Fashion Photographer Eddy Ming visits my studio
Recently I had the great pleasure of welcoming Eddy Ming to my mid-century modern beachside home studio on the South Coast of NSW.
Eddy and I go back a long way. We first met at Pioneer Studios in Sydney while I was pursuing fashion photography (www.gavinrea.com), both of us navigating the early stages of our creative careers. Not long after, we found ourselves living in New York City around the same time between 2011 and 2016 — immersed in the pace, ambition and possibility that only New York can offer. Those years were formative for both of us, shaping our visual language and our understanding of what it means to build a life in the arts.
Over the past decade, our paths have evolved in different but connected directions. Eddy has gone on to establish himself as a respected fashion photographer, now also expanding into moving image and regularly shooting internationally, including Paris Fashion Week. His work continues to balance polish with authenticity — a sensitivity to people that has always been at the core of his practice.
My own trajectory has shifted from photography toward painting under the name Van Dahl. While the camera was once my primary medium, I’ve gradually redirected that visual instinct into canvas — exploring structure, nostalgia and cultural iconography through paint rather than lens. The foundations remain the same: composition, light, timing. Only the tools have changed.
Eddy’s visit felt like a full-circle moment. In the calm of the studio, surrounded by works-in-progress, he photographed a new portrait of me — a quiet exchange between two old friends who have witnessed each other’s growth. There was an ease to the process, built on years of shared experience and mutual respect.
Beyond the studio, we spent the weekend exploring the coastline around Ulladulla with walks along empty beaches, conversations about creative risk, about sustaining momentum, about reinvention. There’s something grounding about stepping away from the intensity of major cities and reflecting on how far you’ve come.
What resonated most was the sense of continuity. Creative journeys aren’t linear; they expand, contract, pivot and return. To reconnect in this new chapter, Eddy deepening his exploration of video and global fashion storytelling, and myself immersed in painting and studio practice, was both affirming and energising.
Friendship, like art, evolves. And it’s a privilege to share space again with someone who has been part of the journey from the beginning.
