Tet is the time that photographers are sated with working. Photo provided by the character

Coming to the shooting season

Over the years, the freelance photography is a side job pursued by a great number of young people. Although they have no studios and face the lack of human resources and supporting props, freelance photographers find out the unique shooting styles and corners, as well as the exclusive post-production, etc., which have attracted various bookings from young customers.

With 4-year-long experience in photography, Ho Khac Nhat Huy (20 years old, Hue City) is getting used to being busy with the “shooting shows” during Tet for students.

While being busy choosing costumes for the photo models, Nhat Huy shared: “I have a shooting day at the yellow apricot garden in Hue Imperial Citadel. My customers brought many ao dai with them, but they still offered me to give them advice on which colors will be the most suitable. Although I just specialize in photography, it still requires me to have an intimate knowledge of these things to consult my clients”.

Nhat Huy often receives bookings via his social media sites. The clients following his page and matching with his shooting style and wanting to book a photoshoot are to contact on it. Usually, the clients receiving satisfactory photos will book him again and introduce him to the new ones.

To work professionally, Nhat Huy also invested in high-quality cameras to serve the demand during Tet season. “Since I started my career as a freelance photographer, I have to invest in cameras to get the beautiful and highest quality photos due to the demand of instantaneously receiving files without going through much photoshop,” shared Nhat Huy.

Also being a freelance photographer, Nguyen Khoi Nguyen (21 years old, Hue City) has a full shooting schedule in 2 weeks before the New Year’s Eve.

“Tet is the time that many people have demand to catch memories by having their photos taken. Due to the lack of sunshine in Tet this year, I almost did not have break during the recent sunny days when my working schedule was full from early morning to late night. This year, many people chose to take photos with ao dai and vintage style,” informed Khoi Nguyen. However, moving between many different locations caused Khoi Nguyen to have many health problems. Carrying the camera backpack from early morning to late night makes Khoi Nguyen suffer spine pain.

Beautiful and affordable-price photos

Taking advantage of the sunny days in Hue before Tet, Phan Thi Kieu Oanh (Huong Long Ward) swiftly booked a photoshoot to welcome the new year. The school girl was so highly enthusiastic when receiving the satisfied photos with affordable prices. “I chose to have my photos with ao dai shot at An Dinh Palace. Just with 500.000, I had a satisfied set of photos when receiving advice about both costumes, poses, and accessories from the photographer to get the most beautiful shoots”.

Having photos taken with ao dai is the favorite choice of various young people. Photo provided by the character

According to Nhat Huy, the price for freelance photography is so affordable, as it has no space rental. “Although working in the freelance field, I always invest in it methodically and take care of from the context to the post-production of each photo. Each set of photos costs from a few hundreds to millions, depending on each guest’s demand,” shared Nhat Huy.

According to Khoi Nguyen, high income will go parallel with high pressure. If we can not catch up with the schedule, giving photos so late, the clients will be so annoyed, even scolded. Furthermore, instead of listening to photographers’ advice, some clients had impulsive acts, so they chose the wrong style which leads to the set of photos being not as beautiful as expected. However, they blamed on the photographers, alleging the freelance as an excuse to disparage the photo quality. Some young clients were also willing to “unmask” the photographer on social media”.

It seems that photography is also a profession of “balancing act”.

Story and photos: Dang Trinh