Meet Vincent Po | Photojournalist and Writer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Vincent Po and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Vincent, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
My freshman year at Princeton, I felt woefully inadequate. Surrounded by world-class academics, artists, and athletes, when I was none of those things, I remember feeling so curious, even awestruck, during conversations with other people, while rarely feeling that same curiosity, and certainly never the same awe, in return. (Small fish, big pond.)
That summer, instead of trying to become a “bigger fish”, I felt it more compelling to simply embrace my smallness, and find hobbies that made me fulfilled or happy not because they impressed other people but because I enjoyed them for the sake of enjoyment. I spent the summer back home with my parents in Oklahoma, during which time my mother taught me to cook, my father taught me guitar, and, with the money I’d saved up from many years of Chinese New Year red envelopes, I bought my first camera and taught myself photography

When I got back to campus for my sophomore year and started photographing my friends, I realized I’d accidentally found the context, missing before, to spend time with so many of my talented peers. Everyone needed a nice photo of themselves at some point; dancers, actors, musicians, academics; on stages, in labs, posing in their graduation gowns. And with my camera, I had reason to spend time with all these people I had so admired but felt too inadequate to offer anything in conversation or friendship before.

After graduation (I studied Electrical Engineering) I took a job in the industry, but a question stayed with me: if my camera afforded so many meaningful relationships in college that I learned so much from, how much more could I learn if I brought my camera around the world? My answer was Portrait of a Young Couple (portraitofayoungcouple.com), a project to document how couples all around the world live and love by photographing their weddings for free in exchange for living in their home the week before and permission to tell their story.

Weddings are one of the few celebrations common across all peoples, no matter their ethnicity, religion, political views, career, or socioeconomic status. Photography is one of the most important and intimate jobs at a wedding, and so it presents a rare and authentic opportunity to learn about and document a couple’s story.

I’ve been working full-time on this since March 2020, and have stayed with and written about 40 couples in that time. My travel plans for 2022 are all international, with weddings on all six populated continents in countries like South Africa, Mexico, Singapore, and Slovakia. I plan to publish a book documenting many of the couples’ stories and my own reflections.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Something I know is unique about Portrait of a Young Couple is the way in which I’ve intentionally removed money from the creative process, and how that has enabled me to completely redefine the meaning and value of my presence and work in someone else’s life. It enables a level of intimacy, friendship, and fulfillment that is impossible to achieve when there is a financial transaction.

Creatives often struggle with communicating the value of our work. We all have stories of people who’ve asked us to spend hours, days, or weeks of our time in exchange for little to no sacrifice on their end, citing nebulous, intangible payment in the form of “exposure” and “experience.” This undervaluing most often takes the form of someone’s unwillingness to pay money for the work.

That said, I also think it is incorrect to see money as the sole, or even best, form of valuing creative work. I’ve happily given discounts or done work pro bono when I know it is being appreciated or valued in non-monetary ways, and I wager most creatives have done the same with no regrets. Where I differ, though, is how I have taken this idea to its logical conclusion, taking no money at all and discovering what fills its place.

None of the couples participating in Portrait of a Young Couple are obligated to give me any money in exchange for my work, and a core value of mine is representing people no matter their socioeconomic background. I do this not because I “hate money”, but because I ask for something, in my opinion, far more valuable: a willingness to be completely open with me—joys, trauma, fears, all of it—and to trust me enough to allow me into their home and document their lives.

I’m not suggesting every creative person abandon money entirely as I have; for better or worse, money is central to how our world operates, and while I don’t charge couples in Portrait of a Young Couple, I have other revenue streams and savings that ensure I can take care of my basic needs. But I would at least encourage others to reflect upon the ways their creative work can be done without money, and to be open-minded about how that may lead to new kinds of relationships with those receiving the work. It will look very different from different mediums and circumstances, but I believe it’s possible for everyone to try this in some form, and that it will lead to experiences or relationships whose depths are far greater than those with a traditional “client.”

Key in this is ensuring that whoever receives the work still acknowledges its true value, even if it’s not through money. For me, I know my couples acknowledge my value because of how they let me into their home and how they trust me to photograph one of their most important days. So, when money is taken out of that equation, couples fill in that sense of value in other ways, like through friendship, trust, and genuineness.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I am fully nomadic for my work, and so I don’t pay rent anywhere and can’t really consider any specific place my “home.” (A couple’s 5 year old son once asked me if I was homeless, because if I was living with them, didn’t that mean I didn’t have a home myself? His parents were mortified, but the innocence of his question sparked some pretty profound thoughts in me.) So, I can’t offer an itinerary for anywhere in particular.

What I can offer, though, is some advice on exploring new places. Find a motivation—anything really, whether it’s food, drinks, photography, sights, clothes, people-watching—that gives you permission to explore a new place without a plan or a specific goal. If possible, walk, or at least bike/scooter, so you’re in the world itself and not separated by a layer of metal or glass, and where you can see, hear, smell, and even feel your surroundings. And then wander, explore, get lost somewhere, using the motivation you set as a general guide while being open-minded to chance encounters and spontaneity. (Obviously, be safe while doing this though! Research where is/isn’t safe for you.)

As an example, my motivation is photography. When I visit a new city, I’ll walk around with my camera, looking for unique subjects or compositions and which serves as my permission to make turns or stop to eat, see, or do anything I may run across. The world opens to spontaneity, and I become so much more present in it.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
When I first told my parents that I was going to quit my nice, stable engineering job to live with strangers, photograph their weddings, and write about their life stories, I knew that they would understand. They’d raised me to be unafraid to try new things, both trivial (I never get the same ice cream flavor) and more profound (making a 180 degree career change).

After a few requisite questions about how I’d stay safe, they threw their emotional support behind me. I call them at least once a week to share photos and what I’ve learned about the couples with whom I stay, and few things bring me more joy than talking to my parents about how happy and fulfilled I am, and seeing their broad smiles in return.

Website: https://www.portraitofayoungcouple.com/

Instagram: @portraitofayoungcouple

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/portraitofayoungcouple

Image Credits
Headshot of me (yellow background, holding a camera and smiling) by instagram @ison_laxman