Today we’d like to introduce you to Alicia Tsai.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Yeah absolutely! Thanks so much for featuring me
Growing up, my dad really enjoyed taking photos of our family and he had a nice dSLR camera that he would use, but for the longest time I wasn’t allowed to touch the camera, out of worry that I’d break it (I was a very clumsy kid, so this worry was warranted). One day when I was in middle school, my dad finally let me play around with his camera and I fell in love! I started bringing that camera around with me everywhere and taking photos of as many random things as I could— I’m talking friends grabbing textbooks from their lockers in between class periods, sports tournaments, and some of my teachers even let me have my camera with me while I was in class and I would take random photos of class (which is crazy looking back on). Those photos were terrible and the white balance was completely off, but I was just having so much fun bringing the camera around everywhere
I got my first paid gig in high school around 2013 doing some senior graduation photos, and I’ve been building on that ever since. In college, all the jobs I had were photography related. I helped create and run the first Instagram account for our college admissions office (@cmcadmission) and I would take photos of all the students and staff we highlighted on the account. I also helped take photos for different groups and organizations across campus, as well as our Athletics department. I believe that across my 3 years working for the Athletics department, I took photos of every sport we had (other than golf), and was even able to cover the D3 Tennis NCAA Championships, since we hosted. The college I went to was a small liberal arts college, so word spread quickly and many people at school started associating me with photography. I started building the freelance side of my photography business, as I would get requests to do graduation photos, LinkedIn headshots, etc.
I was pre-med throughout all four years in college and graduated thinking that I would be applying to med school after taking a gap year, so photography was a fun side hobby during that time. During my gap year, I decided that I didn’t want to pursue medicine any more and that I would instead explore some other interests I had always had, but never really had a chance to fully explore (due to being so busy with med school preparation). I now work full time for a tech startup and am building my photography business to get to full time capacity as well.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I feel like I constantly struggle and debate whether or not I should focus on a certain specialty/carve out a specific niche in photography (i.e. branding myself as solely a wedding photographer, for example). I’ve heard so many different opinions on this and it’s always been an internal struggle for me to know what the best path actually is. I really love photographing so many different things that it’s hard for me to commit to focusing on one type of photography. Right now, I’ve decided not to specifically brand myself as a certain type of photographer, but who knows if that will change!
I’ve also struggled with figuring out how to market myself. My high school and college were all very small schools, so clients came naturally via word of mouth. For the first time in the past year or so since deciding to take my photography more seriously, I’ve been figuring out how to get my name out there to find more gig opportunities.
I feel like there’s also so much I still want to learn about (i.e. SEO, marketing, posing, lighting) and so many things I want to be better at *now* so it’s also hard to remind myself that I will get there and to be patient with myself!
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
This is a tough one! As I mentioned above, I find it really hard to describe what I specialize in because I like taking photos of so many things. Honestly if anything involves people or takes place in a cool setting, I’m pretty down to shoot. I photograph weddings, family photos, graduation photos, engagement photos, sports games, events, etc and I have so much fun shooting all of them!
I’ve recently been trying to delve more into sports photography though, so that’s something I’ve decided to try and seek more opportunities for. I grew up playing sports, and I’m a huge basketball fan, so any time I get to work a sports game and be so close to the action brings me so much joy. I still love shooting weddings, family photos, and graduations (so if you’re reading this, don’t hesitate to reach out for a shoot for any of those!), but at the moment, I want to be more purposeful in finding sports gigs.
To this day, one of my favorite things I’ve ever photographed was my college professor’s wedding. It was a very small, intimate wedding with only immediate family, so I’m honored to get bragging rights that I was in attendance for such an exclusive wedding. Felt very full circle
With my shoots, I try to create a fun, relaxed environment and to help my clients just have fun being who they really are. I’m here to help everyone have a good time and to showcase that through the photos we capture together. Recently during some multi-generational shoots I’ve taken on, my ability to speak Mandarin (since I grew up in Taiwan) has helped make the parents and grandparents feel more at ease during the shoot, which has been incredibly heartwarming to see happen in real time!
What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
Cold outreach/email has always worked wonders for me, and I’ve gotten so many really cool jobs and opportunities through cold outreach. If there’s a cool job you want to do or a cool person you want to connect with, it really doesn’t hurt to try reaching out! The worst that usually happens is a non-response. Even though it’s always worked out really well for me, I still need to constantly remind myself to just try reaching out to people! Lots of photographers are really friendly and happy to connect. I’m also trying to be better about going up to photographers I see at other events and games and introducing myself to them and saying hi. It can be really nervewracking to just go up and introduce yourself, but I’ve also met other cool photographers by just taking the time and energy to be friendly and say a quick hi
Contact Info:
- Website: www.aliciatsai.photography
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/aliciatsai.photo
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/aliciatsaiphotography
- Twitter: https://x.com/aliciatsaiphoto
Image Credits
All photos taken by Alicia Tsai
