I’m Lai, the photographer behind Bokeh Story Photos. My love for photography started in kindergarten, sneaking my dad’s Nikon off the shelf. I took my first darkroom class in high school, then life moved fast: college, a career, a family. The camera became something I picked up on weekends. Then my kids were born, and I couldn’t stop shooting. Friends saw those photos and started asking: can you do that for us?
Bokeh is the soft, blurred background in portrait photography, the technique that brings one person into sharp focus while the world around them softens. That’s the philosophy here too. Every session starts with a conversation. I want to know who you are before I pick up the camera, so the story we tell together is really yours.
Born and raised in Shanghai, I’ve called Liberty, MO home for 20 years. I’m a mom of two teenagers, shooting on Canon gear I’ve trusted for over a decade. I’ve spent years building community too, leading an 8,000-member professional organization at Oracle. That experience listening to people and bringing them together is part of what makes every session feel like a conversation, not a photoshoot.
I’d love to tell your story next.
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14+ Years telling stories through a camera in Liberty and Kansas City |
3× Published nationally in portrait and fashion photography |
5 Consecutive years as official Adorn Style Show photographer |
1 Conversation before every single session. No exceptions. |