PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) — One of Fanta Mithmeuangneua’s greatest passions is capturing moments and memories. At first, that passion was directed toward her children. When her son started playing basketball, she’d take photos of his practices and games.
“I enjoyed it, and other parents were like, ‘Hey, can you come to my son’s game?'” Mithmeuangneua recounted. “That’s how it started.”
Through word of mouth, Mithmeuangneua’s clientele grew. Now, she was getting hired to photograph games and senior photos.
“What was supposed to be a side job or something for a hobby became more like a full-time job,” she said.
At the time, Mithmeuangneua also worked full-time at the Oregon Department of Corrections. She still does some five years after getting her photography business off the ground.
The relationships she built through photography opened doors to bigger opportunities, like shooting for “OSAA Today,” a newspaper for the regulatory body of high school athletics in Oregon. In 2023, she photographed the Nike Hoop Summit. More recently, she has served as the personal photographer of the ML20 Lady Enforcers, a women’s basketball team affiliated with the Maurice Lucas Foundation.
On top of shooting their games and practices, Mithmeuangneua gets to travel with them to competitions all over the U.S.
“She’s just a spark, she’s a light,” said ML20 point guard Love Best. “It’s just so much fun to be around her.”
ML20 combo guard Kendall Dawkins added, “She’s just always giving to us, giving back and taking pictures whenever we ask for it or even if we don’t ask.”
Mithmeuangneua is at ease around these girls, but she did feel pretty intimidated by the sports industry at first.
“I feel like being Asian American and doing sports photography in general is such a big deal,” she said. “Representation is very important. I want people with the similarities of my background to feel like they can be inspired by me, and be in the same field.”
It helps that Mithmeuangneua had an inspiration to look up to. Her father and mother are from Laos. They met at a refugee camp in Thailand, and then immigrated to the United States. As a second-generation immigrant, she feels a responsibility to go after the dreams her parents gave her the opportunity to chase.
She feels that even more strongly after her mother’s passing last September.
“A lot of the stuff that I’m doing is really for her because she didn’t want us to struggle,” Mithmeuangneua said. “She always did the best she could to make sure we had a decent life. She did the best she could with English being her second language.”
She added, “Growing up, she tried her best, and that’s what I’m going to do, I’m just going to keep trying my best.”
One photo at a time, Mithmeuangneua honors her mother’s memory, her heritage and the wild journey that helped her turn her passion into a career.