I arrived in Hong Kong in 2004. My first morning there, before I’d even started the factory job I’d come for, a family friend handed me a digital camera. Digital was brand new then — the beginning of a new era — and there I was, running through Hong Kong chasing the instant gratification of watching an image appear the moment I pressed the shutter. Over the next few years across China and Hong Kong I shot thousands and thousands of frames. By the time my assignment ended, photography wasn’t a hobby anymore. It was an addiction.

Back home, that addiction went into full force — collaborating with other photographers, founding a photography club, dating a model, shooting fashion. It wasn’t long before The REX agency brought me out to California.

In the summer of 2007 I landed in Los Angeles and, luck being what it is, an apprenticeship with the celebrity photographer Jack Guy. Before Jack was a legend behind the camera, he was a top model — the Marlboro Man. He hired the best assistants in the business, and within my first month I was working major celebrity editorials and magazine covers. Those assistants became my brothers; they taught me the lighting, composition, and technology I’ve carried through my whole career. Jack is still my best friend to this day.

In late 2008 I opened my first fashion studio, The Dream Factory. In 2010 I struck out on my own and founded Headshots LA. I’d built my name in editorial, fashion, and celebrity work — but Headshots LA took off, and I spent the next ten years developing that brand. I love working with actors, from their very first session to the top of their game. They’re fascinating, and I think misunderstood — most people have no idea how hard it is to be an actor, a musician, a dancer.

Working alongside Jack, I had the privilege of photographing extraordinary people — Keanu Reeves, Kevin Costner, Nicole Richie, Christina Ricci, Whitney Houston, Samuel L. Jackson, Kim Kardashian, Emmy Rossum — and the list goes on. I’ve shot for Disney, Paramount, MTV, Warner Bros., Vogue China, St. Jude Children’s, and Rolling Stone. I helped Revlon develop the brand Makeup.com. My work has run in People, OK!, W, and Harper’s Bazaar, and I’ve shot campaigns for the jewelry lines of Kim Kardashian, Michelle Phan, and Nicole Richie’s House of Harlow.

Twenty years in, I have countless publications, book covers, and magazine features — and, honestly, I was always too busy making the work to track where it all landed. So if you know where my work has turned up, tell me.

When I work with a designer, an actor, or anyone trying to create something from nothing, the question is always the same: What is this photo for? What is it supposed to make you feel? What is the story behind the emotion, behind the eyes?

Lately I’ve moved deeper into film. I directed my first short, I’m developing a couple of features, and last year I founded my production company, Gunnen Productions LLC — with several projects lined up to begin next year.

One of the greatest chapters of my life was my friendship with Christian Audigier, the fashion mogul, who taught me so much about life, art, kindness, and style. Our friendship was cut far too short when he passed from cancer, only about a year and a half after we met. I’ve never met anyone so generous or so creative — he influenced me more in that short time than almost anyone.