Today we’d like to introduce you to YU-CHEN CHIU.
Hi YU-CHEN, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I’m a photographer and lens-based artist, born and raised in Taiwan and now based in the Jersey City. I moved to New York as an adult, and photography became a way for me to connect with people and navigate living between cultures.
I began in documentary photography, drawn to intimate stories and the small, everyday moments that reveal something about who we are. My path has always moved across different disciplines—I studied English Literature in Taiwan, earned my master’s degree from NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP), and later worked in branding and user experience design at advertising agencies in New York. Each of those experiences shaped the way I see and tell stories, and taught me to think about photography not only aesthetically, but as a way to communicate, connect, and create meaning.
Eventually, I brought these different parts of my background together in Yu-Chen Chiu Studio, where I photograph weddings, families, newborns, and brands. My approach is still very much rooted in documentary storytelling. I want the images to feel beautiful, but also honest, natural, and personal to the people I’m photographing.
With families especially, I love noticing the little interactions and gestures that might feel ordinary in the moment but become incredibly meaningful with time. And in my commercial work, my background in branding continues to influence how I approach a shoot—I’m always thinking about the person or business behind the images and how photography can help tell their story.
Alongside the studio, I also have a personal art practice where I explore ideas around memory, migration, family history, and belonging. Over the years, I’ve been fortunate to have my work shown in places including Fotografiska New York and the Musée du Louvre, and featured in publications such as Aperture, Smithsonian Magazine, and VOGUE International. More recently, I’ve been working on Chamber of Light, a project that began during my Project 14C artist residency in Jersey City, not long after becoming a mother. It grew very naturally out of that experience and has become a way for me to bring my everyday life, motherhood, and artistic practice closer together.
For me, the two sides of my practice continually inform each other. Whether I’m photographing a family, creating images for a brand, or developing a long-term art project, I’m interested in making photographs that feel honest, connected, and meaningful.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It definitely hasn’t been a straight path. I moved from Taiwan to New York and built my creative career in a new country and culture. I’ve also moved between photography, art, technology, design, and commercial work. Earlier in my career, I sometimes felt I needed to choose one identity, but over time I realized that these different experiences are actually what shaped my approach as a photographer.
One of the biggest challenges has been learning how to build a sustainable creative business while protecting the time and curiosity needed for personal work. Running your own photography studio means you’re not only a photographer—you’re also handling client relationships, marketing, scheduling, production, editing, and all the less visible parts of running a small business. At the same time, my personal projects can take years to develop and often require a very different pace. Learning how to move between those two rhythms has been an ongoing process.
Motherhood added another layer. My time became much less predictable, and I had to rethink when and how I could work. Interestingly, that limitation also opened a new direction in my art. During the early months of motherhood, I began Chamber of Light in my Jersey City studio, using a camera obscura to photograph changing light, domestic space, and my experience with my child.
I’ve learned that there may never be a perfect moment to start a project or build something of your own, and that’s actually part of the process. You start with what you have, stay open to where things lead, and sometimes the unexpected turns take you somewhere even more interesting than you originally imagined.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Through Yu-Chen Chiu Studio, I specialize in family, newborn, maternity, portrait, and brand photography throughout the New York and New Jersey area. My approach comes from my background in documentary photography—I’m less interested in creating perfectly posed images than in capturing genuine interactions, small gestures, and the personality of the people I photograph.
I especially love working with families over time. I’ve photographed some clients through pregnancy, the newborn stage, birthdays, and as their families grow. There’s something meaningful about creating a visual record of those different chapters, especially because so much of family life changes so quickly.
I also work with small businesses, creatives, and brands on portraits and visual storytelling. My background in branding and UX design has been useful here because I think beyond individual photographs and consider how the images communicate a larger story and identity.
Alongside the studio, I maintain my fine-art practice, which explores memory, migration, family history, motherhood, and belonging. While the two sides of my work serve different purposes, they continually influence each other. My artistic practice encourages me to experiment and look differently, while working with families keeps me attentive to people, relationships, and those fleeting moments that can easily disappear.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
I return to John Berger’s Ways of Seeing because it reminds me that looking is never neutral—how we see is shaped by our experiences, histories, and surroundings. To stay connected to contemporary photography, I follow Aperture and Lenscratch, but I also look beyond photography. Exhibitions, film, architecture, and travel often influence the way I approach both personal and commissioned work.
One podcast I enjoy is Time Sensitive, which looks at creative lives through the lens of time—how certain moments, decisions, and experiences quietly shape who we become and what we create. I find those conversations especially interesting because creative careers rarely follow a straight path.
On the practical side, Lightroom is part of my everyday workflow, and I constantly keep notes on my phone. Ideas often come while I’m walking, traveling, meeting people, or spending time with my family, so having a simple place to capture fragments of thoughts has become an important part of my process.
Pricing:
- Family Photo Session
- Engagement Session
- Maternity Photo
- Spring/Fall Mini Session
Contact Info:
- Website: http://yuchenchiustudio.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yuchenchiustudio/
