Senior Sean Hsueh has always found inspiration in wedding photos: “The pictures people remember the most are their happiest moments… when they’re smiling, laughing, interacting with people, involved in relationships.” It was this joy that led him and Linhao Zhang to establish their own company as undergraduates; Day 7 Photography was born.
Sean began taking pictures back in middle school. “In 7th grade, I remember playing with my dad’s new digital camera… I experimented with the manual settings.” His father loved his pictures and encouraged him to take more. “When it came time for college, I used our camera equipment more than my dad anyway, so he told me to just take it with me.”
Photo credit: Waiaka Wang
Yet until this semester, photography was merely a hobby, not his career path; his creativity drove him to pursue advertising, which he saw as less risky. He even got into Texas Creative, but then, he said, “There came a defining point, where I had to really choose if I wanted to pursue advertising wholeheartedly. I felt like I had a ton of interests pulling me in different directions. Texas Creative was the climax of my advertising interests.”
But after one semester, Sean questioned why he was pursuing advertising and realized “it was just an extension of something else. A lot of others saw in me that my true passion lay in photography and helped me to see that too.”
He took some time to really think and pray about it, and in the midst of praying, he stumbled upon Linhao’s photos. “I didn’t even really know him, we just had some mutual friends… but I was amazed by his stuff.” They had similar styles, Sean says, and that’s when it clicked for him. “I knew I had to do this, and I wanted to do it with him.”
Sean felt “extremely excited” and thought a long time about how to compose a long facebook message to Linhao. “I wrote a lot about my vision, who I was, what I liked about his stuff, and what I hoped to do… I really wanted to partner with him. I invited him to pursue [photography] with me. Then I had to wait a couple of days to get an answer, and it really felt like I’d asked him out.” After an agonizing wait, Linhao accepted, and the two began to organize logistics over winter break.
They arrived at the name Day 7 photography after much deliberation. “We brainstormed on our own, but the results were really lame,” Sean said. After some prodding, he admitted, “We considered ‘Modern Misters,’ but we were like, ‘We’re not a band’… We also joked about Table 5 photography [an allusion to Table 4].” In the end, Sean felt that naming a photography studio was all about a short, simple word and then a number, like Studio 6. “We actually wanted to do ‘Day 8,’ at first, but it sounded too much like ‘date’ so we decided Day 7 had a better ring to it… And there’s room to add meaning to it. Some people are like, ‘Oh, the Sabbath,’ but that’s not really what we had in mind.” In just a semester, Day 7 photography has set up a website with a gallery and a blog, earned a couple hundred “likes” on their facebook page, and printed business cards.
What sets Day 7 Photography apart? Both Sean and Linhao have vision for a distinct style. “What we like to shoot comes from inspiration, of course, but we sort of take what we like from all these other sources and make it our own… Anyone can take pictures, but those who do well have their own drive, passion, vision…” This passion is what has allowed the two to be extremely ambitious. “I thought I was crazy for trying to do this company during my junior year of college, but then I think about Linhao, and he’s only a sophomore! We’re both striving for that common vision.”
Day 7 Photography is not limited to weddings and engagements, though that is their area of special interest; they also frequently take portraits for graduations or other events which are then posted on the blog section of their site. Their pictures are distinctly theirs, and they enjoy doing unique things with lighting and composition. In particular, Sean described their style by referring to a picture that they took during my photoshoot with my boyfriend:
“We’re both very interested in capturing the scenery and the surroundings… We like to show that we’re really kind of small, even in the midst of this great love. There’s bigger stuff,” Sean said; he and Linhao want their work to reflect their faith, which they maintain is integral to their work, and this is a simple way to do it. “There’s something beautiful that we’re a part of, but that is bigger than just us.”