Meet Flora Yang Feng | Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Flora Yang Feng and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Flora Yang, why did you pursue a creative career?
After putting in a lot of effort, I finally landed a job at a tech company. However, I suddenly realized that what I truly love and what fills my life with passion—the thing that makes me wake up naturally at 7 a.m. on a Sunday morning feeling genuinely energetic—is still photography. I love the feeling of being in the studio, tinkering with b10 and light stands, and observing the chemistry between them and the model. Or simply going out to capture nature and street scenes. The cliché about capturing life with a camera applies to me 100%. I define my life with photography.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My photography portfolio covers a wide range of areas—portraits, personal photography, fashion photography, and nature landscapes. However, portraits are my strongest and favorite field—I thoroughly enjoy interacting with different people, observing them, and then capturing them from my perspective. The brief photography session is a highly condensed experience of mutual trust and familiarity between people, and being trusted in artistic creation gives me a sense of security. When a client says, “Ah, I really love the photos you took of me,” I breathe a sigh of relief and feel a grounded sense of pride.

When starting out, you can’t choose your clients. Sometimes there are frustrating conflicts and unsatisfactory final products. But now, I’ve reached a point where I can freely select my collaborators, and I’m incredibly grateful for that. Sometimes I marvel at how I’ve made it step by step— from the initial ridicule and doubt from familiar people, to the poaching and disparagement from peers as I began to make progress. It’s like another life, completely different from school or a tech company. When you’re not famous, everyone wants to step on you. When you’re famous, they still want to step on you. But thankfully, I persevered.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
During my six years in New York, my favorite area remains Greenwich Village. My favorite way to start the day is by going to the bagel shop on 6th Avenue to buy a cinnamon bagel with salmon and onion spread. Then, I walk to Washington Square Park, where I quietly sit on a bench or the grass, lost in my thoughts or people-watching. There is so much to see, a million things happening at once. If I get tired, I head back to 14th Street to get a passion fruit orange or jasmine milk tea from Teazzi, then walk to the IFC Center to watch a random movie. The IFC always gives me a comforting sense of the early 2000s— a bit old and chaotic, but irreplaceable.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Tarah Douglas

She was my photography professor at Parsons School of Design. I began my studio photography journey with her. Thank you Tarah, for everything.

Website: https://yang-feng.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_yaanng_?igsh=M3BsMHloN2NleWc1&utm_source=qr