Behind the Camera: An Interview With LA-Based Photographer Bonnie Tsang
Los Angeles based photographer, creative director and social media influencer (not to mention mother of two) Bonnie Tsang is known for capturing beauty in seemingly mundane, everyday moments.
While she had early plans to attend FIDM, her parents persuaded her to pursue a more “traditional” education at a local college in the hopes that she would find a more stable career. With no formal photography training how did she end up where she is now? And how do Alyssa Milano and the 1990’s WB hit show Charmed fit into the mix? Read on to learn more about how staying true to herself and continually pivoting her path led Bonnie Tsang to where she is today.
What was it like for you growing up? I'd love to hear more about "young" Bonnie!
Growing up as a teenager I didn’t really have the kind of parents that would guide me. They were growing up during a time when there was war, and they got sent to another country when they were teenagers without parents on their side so they also had to figure a lot of things out for themselves… They said “Don’t go into art because you’re not going to make money.”
So I got into a regular local college. I didn’t want to fight them…Plus I didn’t grow up being taught you had choices. My parents were always like “You need to listen to us.” I couldn’t keep up because I didn’t enjoy taking math classes etc., I just wanted to do art. So I dropped out.
"I didn't grow up being taught you had choices."
Image: via Bonnie Tsang's Instagram
So once you dropped out of school, what happened next?
During the 90’s blogs and people making websites were just starting to be popular. I bought a book and just learned it myself at home. During that time the TV show Charmed was on air. The show was so popular at the time that I made a fan site…and it became one of the most popular fan sites on the Internet. It kept me so busy and I was like this is great, I love it!
I got an email from Alyssa Milano’s assistant. They were like, “We found your site and love your work. We actually have a side company that designs sites for celebrities. Would you like to interview for a position?”
So I got a job designing websites for celebrities like Edward Furlong, Eric McCormick…I did that for a year. I enjoyed doing my personal projects (making fan sites and updating the Charmed site) but I didn’t [like keeping] up with the deadlines at work. I didn’t like having deadlines and being told what to design, so I quit and found a 9 to 5 job working as an admin. I did this for 10 years and through that, I learned all the basic things needed to run a business - from bookkeeping down to shipping, to collecting money, invoicing…I know all that stuff which has been helpful.
Your dad was a photographer. Is that how you first became interested in photography?
My dad started as a photographer but gave it up to work at an office job once he had me. He had the mentality of “Oh I need to grow up, I can’t do art”. He raised us doing [the office job] but on the weekends I would always see him with a camera. I purposely didn’t want to learn photography because whatever your parents do, you just don’t want to do. You just want to be different…As creatives we want to carve our own path.
I don’t think [my parents] ever thought I could make money from photography. I didn’t think so either.
"As creatives, we want to carve our own path."
So how did your foray into photography actually start?
I didn’t even start photography until my first daughter was born, which was when I was 30. Because of my daughter I started taking a lot pictures and then my dad was like “See? You like photography.” My sister was in PR in the music industry so she was like, “Get on Flickr and Twitter!” When I signed up for Flickr I was going through a divorce so I posted a lot of my daughters pictures but I was also sharing my divorce journey where I would do these sad pictures…Like experimental pictures where my ring’s on the floor with a long caption of what I’m going through.
Image: via Bonnie Tsang's Instagram
I was like, “Wow people are really drawn to my work and what I’m saying.” And that’s when I first started thinking more about social media. Next was Twitter. I was working at a collections company during the week, but I would go online and tweet to promote my business and I would share places I was eating at. People started noticing, “She’s the food person to go to.”
On the weekends I started shooting weddings. I started meeting people a lot of wedding industry people on Twitter. I started making friends, getting to know industry people. At that time there were so many wedding blogs and they were always looking for photographers to create content.
I remember hearing from another podcast you did that you got tired of shooting weddings?
I wanted to shoot more editorial stuff so I posted more personal work and started reaching out to online interior design magazine editors or bloggers. And because shooting weddings involves a lot of interior shots and detailed shots, I think it’s similar to the interior world. They were like, “We love your work, let’s do something together.”
Suddenly I switched 180 degrees to something else.
What is it about photography that you love?
I don’t know if I necessarily like or love photography. It’s probably the storytelling of it. We often look at the most mundane pictures and remember “Oh my gosh this is the time you did this.” I realized the power of photography is to me..just gathering these moments. Which only recently have I realized yeah, that’s what makes you do this. Its not photography it’s being able to tell people stories in a way that makes you see it.
"I don't know if I necessarily like or love photography. It's probably the storytelling of it."
Image: via Bonnie Tsang's Instagram
