Hi! I’m Zian.

Editorial portraits built around who you are—and where you're going.

Whether you’re updating a headshot, building a personal brand, launching something new, or simply want photographs that feel more like you, the goal is the same: images that are clear, expressive, and actually useful.

Zian Meng (@heyZian) is a New York City portrait photographer working with individuals, founders, artists, actors, couples, creatives, and companies on editorial portraits, professional headshots, and personal-branding photography. Every session starts with what the photographs need to do—where they’ll live, who they need to reach, and how you want to come across.

From there, I build the session around you. That can mean location scouting, wardrobe planning, studio work, natural light, environmental portraits, or a more controlled editorial setup. I’ll direct you throughout the shoot, but the goal is never to make you look overly posed. It’s to create photographs that feel confident, specific, and recognizable as you.

Working with me is collaborative and detail-oriented. I will talk through your goals, visual references, clothing, location, and the balance between polished headshots and more expressive portraits. I pay attention to the small things—posture, hands, light, background, styling, movement—so you don’t have to spend the session wondering what to do.

Scroll down to learn more about my process as an NYC portrait photographer for headshots, personal branding, editorial portraits, and creative work.

A young man with glasses, smiling and resting his face on his right hand, sitting at a table in a dimly lit restaurant. He is wearing a gray shirt and a silver wristwatch, with a camera placed in front of him on the table.
Couples, Engagements & Weddings
Portraits
Work with @heyZian

NYC Portrait Photography Gallery

Young man with dark hair and wearing a gray t-shirt, sitting at a wooden table, writing in a notebook with a pencil, in a room with bookshelves filled with books and some personal items.
A young woman in a long, light-colored dress standing in a dry, grassy field with mountains in the background during daytime.
A young woman with blonde hair wearing wireless earbuds and a yellow tank top, smiling and looking to the side in an urban setting with blurred city lights in the background.
A person sitting outdoors, holding a yellow JBL portable speaker in one hand, with a blurred background and sky overhead.
A woman with blonde curly hair wearing a red crop top and a floral skirt standing outdoors with her arms outstretched, under a blue sky with clouds, surrounded by green trees and grass.
A blurred image of a red slide with a person in light pants and black shoes sitting on a black tractor-shaped ride at a park or playground.
A woman with curly blonde hair and colorful eye makeup wearing a cream-colored sweatshirt and gray shorts, posing against a plain white background.
A black and white photo of a young woman with long dark hair, wearing a white shirt and hoop earrings, sitting on a park bench with her arm resting on the person lying down next to her. The person lying down appears to be a man in jeans and a T-shirt
A woman with long red hair in a red patterned dress and black boots stands on a rooftop with city buildings in the background, leaning against a chimney with a serious expression.
A young woman taking a selfie on a rooftop with city buildings in the background during the evening.
A young woman with long, curly, auburn hair, wearing a denim jacket, holding a white flower near her face, standing outdoors with a blurred background of greenery and white flowers.

Looking for portraits that capture the essence of you?

You’re probably not looking for more content just to have more content. You want photographs that feel unmistakably like you—images with a point of view, built around your personality, work, and where you’re headed next.

That’s where we start.

Maybe you already know exactly what you want your personal brand to communicate. Maybe you know something needs to change but have no idea how to translate that into photographs. Either is completely fine.

My job goes beyond showing up with a camera. I want to understand what you do, who you want to reach, how you want to be perceived, and what makes you different. For founders, artists, creatives, and small businesses, that means thinking about the people on the other side of the image—not just what looks good in the frame.

From there, we build a visual direction around you. That might mean expressive editorial portraits, polished professional headshots, environmental photographs around New York City, or a personal-branding library designed to work across your website, press, social media, and marketing.

Good branding photography should do more than make you look good. It should help the right person understand something about you before you ever meet.

That’s why we put thought into concept, wardrobe, location, styling, light, and how the final photographs will actually be used. The goal isn’t to manufacture a version of you for the camera. It’s to take what is already there and make it visually clear.

Think of it as creating photographs for where you're going, not just where you are now.

Because if we're going to make new images, they should have something worth saying.

Work with @heyZian

An editorial portrait session in DUMBO, Brooklyn.

See the shoot alongside the finished photographs: a red patterned dress, rooftop brickwork, and changing poses create variety within one location. It’s a glimpse of how wardrobe, environment, and direction come together in my NYC portrait work.

My Process

A man wearing glasses and a white dress shirt with a blue polka-dot tie smiling at a party or celebration, with a dark background decorated with small yellow lights and a ceiling with string lights.

  • Every portrait session starts with a conversation.

    We’ll talk about who you are, what you’re creating, and what you want these photographs to communicate. If the images are for your work or personal brand, I want to understand who will see them, where they’ll live, and how you want to be perceived.

    We’ll also talk about the things that make the photographs feel like you—your personal style, references, music, art, fashion, favorite places, and anything else that helps me understand your visual world.

    You don’t need to arrive with everything figured out. That’s what this part is for.

  • Once I understand what you need, we turn it into something visual.

    Your portrait session can be simple and understated, highly editorial, or somewhere between the two. We might photograph in a New York studio, build the session around a location in the city, move between several environments, or combine studio and location work.

    Some people come to me with a very specific idea. Others give me a feeling, a reference, or almost nothing at all.

    Both work.

    My job is to take what we know about you and build a concept that feels intentional without making the photographs feel manufactured.

  • Before the shoot, we work through the details that will actually affect the photographs.

    That can include wardrobe, locations, timing, lighting, references, hair and makeup, props, and the different images you need from the session. If we’re shooting on location in NYC, I’ll also consider crowds, weather, available light, travel between locations, and how much of New York we actually want to see in the photographs.

    For more involved editorial or branding sessions, we can build a mood board and coordinate additional creative support when needed.

    The goal isn't to control every second of the shoot. It's to plan enough that once we're there, we have room to experiment.

  • This is where all the planning becomes much less serious.

    You do not need to know how to pose. I’ll direct you through posture, hands, movement, expression, and where to put your attention when you need it.

    But I’m also watching for what happens between those directions.

    A portrait can be carefully composed and still feel spontaneous. Some of my favorite photographs happen when the original plan falls apart for a second—the light changes, you laugh, something moves, or you stop thinking about the camera entirely.

    We make the photographs we planned for and leave enough space to make the ones we couldn't have planned.

  • After the session, I go through the photographs individually and build the final edit.

    I’m looking for more than technically good images. I want the gallery to have rhythm and range: strong portraits, quieter frames, expressions, movement, details, and the unexpected photographs that make the session feel complete.

    Every selected image is individually edited in my style and delivered as a high-resolution digital file through a private online gallery.

    Portrait galleries are typically delivered within two weeks.

    Editing is where the photographs become a body of work rather than a folder of images. I take my time with it because I want the final gallery to feel considered from beginning to end.

NYC Portrait and Branding Photography Portfolio

Side-profile portrait beside a glowing pink window sign. Winter 2018, Pittsburgh.
Woman in a rust-colored top and floral skirt smiling beneath a blue sky.
Black-and-white portrait of a person holding their hair up, with a camera hanging from their neck. Summer 2017, Shanghai.
Woman in a black leather jacket seated on an orange stepladder in a white studio.
Man in an orange beanie resting his arms on a railing beside a warm-colored building.
Portrait through reflective glass, with an open hand overlapping the subject’s face.
Woman in black lingerie seated on a wooden stool against a pale background.
Smiling man leaning forward on a railing outside a blue-and-white building.
Woman in a blue coat reclining across a car’s back seat, with snow visible outside.
Woman in white athletic wear seated on a clear stool against a white background.
Woman in dark clothing beside a weathered wooden door in warm sunlight.
Close-up portrait of a man in a black hoodie beneath warm string lights.
Woman in a brown coat and pink sweater beside a red-lit storefront.
Black-and-white portrait of a woman with a bob haircut looking sideways.
Woman in a white tank top facing the camera against a pale background.
Woman looking over her shoulder in warm backlight, with a denim jacket slipping off her shoulder.
Smiling woman in patchwork trousers sliding down a green playground slide.
Black-and-white close-up portrait with loose hair framing the face and lips slightly parted.
Woman in a fur-trimmed brown coat beside the water beneath a bridge. Spring 2020, Pittsburgh.
Woman in a blue coat smoking beside a parked car, with snow in the background.
Seated woman in a dark red outfit against a vivid red background.
Woman in a brown crop top and pale jeans leaning sideways on a grassy hillside.
Woman in a floral dress shading her eyes with her hand at the beach.
Woman in a backward blue cap and white tank top against dark greenery.
Man in a red beret resting his arms on a reflective surface, with trees behind him.
Woman in a denim jacket holding a white camera outdoors. Summer 2019, Pittsburgh.
Grainy black-and-white portrait of a woman with damp hair wearing a white tank top.
Person in a brown hoodie holding a basket of flowers outside a flower shop.
Woman in a white top and jeans leaning on a sunlit windowsill overlooking buildings.
Low-angle portrait of a woman in a tied beige shirt and floral skirt beneath a blue sky.
Studio portrait of a woman with long dark hair wearing a white crop top.
Low-angle portrait of a woman in a two-tone cardigan beneath a bridge.
Woman in a bikini seated on the sand, looking over her shoulder toward the camera.
Person dressed in black curled into a seated pose within a pool of warm light. Avery Lynch, Los Angeles, Nov 2022.
Woman in patchwork trousers posing beside yellow railings on playground steps.
Woman in a pinstripe jacket beside the water beneath a bridge.
Woman in a printed jumpsuit posing with one arm extended against a beige background.
Close-up portrait of a woman with both arms raised behind her head.
Woman in an argyle vest and white skirt seated on a low wall beside a tennis-court fence.
Man in a striped shirt leaning beside a tilted no-parking sign on coastal rocks.
Woman in a black tank top and jeans standing on a city street. Summer 2021, Boston.
Black-and-white portrait of a woman in a floral dress on a city street.
Man in a dark jacket beneath the illuminated Paramount theater sign at night. Fall 2021, Boston.
Woman seated on a sandy beach beside dark rocks and calm water.
Woman in a green coat reclining with her hands behind her head near the waterfront.
Close-up portrait of a woman illuminated by red light against a nighttime city background.
Man in a plaid overshirt carrying a takeaway cup beside an apartment building. Fall 2021, Los Angeles.
Close-up portrait of a blonde woman in warm directional light. Spring 2022, Boston.
Woman in a pale jacket beneath red and blue storefront lights at night.
Full-length portrait of a woman in a red sweater, black shorts, sheer tights, and coral heels.
Man in an orange beanie and gray sweatshirt lifting one leg beside a construction fence.
Woman balancing on one leg while adjusting a sneaker at the beach. Fall 2022, Los Angeles.
Woman in a long black leather coat standing in an open doorway. Spring 2023, Boston.

Frequently Asked Questions

Ready to make your next portraits? Ask about availability and plan your session.

Explore headshots versus creative portraits or what to wear before you book.

Work with @heyZian

  • Absolutely. You don't need to arrive knowing how to pose.

    Direction is part of the session. I'll guide you through posture, hands, expression, movement, and where to put your attention when you need it. As the session develops, I usually give less direction when something is already working naturally.

    The goal isn't to teach you how to perform for a camera. It's to create an environment where you can eventually stop thinking about it.

  • Every final photograph is individually selected and edited to create a consistent gallery while preserving natural skin texture, color, and the character of the original image.

    My editing can include adjustments to color, contrast, exposure, skin tone, distracting elements, and other details that pull attention away from the portrait.

    I want the finished photographs to feel polished and intentional without making you look like a different person.

  • Both. The right choice depends on what you want the photographs to communicate.

    A studio gives us control over light, backgrounds, privacy, and wardrobe changes. An environmental portrait can use your neighborhood, workspace, architecture, streets, or another part of New York City to add context to the image.

    We can also combine both approaches when the scope and timing of the session allow it.

  • We'll talk about wardrobe before the shoot rather than leaving you to figure it out alone.

    I usually recommend clothing that feels like an intentional version of how you already dress. Color, texture, silhouette, layering, and how the clothes interact with the location or background can all change how a portrait feels.

    For sessions with multiple looks, we'll plan the wardrobe together so each change gives us something genuinely different.

  • It depends on what we're creating. A straightforward portrait or headshot session may be relatively focused, while editorial and personal-branding sessions can require additional time for multiple looks, locations, lighting setups, or concepts.

    We'll define the scope before booking so the session has enough time to make the photographs we actually need rather than rushing through a predetermined number of minutes.

  • Portrait galleries are typically delivered within two weeks through a private online gallery.

    Each final photograph is individually selected and edited before delivery. If your portraits are tied to a launch, press deadline, casting submission, or another time-sensitive use, mention that during the inquiry so we can determine whether the schedule works before booking.