Wedding Photographers Chicago | Melissa Diep Photography | Blog bio picture

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Remember the scene in Sex and the City the movie when Louise from St. Louis gives Carrie her Love charm? That’s Melissa Diep. She’s in love with Love. She’s the kind of gal who wears her heart on her sleeve and cries a little when her brides and grooms take their First Look. She loves the thrill of photographing the magic that exists between her couples, the innocence of a sleeping newborn, and the simplicity of a family in their own backyard.

Melissa is always on the hunt for the new and interesting in her hometown of Chicago, by way of Saigon, Vietnam. It is because of her family’s hardships and tenacity during their flight from the communist North––spending 10 days on a cramped fishing boat, then living in a refugee camp in Thailand for nearly two years––that have shaped who Melissa is today as a woman, wife, mother and photographer.

Armed with only a handful of pictures from her early childhood––one single baby photo and just a few as an infant in her family’s camp––it’s easy to understand why Melissa employs a photojournalistic approach behind the lens. She aims to deliver photo memories with stunning visual impact; natural and unscripted while telling your story effortlessly.

Melissa’s upbringing motivates her to live fully and to appreciate the grand, the small, and the in between. In her everyday, Melissa rocks girly dresses with blazers on photo shoots and drinks Vietnamese coffee. She believes in finding beauty in unexpected places, always doing her hair and lusting over shiny red Minis (regrettably, but dutifully, she upgraded hers to a more baby-friendly vehicle).

Melissa lives in Chicago with The Giant and Little G, also affectionately known as her husband and one year old son, of whom she religiously takes one 100 photos a day.

First Look For Charity-Chicago Auto Show

February 12, 2010 Tags: auto,boys and girls club,charity,chicago,first look,show,tran nguyen

This evening’s event actually started out a day early when I got the date mixed up. How in the world did my doofus self did that? Who knows?!?!? I got all dolled up, my girlfriend Tran Nguyen, co-owner of The Nail Lounge Salon and Spa, spent hours doing my hair and make-up, drove all the way downtown to the McCormick Place where the Chicago Auto Show was held, parked our car and was going up to the convention center is when I handed Giant the tickets. Mind you when the tickets got mailed to us, neither one of us checked on the tickets. As we were going up the escalator is when Giant says to me, “Ummm…babe? What day is today?”. I practically went pale after that sentence. Needless to say, we had to laugh about my mix-up. Boo, boo, BOO!!! At least we had a good practice run right?? Right??? Especially since we were 45 minutes late that evening.

Day two, things ran smoothly and we actually ran on time. Great show. We decided to donate this evenings proceeds to the Boys and Girls Club. How we made that decision? When I bought/surprised Giant the tickets online, I was given a long list of charities to donate to. I chose this charity is because somehow I felt like it often gets overlooked. I felt like most people will probably donate their proceeds to more popular charities like the Childrens Museum or Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago. Now there’s nothing wrong with giving to these charities. We just felt that the Boys and Girls Club may get overlooked a lot.