Phong Lai is a professional food photographer. With a family in the food and catering business, he was never far from the culinary arts. His background enables him to capture exceptional visual stories about what we eat.

Growing up in Plainfield, his grandmother owned a restaurant called La Viet and his family lived in the apartment above the restaurant. When his parents went to work, he hung out with his grandparents at the restaurant. He spent years watching food being prepared and cooked. The restaurant was his playground and this would be the place for all family and friend’s parties.

Later in life, his very first job was being a waiter at Pho99 in South Plainfield, founded by his aunt. His work ethic all stemmed from that first summer heling his aunt where uncle would say, “Because you’re family I have treat you harder than the others.” This restaurant during his teen years will become the hang out, work, lunch, and afterschool study spot. Still to this day Phong has close ties with that restaurant and other endeavors, not as a waiter but as their food photographer.

In addition to his food photography work, Phong is also an active wedding photographer in New Jersey documenting the union of loved ones.

His photography career started with the idea of being able to document his life around the second year of college and it was initially photographing friends and club events on campus. This grew into shooting for the school newspaper. During his time at Stevens Institute of Technology, he eventually pursued an Art and Technology minor. Phong did internships at portraiture studios and apprenticeships for wedding and event photographers, discovering it was the most natural discipline for him. He has built his photography career on this since the first time he touched a camera.