Andrew Ty Lee has many hometowns. He was born in Taiwan 1976 and spent his early childhood on a property that included a house, pond, garden, and a factory. At the age of nine, his family moved to Southern California. They resided in Los Angeles for a few years until their move to the dichotomous agricultural/desert community of El Centro, California where Andrew spent his adolescent years.
Being raised in both agricultural and industrialized settings, Andrew was always very conscious of the land and the habitual development of the landscape. This awareness lead him to pursue Environmental Science at the University of California at Riverside and earned a Bachelors of Science. Throughout his schooling, he developed an interest for the arts and took numerous printmaking and painting classes. Upon graduation, he received his first SLR camera as a gift from his parents. From tree bark, to interesting configurations of pipes, to picutres during his honeymoon, Andrew captured reality as he viewed it.
While working at an industrial adhesives plant, Andrew took classes in photography at night. He soon developed a passion for photography, absorbing all the knowledge he could find. During the next few years he managed to take all the photography classes that were available at the local junior college.
After some thought, Andrew decided to pursue a career in photography and was accepted to Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA. It was where he further progressed his photography and examined the role of humans in the advancement of industry. He graduated from Art Center in December 2005 with a Bachelors of Fine Art in Photography.
Andrew now resides just outside of downtown Los Angeles with his wife of 8 years, Anne, their cats, Momo and Ralph Waldo, and their frog, Marcello Antonio. When Andrew isn't working, he enjoys exploring the vast dirt-cheap culinary world of LA.
