Tom Huynh: “I photograph people”
Text: Mike Blanchard
Arts-y | Tom Huynh is a people person. Which is to say a photographer of people. Fashion photographer or portraitist it’s hard to say and I’m not sure it matters. He does both. But as he says, “I’m not into shooting clothes. I’m into shooting you in the clothes.”
His whole goal is to make his sitters feel like they have never been more beautiful or handsome. To feel like the day they are getting their portrait taken is the most wonderful day of their lives and they will walk out of the shoot feeling bold and confident. With an amazing photograph needless to say. But almost more important to him is how he wants them to feel. “I consider myself to be a photographer who empowers people to feel sexy. To change how they look at themselves,” says Huynh. “I don’t want the clothes to distract from them.”
Huynh has photographed powerful politicians and captains of industry, actors, fashion icons and glamorous trend setters. But he is open to the universe. He is just as likely to be flown to Los Angeles for a high dollar shoot as he is to be taking one of his muses out to a field to try something out.
That said one of the most significant photographs he has taken is an intimate portrait of his mother in her last days. “The photo I took of my mom was the hardest I have ever taken. I could not control my emotions,” said Huynh. “I brought her to my studio and took 15 shots. I couldn’t continue. These photos mean so much me.”
“When they say you can have an hour it turns into five minutes and then 30 seconds.”
Family is hugely important to him. It stands to reason. Huynh came to America from Vietnam in 1983 as a refugee. His family, including his seven brothers and sisters, escaped on a boat to the Philippines and then on to the States. The family settled in Oak Park in the Sacramento area. As a refugee place is also very important to him.
“When my mom died I drove around the house. I want to buy that house and live there the rest of my life,” says Huynh. “That would be one of my goals.”
Huynh is a very humble cat. He is not the swinging extrovert fashion photographer. He is low key and speaks quietly. He is in control of himself and his craft.
When you look at Huynh’s photographs one of the things that stands out is his command of technique and lighting. He is a master of lighting and he works hard at it. Command of his process is part of his strategy for success.
“I know how the lighting will be. You don’t need to worry about luck,” said Huynh. “If your lighting is not set up you have lost them. The moment a client loses confidence in you it affects the picture. When you photograph the famous they don’t have time. When they say you can have an hour it turns into five minutes and then 30 seconds.”
Huynh got into photography in high school and went on to college at Cal Poly San Louis Obispo. But he didn’t graduate. He walked out after the first class of his last semester. “My heart wasn’t in it,” he says.
He decided to go to Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara. The school is long gone but in its day it was one of the best training grounds for photographers in the country. Huynh decided that he had enough of college. He successfully petitioned the dons at Brooks to let him do the three-year program in one and a half years. “It was painful but I did it,” says Huynh. “It was a great decision for me to go to Brooks.”
Even so it was an eye opener for him., from a technical standpoint as well as stylistic.
“At school everybody was copying Avedon. And then someone else,” said Huynh. “At a school where everybody wanted to be themselves they forgot to be themselves. You have to force your identity to come out, develop your own work.”
Huynh says the most valuable thing he got from school was “Structure, self-discipline, they want to force you to learn the technique.”
“I embrace happy accidents. You were there. You prepared yourself for that moment.”
Tom Huynh. (Photo Steve Abbott)
That preparation is a big part of his mojo. “Sometimes you get lucky,” says Huynh. “Most of the time all the work I’ve put in gets me more luck. I embrace happy accidents. You were there. You prepared yourself for that moment.”
After Brooks Huynh worked for a company that ran an adult web site (didn’t like it) and then assisted for a photographer who does high-end automotive studio photography (not really his thing but impressive) and ended up landing a spot as an assistant to a successful celebrity and fashion photographer. This brought him into contact with the society world of LA. “He was a good photographer but rough. I thought he was a jerk. But I realized later that I learned a lot from him. I ran into him later and I thanked him.”
Eventually Huynh returned to the city where he grew up. He wanted to be close to his family and he feels comfortable here.
When asked about cameras and whether he uses film or digital he answers, “I’m not really into getting new gear all the time. My camera is four or five years old. My digital (a Fuji X-Pro) reminds me of a Contax I used to have. I love rangefinders. They’re simpler, lighter, unassuming. I don’t want to show off that I’m a photographer…The most important part of being a photographer is engaging the subject. I photograph people.”
Keep up with Tom:
i: @ihatetomhuynh