Brick-plant worker by day · architectural photographer by light · shipping AI tools at night · Vancouver · EN/中文
British Columbia, Canada
Joined January 2010
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Photographed Brock Commons Tallwood House at UBC today.
18 storeys, 17 of them mass timber on concrete cores. Tallest timber hybrid in the world when it opened in 2017.
A strict window grid, a warm facade, nothing shouting. The engineering does the work so the building doesn't have to.
I asked an AI the same question twice: "who competes with this business?"
Two lists. Both plausible. Zero names in common.
A model that's confident about two lists that can't both be true hasn't checked either.
So my tool now asks live engines real customer questions and tags every name "observed" or "guessed."
Shipped another iOS app: USAPay Insights 🇺🇸
Enter a US salary → see real take-home after federal, state, Social Security and Medicare. All 50 states + DC, tax year 2026. Every rate traced to IRS and state source docs.
apps.apple.com/app/usapay-in…
Gaoligong. Some angles here exist for a few weeks a year. The rest of the time, the mountain changes the frame.
traviszhang.com/architectura… #architecturalphotography #Yunnan
Linden Centre, Shaxi, Yunnan. Timber screens, stone walls, and paths that keep the mountain in the frame.
traviszhang.com/architectura… #architecturalphotography #Yunnan
This is amazing! Thanks a lot!
Lots of you asked for the prompt, so here it is 👇
1. On the TV: Settings → About → tap "Build" 7 times → Developer options → turn on USB debugging
2. Open Claude Code on a laptop on the same Wi-Fi and paste:
"My Android TV is slow and full of ads. Find it on my Wi-Fi, connect over ADB, and debloat it: disable the manufacturer's ads, telemetry and junk (reversibly, never uninstall), asking me first about apps and features I might use. Then build and install a fast, minimal Apple TV-style home screen with a dock of my favourite apps and rotating nature wallpapers. Back up before changing anything, check every step with screenshots from the TV, and give me a restore script."
Nothing gets uninstalled. It backs everything up first and gives you a restore script, so you can always go back to stock.
Launcher, scripts and wallpapers are open source: github.com/mihirgupta0900/tv…
A copyright case I brought as a student in 2010 later became a teaching case in a Chinese casebook on photographic copyright.
traviszhang.com/about #architecturalphotography #Vancouver
ION Adventure Hotel, Nesjavellir, Iceland. Under the aurora, the building becomes a dark line against a moving sky.
traviszhang.com/hospitality-… #hospitalitydesign #architecturalphotography
Six WPPI Silver awards: four in 2017, two in 2018. The count is on the evidence page, not in a bio rewritten from memory.
traviszhang.com/about#awards #architecturalphotography #Vancouver
I shoot interiors in ambient light. Flash makes a room bright and false; most rooms are made of the light they already have.
traviszhang.com/interior-pho… #interiorphotography #Vancouver
He Art Museum, Shunde. Ando again: concrete curves, a dark opening, and light pulled across the floor. A personal, self-funded shoot.
traviszhang.com/architectura… #TadaoAndo #concrete
Harper's Bazaar MEN Thailand, Fall–Winter 2014–15. My name is on the Contributors page, with a ten-page Los Angeles editorial at p.290.
traviszhang.com/about#films #architecturalphotography #Vancouver
