The holiday season is always the 'golden season' for young people working in photography and makeup. When the demand for beauty and preserving memories increases, it is normal for many people to earn tens of millions a month.
This part-time job brings Hung high income during Tet holiday - Photo: NGOC SANG
Even without formal training, many people still seize the opportunity to earn extra income, while demonstrating their creativity, taking beautiful photos that are no different from professional studios.
Nguyen Vu Duy
Taking pictures during Tet holiday season "so many guests that I can't breathe"
As soon as the 5am alarm clock rang, Pham Phuc Hung (22 years old), a final year student at Ho Chi Minh City University of Education, woke up and prepared his camera, lens, battery, memory card, reflector, and photography accessories.
Riding his motorbike to the meeting place with the guests at a traditional house in Thu Dau Mot City (Binh Duong), Hung created a happy atmosphere for the photo shoot and instructed the guests on how to pose beautifully.
After about half an hour of taking photos and showing them to the customer, Hung excitedly said: "This year-end, my photo schedule has been packed since the beginning of November. Every day I take two to three sets of photos, from individuals, families, couples to groups of friends."
For each photo shoot, Hung earns from 700,000 to 1,500,000 VND. For the whole month, Hung's income fluctuates around 15 - 17 million VND.
For Hung, the biggest challenge is balancing his studies and pursuing a career in photography.
"Sometimes I have to stay up until 2-3am to edit photos, then I still have to go to school the next morning. Sometimes I feel very tired, but thinking about my passion and the recognition of my customers makes me try harder."
Hung takes a variety of photos, from birthday photos, family photos to Christmas concepts and Tet Ao Dai photos. Whenever someone makes a booking, he prepares carefully and comes up with ideas for locations that suit the customer's requirements.
If you go to Ben Thanh market during the holidays, regardless of the time, you will see a bustling atmosphere when people take souvenir photos. Nguyen Vu Duy (24 years old, living in Phu Nhuan district) is the person who understands this feeling the most. With a side job of taking portrait photos, Duy takes advantage of the time to "work" at the end of the year.
"In the morning, I will take clear, flattering photos or let customers hold flowers and take photos with ao dai. In the hot afternoon sun, I will ask customers to wear conical hats and take photos inside the market. I can even take photos at night, especially for those who like the melancholy style," Duy introduced.
In addition to taking photos for acquaintances, Duy often proactively goes to areas such as Ben Thanh market, Turtle Lake, Independence Palace... to invite guests.
Following this guy to Ben Thanh market in the morning, Duy quickly saw Lien struggling to take a selfie in front of the market gate. Duy offered to take a set of photos for her for 200,000 VND and she immediately agreed.
In about 30 minutes, Duy completed a photo album with many photos taken from various angles and promised to send them back to Lien the next morning after post-production. This morning, this young man earned from 4-8 customers. If we only count the past 20 days, the 24-year-old man's income has reached 15 million VND.
Every day Duy takes photos of 4-8 customers with prices ranging from 200,000 - 500,000 VND/customer - Photo: AN VI
"Amateur" journey
Although compared to his current office job, the amount of 15 million in 20 days is quite high, Duy still affirms that he only considers it a part-time job. He is only confident in taking portraits, and has not dared to try other genres.
Duy said he was a true amateur. At first, he just bought a camera for fun, but when his friends complimented him and asked him to take more photos, he realized he had a talent for photography.
"This season I'm just trying to earn some extra money, but I'm still focusing on my main job. My ability only goes so far, if it's more difficult to take pictures, I'll have to accept it, I don't dare accept customers," Duy said.
As for Hung, he was new to the profession so he had to learn a lot. At first, Hung bought a camera and slowly learned the parameters, how to use the camera, how to adjust the light, aperture, and angle to make it look good. He also learned online to adjust the color, composition, and learned how to stand and sit to show customers when taking pictures.
In addition to having to process a large number of photos in a short time, many days staying up until 3-4am to edit photos for customers is also a common thing, because Hung understands that customers always want to see the results soon.
However, Hung still feels very happy, the effort is worth it. Besides a good income, this job also gives Hung many valuable skills such as time management, customer communication, developing creative thinking... "These are very necessary for any future career", Hung shared.
Although he only sees this as a side job, Hung plans to develop his filming skills to diversify his services. "I try hard every day and constantly learn to make my customers most satisfied," Hung added.
Makeup profession is also hot
Realizing that the demand for makeup and photography in the capital during the Tet holiday increased, Pham Thi Huyen (22 years old), a final year student at the University of Economics (VNU Hanoi), took the opportunity to take extra makeup classes outside to satisfy her passion, improve her skills and earn extra income to help her family.
At first, Huyen had a lot of difficulty balancing between studying and working. The cost of investing in makeup was very expensive, she had to borrow more from friends. Not to mention the number of customers was only a few because her name was not well known, but she always tried to do her job with all her heart, paying attention to every detail, gradually people supported her more.
Her "buckets and basins" have also increased significantly. To have a stable number of regular customers like now, Huyen has constantly tried and learned every day. "This job is like being a daughter-in-law of a hundred families, always having to be attentive and thoughtful to customers, if the customer is not satisfied with something, having to fix it over and over again until the customer is satisfied", Huyen revealed.
She took advantage of her personal TikTok page to post makeup clips and "luckily" became a trend, many young people came to visit. Huyen's makeup customers were initially mainly university students who needed to "paint their faces" for graduation photos, then gradually spread to outside customers, including TikTokers who came to experience and were very satisfied.
Huyen's income from her part-time job is quite high, calculated by each job, Huyen receives from 300,000 VND per job. Her average income in the last months of the year was about 20 million VND per month.
There were days when Huyen was busy with school or exams, so she had to miss her next appointment with a few guests. She always set a rule that guests must make an appointment about half a month in advance so that Huyen could arrange her class schedule appropriately.
At the end of this year, there were times when Huyen had to wake up at 3am to do makeup for customers, then drive from the customer's house to school to study. "I always balance my time between studying at school and doing makeup for customers. On days off, I sometimes go out doing makeup from early morning until late at night. My hands and feet are exhausted, but the pay is worth it. Sometimes, customers even give me extra tips. I take care of my own food and living expenses, and I don't have to ask my parents for more," Huyen excitedly shared.
She always learns and creates new "tones", youthful and dynamic or gentle and poetic, suitable for each face, so customers are very satisfied and will call Huyen to do it again next time.
Having to wake up early to do makeup for customers, Huyen is still very happy because of the high income - Photo: NVCC
"The most recent occasion was the Anh trai say hi concert which attracted a lot of young people to come and watch, thanks to that, the "blue eyes, red lips" makeup style was also requested a lot by the kids. I did their makeup from morning to afternoon, trying my best to be as quick as possible so they could go to the concert on time. I'm very happy to have everyone's trust and support," Huyen happily said.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/ban-tre-chup-hinh-song-ao-kiem-bon-tien-20250207105707082.htm
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