hike to the Hollywood sign, look up how to get there but beware parking is difficult. Or you can take horseback to it! Hollywood’s Walk of Fame can get you bumping into people as you stare at the ground, but is a fun thing to do and usually comes up with a few surprises as to who has a square. The Dolby Theater is here as well for those Academy Awards fans.

You can also check out a food tour at the Original Farmers Market at the Grove or the Urban Lights at LACMA for other ideas.

Checking out Griffith Observatory is a must for any trip to LA in my opinion, and is best seen at sunset. There is free parking down the road at Greek Theater, and also a cheap shuttle to the top to avoid the walk up. No matter the time, views atop this iconic spot should make it all worth it. Afterwards check out sandwiches at Proof Bakery or Little Dom’s, a solid meal at MessHall, and Alcove Cafe for some food recommendations.

And of course, my favorite trip to Disneyland is another recommendation while you are around LA. I mean, do I need to explain this one?! 😀

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
2 Shoutouts that influenced my style, drive, and dedication to creating images and capturing moments.

I first discovered “never before seen” wedding photography via Fearless Photographers…and realized wedding photography did not have to be boring and cliche.

Fearless Photographers
https://www.fearlessphotographers.com/

One of the creative innovators and early inspiration to many photographers in wedding photography started with Chrisman Studios

Chrisman Studios

CHARLESTON PHOTOGRAPHERS

Website: https://ianchinphotography.com/wedding-photography-in-los-angeles/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ianchinphotography/

Image Credits
Togi Photo The Vanity Portrait Studio