Dear all,

Hi new and old friends, family, lovers and dreamers. Welcome to Tommy Lei Studio. Or Tommy Lei, 3.0. However you want to slice it, this is *still* first and foremost a safe space to meditate, appreciate and dialogue. A place of being and longing. Belonging.

I wanted to take this moment to properly re-introduce myself:

My real name is Zi Ze Lei, but like most AAPI immigrants I changed my name to avoid getting made fun of and make it easier to pronounce for teachers. Fun fact: I named myself after the White/Green Ranger played by Jason David Frank (RIP, you are my forever first crush).
I didn’t speak a word of English when I landed on the sandy shores of SoCal back in 1994. Instead, I learned through osmosis by watching The Simpsons. Turns out that’s quite effective.
I got my start as a fashion blogger back in 2011. Right before that I had a career in digital media marketing at companies like MTV Networks and Weber Shandwick.
As a modern day multi-hyphenate, I am a fine art photographer, interior decorator and content creator
Growing up I wanted to be a historian, librarian or archeologist. Turns out being a fine art photographer and interior decorator means you get to be all three!
It took me almost a decade to start sharing my photography and turning them into prints. This was mostly due to self-doubt and insecurity.
My partner, Braden Pontoli, is a fellow artist and musician. We have a lovely feline daughter - her name is Chloe. She loves us 70% of the time.

For the past decade, I’ve taken on different trajectories and paths. I think most of you still see me as a fashion or lifestyle travel influencer. And that is totally okay. I am so proud of my roots as a pioneer in the menswear fashion space, when many were afraid to embrace their individuality, or brought you closer to home to some off-the-beaten-path travel destinations, where so many of you were afraid to embark.

Then the great pause hit. The pandemic shut us in. This was when my life destiny began to shift.

Throughout the span of my career, as a social media personality and content creator, the one thing I found myself falling back to was photography. Photography became a healing salve for me, especially during unrest and uncertainty. I enjoy composing and capturing the moment, immortalizing those stories into a finite, tangible fine art print. It was the ultimate reminder that all we truly have is now.

Everything else is just fluff, that extra cherry on top.

This epiphany lifted the immense weight and baggage I had shouldered for many years.
Suddenly, I could breathe again. Launching something new is a very scary adventure to embark on, but here I go anyway.

As Viola Davis once famously said before, “The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.” So this is who I am. This is now.

Below is my Origins collection - a curated selection of my best-selling limited edition fine art photography prints. All of these prints will come shipped from my UK print shop on the finest Canson Infinity papers. Framing options are available for appropriate-sized prints.