Vancouver architectural, interior and hospitality photographer. 22 years, 33 countries, 200+ projects. Former contributing photographer for Harper's Bazaar Thailand. Bilingual English / 中文.
Travis Zhang (Qi Zhang / 张颀) is a Vancouver-based architectural, interior and hospitality photographer. He has 22 years of experience, has photographed in 33 countries, and has delivered 200+ projects. He is a former contributing photographer for Harper's Bazaar Thailand (2012–2023), has been published in Condé Nast Traveler, China Daily and Esquire, and has had work broadcast by CCTV — including the CCTV-9 documentary-channel series A Date with the Starry Sky (我与星空有个约会). He won six WPPI Silver awards across 2017 and 2018, holds a BFA in Visual Communication from Assumption University (Bangkok), lectures at Kunming City College (formerly the Business School of Yunnan Normal University), and works bilingually in English and 中文 (Mandarin Chinese). He shoots primarily on Nikon and is a Phase One Certified Professional (2016), with Phase One medium-format capture and aerial/drone coverage available on request. He is based in Vancouver, British Columbia and works with architects, interior designers, hotels and developers across BC and beyond. Contact: [email protected].
Biography
Travis Zhang is an architectural and interior photographer based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Over 22 years he has photographed for international magazines and brands across Asia, Europe and North America — more than 200 projects in 33 countries — work grounded in a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Communication and a long run as a contributing photographer for Harper's Bazaar Thailand (2012–2023).
His relationship with architecture runs deep. He was a second unit camera operator on Louis Kahn's Tiger City (2019), a documentary directed by the artist-filmmaker Sundaram Tagore on Louis Kahn's National Parliament House (Jatiyo Sangsad Bhaban) in Dhaka, Bangladesh — Travis shot Bangladesh segments over July 2015, including scenes featuring the actress Debra Winger, and was received by the Prime Minister of Bangladesh during the project. He is named twice in the film's closing credits and credited on IMDb, and joined Tagore on stage for the Bangkok screening panel hosted by the Royal Photographic Society of Thailand in January 2019. That close study of how architects think informs every commission: images that honour intent, proportion, material and light. The film’s IMDb credits list him as Travis Qi Zhang — the same person, with his Chinese given name carried through (full cast & crew).
He also knows the rights side of the business from experience. A copyright case he brought as a student photographer — over seventeen of his images used on a company’s website without permission — was decided in his favour by the Beijing courts in 2010, and was later selected as a teaching case in The Rights of Photographs (“照片的权利”, China Photographic Publishing House, 2013; ISBN 9787802368965), a casebook of thirty landmark Chinese photographic copyright disputes co-written by a senior Beijing High Court intellectual-property judge and an officer of the China Photographic Copyright Association. It is case 2 of the opening chapter, on establishing authorship of a digital photograph, listed in the book’s table of contents as “案例2：张颀诉北京艾斯普森教育科技中心侵权案”. It is a useful thing for a client to know: licensing terms in his agreements are written by someone who has had to prove authorship in court.
He has also worked as a credentialed press photographer at the Grammy Awards, covering three ceremonies on assignment for broadcasters — twice for WOWOW (Japan) and once for Sichuan Television. At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards on 12 February 2017 he shot the red carpet at Staples Center, and he photographed artist interviews at the GRAMMY Museum at L.A. Live. Fast, unrepeatable, badly lit, crowded — the opposite of an empty room at blue hour, and a useful corrective: you learn to see the one frame that matters before the moment closes.
From the Bangkok years: in 2013 he was commissioned to photograph Chalita Yaemwannang shortly after she was crowned Miss Universe Thailand, and the portrait ran at billboard scale on roadsides in the city.
His photography has been published in Condé Nast Traveler, China Daily and Esquire, and broadcast by CCTV, including the CCTV-9 documentary-channel series A Date with the Starry Sky (我与星空有个约会). He has been awarded six WPPI Silver awards (four in 2017, two in 2018), and his photographs have been exhibited in Paris, Bangkok, Nizhny Tagil and Beijing. He has had two solo shows in Nizhny Tagil, Russia: one at SPACE PLACE in February 2021, and Travis’ Faces («Лица Трэвиса») at the Nizhny Tagil Museum of Fine Arts, which opened at the museum’s House of the Artist on 27 June 2021 — the museum’s own listing carries his biography. In November 2021 he showed Face Fusion (融容), a photographic installation at Hang Lung Plaza in Kunming curated by Cui Jianwei — a reworking of the Russian show into an interactive piece that visitors walk through. He shoots primarily on Nikon and is a Phase One Certified Professional (2016) — Phase One medium-format capture is available on request. He lectures in photography at Kunming City College (formerly the Business School of Yunnan Normal University), has taught for Fotomen (摄影之友) — presenting episode 35 of its Image Lecture Hall series, “How to shoot a picture WPPI will notice” — and works bilingually in English and Mandarin Chinese.
Solo show at SPACE PLACE, Nizhny Tagil, Russia — February 2021.
Now based in Vancouver, he partners with local interior designers, architects, hotels and developers to give finished spaces the imagery they deserve — composed, calm and true to the design.
WPPI Associate: Holds the WPPI Associate designation — the Honors of Excellence title awarded by Wedding & Portrait Photographers International on accumulated print-competition merit.
Awards: WPPI International Print Competition — Silver ×4 (2017, Fashion/Beauty) and Silver ×2 (2018, Portrait · Pre-Wedding); China Commercial Photography Competition — Silver Ribbon (2018); APVA “Charm of the Ocean” International Photography Competition — Bronze Medal and Honourable Mention (2019); International Photography Awards — two images selected for the final round (Official Selection) in 2026, in Architecture/Industrial and Architecture/Buildings; Assumption University Photo Contest — Honorable Mention (2007) and Consolation Prize (2008).
Award-winning building: Official photographer of the Nanyang Volunteers Memorial Museum, Wanding — First Prize, National Excellent Engineering Survey & Design Industry Award (CECA, 2017); Second Prize, Architectural Society of China Architectural Design Award (2019–2020); named a National Patriotic Education Demonstration Base. The project was published in World Architecture 《世界建筑》 (Tsinghua University; no. 372, June 2021, pp. 78–81, ISSN 1002-4832), whose project credits list “摄影: 张颀” (Photography: Zhang Qi) alongside the architects.
Editorial: Former contributing photographer, Harper's Bazaar Thailand (2012–2023).
Published / broadcast:Condé Nast Traveler, China Daily, Esquire, New Weekly 《新周刊》 (issue 417, 2014, pp. 146–147) EconomicWeekly 《财经天下》周刊 (no. 101, 22 February 2016, pp. 30–31 — a portrait of Baixing.com founder Wang Jianshuo), Blogweekly 《博客天下》 (issue 213, 26 February 2016, pp. 26–31 — a six-page feature on the conductor Jin Chengzhi and the Shanghai Rainbow Chamber Singers), Brides 《新娘BRIDES》 (issue 190, May 2018 — a bridal-couture editorial with the actress Huang Yilin) and World Architecture 《世界建筑》 (no. 372, June 2021, pp. 78–81 — the Nanyang Volunteers Memorial Museum, credited as project photographer), People 《人物》 (issue 343, September 2017, pp. 36–38 — a portrait shoot on the amateur astronomer Gao Xing at the Nanshan station of the CAS Xinjiang Observatory, read the piece or the daily edition’s version, credited “摄影｜张颀”); broadcast by CCTV.
Bylined writing: Wrote and photographed features for the Chinese photography press — “Driving the Americas” in Digital Camera 《影像视觉》 January 2015, and a long-exposure filter field test in Photographic Travel 《摄影旅游》 January 2015 (issue 322, pp. 150–151). He was also one of three photographers on Photographic Travel’s December 2015 cover feature on independent lodgings (issue 344, from p. 116), shooting the Beach House on Erhai Lake in Shuanglang, Yunnan. All three are indexed in the Chinese periodical database fx361: Digital Camera 2015/01 · Photographic Travel 2015/01 · Photographic Travel 2015/12.
Documentary: Second unit camera operator on Louis Kahn's Tiger City (2019), directed by Sundaram Tagore — Travis shot the Bangladesh segments, including the scenes featuring the actress Debra Winger; received by the Prime Minister of Bangladesh during the project. He is credited on IMDb as Travis Qi Zhang, in the Camera and Electrical Department (full cast & crew).
Equipment: Shoots primarily on Nikon. Phase One Certified Professional (2016) (listed in Phase One’s certified-professional directory — in the January 2017 archived copy of that directory he is the only photographer listed anywhere in Yunnan; search the page for “Kunming”); Phase One medium-format capture available on request.
Education: BFA, Visual Communication — Assumption University, Bangkok.
Teaching: Photography lecturer, Kunming City College (formerly the Business School of Yunnan Normal University). In September 2021 a student of his, Li Yongpeng, showed the series Hands Behind the Back (背后的手) at the Pingyao International Photography Festival.
Languages: English and 中文 (Mandarin Chinese) — bilingual.
Exhibitions: Exhibited from Paris to Beijing.
Based in: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Awards & recognition — the certificates
Every award above, in the original. Click any certificate to view it full-size.
WPPI International Print Competition — six Silver Awards
What other people have published. Print entries show the issue and page with the credit line; online entries link to the original, with a screenshot archived in case the page disappears.
World Architecture 《世界建筑》 · Tsinghua University · June 2021, no. 372 · pp. 78–81 · ISSN 1002-4832 · CN 11-1847/TU
“Nanyang Overseas Chinese Mechanics Returning to China to Fight Against the Japanese Memorial Hall, Yunnan, China, 2015”
A four-page project feature in China’s leading academic architecture journal, published by Tsinghua University. The project credits on p. 79 list the principal architects, the design team, the architect of record (Yunnan Design Institute Group) and, on the last line, 摄影/Photos: 张颀/ZHANG Qi. The building is a steel frame clad in shale brick; the issue’s theme is Notes on Site: The Chinese Southwest.
The Rights of Photographs 《照片的权利：摄影作品侵权经典案例解析》 · China Photographic Publishing House · August 2013 · ISBN 9787802368965
“Case 2: Zhang Qi v. Beijing Aisipusen Education Technology Center”
A casebook of thirty landmark Chinese photographic copyright disputes, edited by Zhang Xuesong and Hou Jianjiang. Case 2 of the opening chapter, on proving authorship of a digital photograph, is his: in 2009 a study-abroad agency for Assumption University put seventeen of his 2007 night photographs of the campus on its website; he sued in January 2010, and the court held the images were his work on the strength of the original high-resolution files, the camera, the capture dates and the campus photo-competition prizes he had won with them. The editors’ commentary then uses his case as the worked example of how a court settles authorship of a digital image. The book is sold on Amazon, Apple Books, WeChat Reading, Dedao and San Min Book (Taiwan).
A feature on Gao Xing, the amateur astronomer who co-discovered several comets, photographed at the Nanshan station of the CAS Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory. The byline reads 文｜李婷婷 编辑｜张薇 摄影｜张颀. People, founded in 1979 and published by People’s Publishing House, is China’s main long-form profile magazine.
China Daily · 27 September 2021 · Page Two, full page
“Students set sail to study dolphins”
A full-page feature on a summer research camp following the Chinese white dolphins of Sanniang Bay, Guangxi. All of the page’s photographs are credited ZHANG QI / FOR CHINA DAILY.
New Weekly 《新周刊》 · 15 April 2014, no. 417 · pp. 146–147
“校服诱惑” — a spread on school uniforms
Two of his photographs of students in uniform, shot in Thailand in 2011, run across the spread, part of the issue’s cover package A History of Using the Body (身体使用史). The caption closes （图/Travis Zhang）. New Weekly is a national cultural affairs fortnightly founded in 1996.
A full-page profile in the magazine’s iCON column, with portrait and a four-question interview on bringing traditional Chinese visual culture into AI-assisted image-making.
Digital Camera · Chinese edition 《影像视觉》 · March 2016, issue 110 · pp. 76–77 · ISSN 1004-0153
“Fresh ideas in fashion portraiture — bringing a diving habit into the shoot”
Named one of six Photographers of the Year in the magazine’s annual feature — a two-page profile on underwater fashion portraiture, with a technique Q&A. The magazine’s own profile box describes him as “a commercial photographer who went from the studio to underwater”, lists Phase One and Hasselblad among the systems he works with, and notes that he became a contract photographer for Harper’s Bazaar Thailand after studying and working in Thailand. He had contributed to the magazine twice before: a bylined travel-photography feature he both wrote and shot in the January 2015 issue (“Driving the Americas”, from p.118), and a Contributors page in the June 2015 issue introducing him as a photographer working in portrait, underwater, architecture and product work.
Brides China 《新娘BRIDES》 · May 2018, no. 190 · ISSN 1009-6515
“The Fairy of Dark Night” 《暗夜精灵》
A multi-page bridal fashion editorial in the Chinese edition of Brides, published under licence from the American title. The opening page credits 摄影师：Travis, with hair and make-up by Yuze.
“Master these techniques and you too can shoot listing photos that turn heads”
Invited as the guest lecturer for Meituan’s Master Class series. Meituan’s own guest bio: renowned architectural-space photographer… photographer for Harper’s Bazaar Thailand… shot the documentary Louis Kahn’s Tiger City in Bangladesh and was received by the Prime Minister.
“Six questions every host should be asking in 2020 — a fireside talk with four industry voices”
One of four invited guests on Meituan’s Fireside Talks (围炉夜话) — the homestay industry’s first late-night interview programme — discussing where the market was heading.
The Royal Photographic Society of Thailand · announced 17 Dec 2018
“Louis Kahn’s Tiger City” screening and filmmakers’ talk, Bangkok
The Society’s official programme lists me alongside the director: 16.00 — hear about the making of the film from director Sundaram Tagore and photographers Pheem Chotikapukkana and Travis Zhang. Auditorium, 5th floor, Bangkok Art & Culture Centre; free admission, 200 seats.
Yunnan Design Institute Group (云南省设计院集团) · 21 Jun 2021
Nanyang Volunteers Memorial Museum named a National Patriotic Education Demonstration Base
The building I photograph, in the architects’ own words: First Prize, 2017 National Excellent Engineering Design Industry Award; First Prize, Yunnan Excellent Design; Second Prize, 2019–2020 Architectural Society of China Architectural Design Award. My photographs are the ones that travel with the project.
Structured record: Wikidata Q140366118 — awards, affiliations and these sources, machine-readable.
Screen credits — Harper's Bazaar Thailand
Twenty-six behind-the-scenes films shot and edited for Harper’s Bazaar Thailand between May 2012 and June 2014, each credited by name. Early work is credited Qi Zhang; from August 2013 the credit reads Travis Zhang — same photographer, same series, and the change of name happens mid-run, which is the clearest evidence the two names are one person. Sixteen are on the magazine’s own YouTube channel and twenty-four on Vimeo, where the credits are fuller: models are listed with their agencies and countries.
In print: the magazine also credits him on its Contributors page — portrait, name and biography — in Harper’s BAZAAR MEN Thailand, Fall–Winter 2014–2015 (cover: Matthew Terry, Burberry Prorsum). The same issue carries his ten-page Los Angeles fashion editorial at page 290, headed “Photographs by Travis Zhang · Fashion Editor Nichakul Kitayanubhongse”. The Contributors biography, written by the magazine, records that he assisted at Bazaar in his final undergraduate year and went on to shoot behind-the-scenes films for the magazine’s fashion stories — the films listed below. He also photographed The Style feature on Isari Ashworth — the 1980s Thai model turned Californian florist — in the November 2014 issue of Harper’s Bazaar Thailand (cover: Mario Maurer), shot in Los Angeles and again credited “Photographs by Travis Zhang”.
Travis Zhang (Qi Zhang / 张颀) is a Vancouver-based architectural, interior and hospitality photographer with 22 years' experience across 33 countries and 200+ projects. He works with architects, interior designers, hotels and developers across British Columbia, and is bilingual in English and 中文.
What does Travis Zhang photograph?
Architecture, interiors and hospitality — building exteriors and form for architects, finished interiors for designers, and hotels, restaurants and resorts — plus commercial and editorial work. Aerial / drone photography is available, and Phase One medium format on request.
Does Travis Zhang work in Chinese?
Yes. He is bilingual (English / 中文) and can brief, shoot and deliver in either language, which suits Chinese developers, designers and private clients across Metro Vancouver.
Where is Travis Zhang based and which areas does he cover?
Vancouver, British Columbia. He covers Metro Vancouver — including Burnaby, Richmond, Surrey, Coquitlam, North and West Vancouver — and projects across BC, with travel arranged for larger commissions.
Is Travis available for interviews, press or licensing?
Yes — contact [email protected]. He was a second unit camera operator on Sundaram Tagore's documentary "Louis Kahn's Tiger City" (he shot the Bangladesh segments, including scenes with the actress Debra Winger) and a contributing photographer for Harper's Bazaar Thailand (2012–2023).
