Gary Fong

Gary Fong
Fong speaks at SWPP Convention 2009, London
Born	(1960-12-06) December 6, 1960 (age 56) Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Entrepreneur, photographer, film director, producer, screenwriter

Gary Fong (born December 6, 1960) is an American entrepreneur, author, former wedding photographer, film director, producer and screenwriter. He is most widely known as the inventor of the "Lightsphere", a line of accessories for flash photography.

Originally a musician, while pursuing a degree in Pharmacology to appease his parent's demands to become a doctor, Fong accidentally stumbled upon a Life Magazine article featuring wedding photographer Rocky Gunn in a multi-page spread. Gunn had been a longtime friend of his mother. Feeling that this was more fate than coincidence, Fong pursued Gunn for a chance to assist and learn. It was during this time that Gunn died at age 42 of a sudden heart-attack.

Fong, left with no mentor or proper training, started a wedding photography business in a bedroom of his parent's apartment, and offered his services for $150/no time limit. While this entry price severely undermined the pricing standards, he was able to present comprehensive designs that were far more costly than the standard photography package. He would go on to photograph such people as, Sylvester Stallone, Ronald Reagan, Sidney Sheldon, Lee Remick, Paul McCartney, Peter Criss, Bruce Lee, Todd Rundgren, Priscilla Presley, Pia Zadora, Michael Landon, Florence Henderson, Shelly Fabares, among others.

While watching an on-location filming of "Charlie's Angels", Fong saw for the first time an on-set Storyboard and reasoned that wedding photography albums should use a similar format to depict a wedding story. So, using sequential photo layouts rather than static, posed images, Fong introduced the "Storybook Concept". This style of wedding albums remains popular to this day.