Portraits for a Multifaceted Musician: Shooting with Eva Ding
When I exchanged texts with flutist and producer Eva Ding about our upcoming portrait session, she was clear about one thing: she didn’t want to be boxed in.
“When I think about myself as a musician I think really multidisciplinary,” she wrote. “Never just about classical music or even just about performing the flute. There’s lots of modern elements to what I do... I like to come across as powerful but approachable too... There’s also a glamorous aspect to performing — I do love coming out in a gown.”
That message shaped everything we did.
We met at Love Studios in New York’s garment district and used every minute of our three-hour session to explore the range of Eva’s creative identity. The setups reflected different sides of her work — from clean, elegant looks with classic portrait lighting to bold images with fashion-inspired hard light and attitude to match.
We started with understated strength: black pants and a white tee, no flute in sight. Later we added the flute subtly, as a kind of sidelong nod to her musical roots. Then came the sequined gown — a striking image, yes, but one we both agreed felt a little too “expected.” That’s when we pushed things further. We swapped in harder light and bolder posing, taking the portraits somewhere unexpected. Somewhere that felt unmistakably Eva.
From there we kept going: a gray seamless with a lighting gradient, a thrifted tuxedo jacket worn without a shirt, movement studies in heels. Each look brought out a different facet of her creative life — performer, director, fashion lover, rule-breaker.
One of those harder-edged images — Eva in the sequined gown, lit in hard white studio light — is the one she chose to promote her new ensemble, Orchestra Q. That image has already landed in front of hundreds of her followers, and it’s doing exactly what a good portrait should do: sparking curiosity, starting conversations, and showing people who she really is.
For me, that’s what portrait work is about. It’s not just making someone look good — it’s helping them communicate. I work best when the shoot is a collaboration. When the goal isn’t to fit someone into a visual mold, but to figure out what makes them stand out — and show that with clarity and style.
If you're a creative professional looking for portraits that say more, I’d love to work with you.
You can find more of the portraits from our session here. You can see more of Eva’s music here.