PBC Podcast | A Moment with Lam - The Original Team Member!
G
Welcome everybody to episode two or three of the Paper Boys podcast. Today we have a very special guest. One of the very OG's of this group, we have Mr. Lam Vu, everybody, in the building. Lam is actually a team member even before I was. So he's been in this longer than me. He's had quite a lot of experience. And I'll let Lam talk about who he is and what he does as well. So over to you, Lam.
Lam
Hi, I'm Lam. I did photography with Alvis back in the days. I'd say, a long time ago.
Alvis
Wait, were you here before Norbert?
Lam
Yeah.
G
He was here before you?
Lam
I was here when...
Alvis
He was my very first hire.
Lam
I was here when you started shooting with the a6300.
Alvis
That was the very first year.
G
What are we seeing in 2017/16?
Alvis
20 something? 2017?
G
Jesus Christ!
Lam
Yeah, something like that. That was like, right when you just switched to Sony. And then I think the first time I saw you shoot was at that friendship bell, remember?
Alvis
Oh, was that the shoot for Thien An?
Lam
And that's when we caught up on the whole photography thing, how you'd been doing, and stuff like that.
Alvis
Thien An is a Vietnamese lion dancing and drumming group that we used to be in and then I did a photo shoot for them. And I guess that's how we kind of reconnected. And this is still at the very beginning of my photography career, and I really wanted to kind of dove in to the videography side of it, but I didn't have anyone. And then Lam was the only person I knew that knew how to work a camera, so I asked him if he wanted to work a wedding with me. Which wedding was your first wedding?
Lam
I don't remember, but I think it might have been one in that building similar to the White House.
Alvis
Oh yeah, yeah. The white house is literally called the White House venue.
Lam
Yeah, and that's when you first decided to do a quick video for them that was free of charge, because we were getting into video. Because at the time, we were doing stricly photos.
Alvis
Yeah, so I just gave him a gimbal with the a6300 I think the 18 - 105 f4, and then we just started collecting B-roll. We gave the couple of free video, which they loved.
G
Yeah, I think there's one day we're hanging on and we saw that video too. I think it's still on YouTube or something.
Alvis
It's hidden, but it's still on my Youtube.
Lam
Yeah, that's quite a long time ago. That was the beginning of the journey, right? And then after that, more people came on board and you started getting a lot more inquiries. And then what else? One of the cool thing was what, you had you had to shoot a wedding that had a Ferrari in there? Or something like that?
G
Early days of feeling cool.
Alvis
Which shoot was that?
Lam
I don't remember, but I just know that you were shooting a Ferrari that was nice, and it was the first, big thing, you know? Like before, nice venues and stuff like that.
Alvis
Oh, I think I remember, was it the groom that had the Ferrari? Yeah, I don't know which Ferrari it was, but he really wanted to take pictures with it.
G
We're about to have a Ferrari soon! I think I met Lam... it was one of my first initial Diamond Seafood weddings bro, I think that's where I met Lam for the first time. I remember you wearing that Adidas black jacket dude, and I'm like, okay, this guy is pretty casual like me with the Polo there.
Lam
Wait, did G come on before Norbert did?
G
No, Norbert is the one who brought me on!
Lam
Ah
Alvis
Norbert was here three years before G?
G
Like two, three years, yeah.
Alvis
Yeah, something like that.
G
This is tell us more about you, Lam. Like what's going on in life right now?
Lam
Oh, so for school, I'm studying mechanical engineering and I recently just got a job at an aerospace company. So, yeah, so I just do that and then hopefully will be more free on the weekends to, you know, come out, shoot some weddings.
G
This guy's been MIA for quite some time in the group for sure.
Lam
Quite some time.
Alvis
He's always been busy on the weekends.
Lam
Yeah, having a regular job working the weekends sucks!
Alvis
So when do you start your new job?
Lam
December 6th, so that's coming right around the corner. So hopefully, you know, weekends will be more free.
G
So what kind of got you into this whole creative photography scene?
Lam
Honestly, when Alvis was showing me some photos, it was really cool. And I normally go on trips a lot with friends and stuff like that, and it'd be nice to have those like, you know, great looking photos that are like professional. So then at the time, I had a Canon T2i. That was a long time ago. And then when I met Alvis, he talked about Sony's and the mirrorless cameras, and then I made a switch to a mirrorless. I think my first camera was...I think it was an aR?
Alvis
I think it was an R2, an a7R2.
Lam
Yeah, that was the first Sony I had.
G
I think while travelling, you snowboard, right? I see it on your stories all the time. You're like in Mammoth every week or something.
Lam
Yeah, just went to Mammoth a couple weeks ago.
Alvis
Oh, how is it up there?
Lam
It's pretty nice. Weather is good right now. The snow is pretty good, but not like a LOT a lot, it's kind of choppy because it's only the beginning, so they haven't had much snow to work with. But yeah, snowboarding's pretty fun. We should go on a team snowboarding trip.
G
Is it right you guys were in high school? Where'd you guys meet?
Lam
We've actually known each other since elementary, so a very long time.
G
Jesus Christ, it's the GG connections.
Alvis
Do you remember that one wedding where we fully can... it was like our first or one of our first real video weddings were like we actually got paid for the video? Do you remember what happened? It was at Diamond Seafood! It was the disaster wedding.
Lam
No, I don't. What happened? Was it just me?
Alvis
It was me, you, and Arman.
(Norbert Off Camera)
No it was me, you, and Arman.
Alvis
Oh Lam wasn't there? Oh, never mind.
Lam
Oh my gosh, Arman! Dude!
Alvis
Oh wait, I'm thinking about another wedding, it was...
Lam
Dude! I haven't heard htat name in forever!
Alvis
You worked when Arman worked for the very first time!
Lam
Yeah, yeah. When he just got on. Yeah, yeah. And then. I think Davin was on for a little bit too.
Alvis
Yeah, and that one was in Mission Viejo, I think? How's that for you?
Lam
That was a fun wedding. I feel like that was one of the first weddings where we started on doing aerial?
Alvis
Yes, it was the first one we had the drone.
Lam
Yeah. So then like that was like a new point of view for photos and videos, so that was pretty sick to experiment with and have in our videos which was pretty cool.
G
These guys kind of started out doing cool stuff way before like I did. I'm not going to lie, like the drones and what not.
Alvis
We are total gearheads! Whenever we make money we just reinvest back into buying gear!
G
100%!
Lam
Every time I was hired, we had a new lens or something, you know?
Alvis
What are your plans now? I know you have this new job. Are you planning on pursuing the arts or anything like photography on the side too?
G
Do you NEED to pursue it on the side?
Lam
Well, honestly, I don't necessarily need to, but I do miss that side where you know, the end product of your photos and stuff like that, like before, you know, going on trips and stuff, I had time to edit and send it out to your friends and they post it. It's very cool to see that your work is being shown around, you know, on social media and stuff. So like, yeah, I definitely would want to get back into it because it's nice to see your work being shared like that. When people really like it, you know, even if it blows up somewhere.
Alvis
So you want to work on more personal projects?
Lam
Yeah, personal projects would be cool. You know, weddings would also be cool because the end product is an important thing, but also the experience, because I feel like every time we shoot weddings, there's always something that happens and it's like a memorable thing and that's fun!
G
It's always fun.
Lam
Yeah, exactly. So yeah, like every wedding is different and it's also fun!
Alvis
When was the last wedding? You worked, I think, one wedding this year.
Lam
It was the one near Laguna, near where Norbert bikes. There was two weddings going on.
Alvis
Oh yeah, ok I remember. Yeah, that was recently.
G
Before that, the last time I saw you was like 2019 at a wedding, you know?
Lam
Yeah, I know, I've been MIA.
Alvis
I know you've been travelling a lot, any crazy travel stories?
G
Or places you've been.
Lam
I'd say Vegas.
G
Vegas is always a story!
Lam
Yeah, Vegas was crazy. I think my last trip to Vegas was for EDC.
Alvis
Oh, OK. How was that? Did you see Zedd's set?
Lam
Yeah, Zedd's set was so fun! That was that was one of the best sets. And I think what's cool about it, so this year was they had a drone show. Not sure, you guys've seen it yet.
Alvis
Yeah, I've seen clips of it.
G
We saw clips of it for sure.
Lam
It's so cool because like when we were at the main sta