The 2010 Richmond Olympic Oval has been opened now for over a year. I always pass it going home and I’ve wanted to photograph it at sunset but never made it back out there to do it. I had to wait till the brink of winter to do it, lol. Well finally here it is as seen during a winter evening. Photographed this on the No. 2 bridge in Richmond BC. The photo is HDR and is comprised of three layers.
Wallpaper size 1920×1280: Richmond Olympic Oval
During one of my courses in university we were asked to build a model house by a famous architect. Mies Van Der Rohe was one of about 10 on the list we were given. Two works of art that he is probably most well known for is the Barcelona Pavillion and the Barcelona chair which is pictured below. Our group choose to reproduce Mies Van Der Rohe’s Tugendhat House as it didn’t have as many odd angles as the other structures, this one was all 90 degree angles. What was a bit challenging was the fact the house was built into the side of a slanted hill, so the “front” of the house was at the street level on the upper side of this two story house. The backyard was on the bottom of the site and surrounding the house on either side was a sloping hill. Trying to convey this in the model was another challenge but one we were up for.
Though it was easier to construct, trying to find blue prints, schematics, and photos of the house was much more difficult most likely due in part to the house’s age. We couldn’t find one source where the house’s schematics were all using a consistent unit of measure, some didn’t even have units, just a drawing! So here we were with a number of diagrams from different sources, all at different scales. It took us more than a few hours to measure up every side of the house on all the diagrams and figure out a common # we would use so that the final model would be to the correct scale.
We used millboard to construct the house and thick cardboard to build its base. I would highly recommend an Olfa utility knife to score and cut the millboard, anything of lesser quality and you won’t be getting good results. Be sure to break off the blade once it starts getting dull. The entire model was held together by some strong white bonding glue. We went through an entire bottle on the model and had to hit the hardware store when it opened the next morning (it was due at noon the next day). I should note that the model was built in 2-3 days, 50 hours of work and no sleep for me and another member on the last night. There was three of us working on the actual construction of the model, cutting all the panels we needed and putting it together. The final product was well worth it though. This was more satisfying than building one of those model airplanes you buy off the shelf.
We wanted the ability to remove the roof and first floor of the house to reveal what was on the other levels. One of my other team mates suggested we use the chimney as the anchoring point for the removable levels, the instructor was quite impressed. If the roof and 1st level wasn’t anchored, these two pieces would freely move around and look amateurish, we didn’t want that.
The below set of photos are my most viewed one by visitors. A lot of architectural students go through them and I often get emails asking where I found the blueprints or if I still have them. They were all scribbled down on random pieces of paper at the time so unfortunately I don’t have them. I always ask the students to send me their pics of their final model to see how it compares. I’m quite happy with how ours turned out 
.
Barceonla Chair at Knoll furniture store in Seattle, Washington.
The back of the Tugendhat house.
The middle level of the Tugendhat house.
The top floor of the Tugendhat house.
Side of the house with the slanted earth.
For those of you who are interested in the lightening setup, see below. We grabbed a piece of black cloth and setup a flash.
Photographed an Audi A3 for a client. He had just finished putting the car together and wanted some industrial type shots. We shot this in under an hour in a warehouse area in Vancouver. The car has Work VS-XX rims on it in a staggered fitment. The wheels were poking out too much so the owner had to shave the insides hub a bit. This brought the wheels in closer and makes them really look good. He also has that euro stretch look to his tires and rims. The car is riding on some sort of Koni setup. It’s tight around the corners but still very compliant over bad roads.
Justin and Chloe are both good friends of mine, I’ve known both since our high school days. They’ve been dating for quite a while and Justin just loves being in front of the camera, more so than Chloe I think. They wanted some nice portraits done of them so I said sure. We did the first shoot in just over an hour at Queen Elizabeth Park in Vancouver.
Most people don’t like walking around so I made sure to work with what I had around me. You need to be considerate of your client and know what type of person they are. Some are more adventurous and don’t mind doing anything to get that perfect shot, for example running into water and getting soaked or lying down on a beach and getting all muddy. Justin and Chloe are clean freaks (don’t like grass for example) so I had to be mindful of this. I actually had them sit on one of my reflector covers for one of the below shots.
The other two photos were taken at Granville Island. I like how the background suggests a European atmosphere and the boat just adds to it. I had a great time photographing the two of them. They’re emotions for each other just radiate when you’re around them. I think the photos do a good job of capturing this as well.
Emily and I have been friends since university. We met in one of our communication classes but I can’t quite remember how. She was quite a chatterbox and me the same (once you get me talking). She can talk about random stuff and just keep going on, it’s great to just talk about anything with her. One of my school design classes involved creating magazine spreads and also photographing it. I had just the person in mind, Emily! Her outgoing personality and fashion sense made it a no brainer. The first few photos below are back from our university days. The one at the beach was taken in the past year. She’s also into photography! Sorry guys, she’s taken, lol.
I like the images below as they show how versatile she can be in her looks, and no she’s never taken modeling school.
Back in September of this year CG Motorsports had a gathering of local British Columbia BMW E30 M3s. Chris, the owner, asked if I could photograph some group photos of all the E30 M3s, I gladly said yes. Our family have been bringing our cars there for more than six years, he does good excellent work and gives his honest opinion on what really should be done. Below are just a few shots from the gathering. The three decaled up replica cars and the orange ones belongs to CG. You can also download the large 1920 pixel image in the links below the small ones. Enjoy!
Wallpaper 1: BMW E30 M3 1920×1280 | Wallpaper 2: BMW E30 M3 1920×1280
Wallpaper 3: BMW E30 M3 1920×1280 | Wallpaper 4: BMW E30 M3 1920×1280
Wallpaper 5: BMW E30 M3 1920×1280
BBS RS rims in 17×8.5 on the left and BBS RZ on the black car.
AC Schnitzer rims in 17×8.5 and 17×9.5 (I’m pretty sure).
So I’ve finally decided to start my own photography showcase after being in photography for the past six years. Wow it’s been a long time since I started getting into this hobby, an expensive one I might add. I’ve met a lot of great people along the way and it’s made it just that much more exciting. Vancouver wedding photographer Justin Lam at Threesixty Photography who I shoot weddings for, Tom Wagner who I collaborate a lot with, Denny Tang over at Photoshop Tutorials who’s an amazing photoshop genius, as well as many local Vancouver make-up artists and fashion artists. For the longest time I’ve uploaded my own photos onto flickr (Michael Sean Lee photography) and linking clients to them, no more. This site will showcase my best and favorite images. Wedding, portraiture, travel, fashion, scenery, interiors and vehicle photography. Feel free to contact me should you have any questions, want to purchase images, or work together.
