My Dream Studio (2021)

My Dream Studio was a deeply personal project produced by Andy To for Apple. At the very beginning of my freelance journey — a time filled with as much uncertainty as it was ambition — Andy surprised me with a studio setup I had only ever allowed myself to dream about, gifted in full by Apple.

Andy and I share share a similar story. We both came up in the underprivileged neighborhoods of Oakland, California, where resources were scarce but creativity had a way of thriving. Knowing where we came from made the weight of that gift feel all the more profound. For Andy, this wasn't simply a campaign — it was a conviction. My Dream Studio was one of many intentional gestures he has made throughout his career to pour back into the community that shaped him, uplifting the friends and creatives who walked the same streets and dared to imagine bigger lives for themselves.

These photographs hold a special place in my heart — they mark the very beginning of my journey into wedding photography. At the time, I was still living at home, standing at the threshold of something I had poured my hopes into: the launch of Honey + Light Studio, my wedding photography brand. There's a tenderness in looking back at these images, knowing they represent not just a shoot, but the first quiet, courageous steps toward building my first business.