San Francisco Wedding Photographer Thai Mai

Journal of wedding and portrait photography

Welcome to my blog!

Hi everyone!

I’m a Bay Area based, destination photographer specializing in wedding and portrait photography. My goal as a photographer is to create iconic images for my clients.

I find inspirations from film, fashion, magazines and everyday life. The resulting images are modern, fresh, young and edgy but at the same time, still timeless.

A lot of my clients have told me that getting to know me was just as important as images that I capture. Here’s a short version how I became a photographer:

My passion for photography first started in 2002 when I met Giao, my wife. I drove her nuts taking so many pictures! When our son was born a couple of years later, I knew that I had to upgrade my camera. As the upgrades became more frequent so did the opportunities to take pictures. I took my camera to every kids birthday party, holidays dinner parties, day at the park, etc.

As some of you may have noticed, I didn’t go to school to get a degree in photography. It was all self-taught. My love of photography is only rivaled by my curiosity. I love discovering how things work. That drive to discover new things, I believe, would be diminished if I had gone through a formal learning process.

My first paid photography job was for a co-worker who wanted to get her family portrait done. From this, sub-sequent jobs came in by referrals. A happy customer is a referring customer!

One day, Giao and I talked about teaming up to offer both our services (my photography and her hair & makeup) together to the bridal community. To call it a success is a mild understatement. Our clients loved the idea but most importantly, the cost savings!

The rest, as they say, is history. Giao and I have been blessed with meeting so many wonderful couples along the way. Couples that have ended up as good friends.

Take a moment to fill out the Contact form because I would love to hear about you and the details of your wedding day!

Thai

Photographers’ Resource For Wedding Photography in San Francisco

Hi there! If you have landed on this page, then it either means that you are a photographer or want to learn more about photography.

I decided to create this page because I was getting a lot of questions from friends and clients wanting to know what tool I used on a daily basis, whether it be professionally or personally.

But instead of me listing each equipment in order, I have decided to also review it and to let you know how I feel about it and if it actually works in the ‘field’. Furthermore, instead of the usual text review, I will also include a podcast video of me handling the equipment so that you can visually see how the equipment works, its relative size and how I use it while on the job.

Keep in mind though that these things are just tools. They are meant to help you concentrate on your clients instead of concentrating how heavy the equipment is or how to transport it to and fro. In other words, they won’t produce better pictures in and of themselves but they’ll let you work more efficiently so that you CAN produce better pictures for your clients.

I will be adding categories as I review additional equipment so make sure to visit this page often!

If you have any suggestions on what I should review or talk about, drop me an email at: reviews@thaimaiphotography.com.

Without any further delays, let’s jump into the reviews!

BAGS, SLINGS & RUCKSACKS

KATA KT DR-467 DIGITAL RUCKSACK

I love my Kata backpack! This is my goto bag for most shooting events short of a wedding. Believe it or not, it’s also a laptop bag. You can stuff a 17″ (max) laptop in the vertical opening in the back of the bag and all the necessary cords and mouse you need in the upper compartment in front.

On the outside of the front compartment, you’ll find 3 vertical zippers that give you access to 3 separate storage compartment. How cool is that? The center one is the largest of the 3. I usually store extra USB cables, iPhone charger, pens & paper and other items that I often find myself looking for while outside the office.

As for camera equipments, you can fit your DSLR camera WITH a lens attached in the lower compartment. If you have a lens hood, you’ll need to reverse it to make it fit. Beside putting your DSLR in the center opening, you can also pack additional lenses (unfortunately not a 70-200mm), flashes, batteries and other misc. items. The nice thing about the lower compartment is that it actually tilts out so that you can grab your camera at a comfortable angle.

If you absolutely need to carry a laptop AND a 70-200mm 2.8 IS (the biggest of Canon’s lineup), then just go ahead and put the 70-200mm in the upper compartment! Plenty of room for the laptop’s power cord and mouse.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I’ll prepare the video review of the Kata KT DR-467 so that you can see how much room this thing has to fit all your gears.

Kata KT DR-467 Digital Rucksack (Black)