Ian Crawford

I'm a

About

Hey, I'm Ian, born and raised in Vancouver, BC. I've been going to St. Georges school for 6 years now. I'm really into photography and capturing unique moments in people's lives around Vancouver. When I'm not out shooting you can find me in my basement blasting music and working on robots. I've been building robots for years and it's my true passion. Oh, and I'm also a competitive badminton player. It's my escape from the world. I've been playing for 4 years now, giving it my all in early morning runs and late-night finals. It's all about that next point for me!

Robotics

Robotics has been one of my great interests since I was very young. I started when I was around 5 years old playing with lego based robot kits and now compete at the high school level in metal based VEX Robotics competitions. I have been the captain of the school team since grade 8 and have led my team and mentored many others to high achievements in the field. Click on the pictures below to browse through some of my albums.

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Vex VRC

2019-2023

Competed through the years for Vex VRC Tower Takeover (2019-2020), Change Up (2020-2021), Tipping Point (2021-2022) and this years Spin UP where we won the Judges and Create Awards.

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VEX IQ

2018-2019

Competed at Vex IQ at the World Championships in both 2018 and 2019

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First Lego League (FLL) and First Tech Challenge (FTC)

2016-2017

Competed in FLL and Qualified for the World Championship with a 3rd place finish at the Provincial Championship.

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Robo Cup

2016

1st place Provincial Championship at Lego Robo Cup Soccer

Photography / Videography

For the past six years I have been an avid street photographer. While roaming the streets I try to capture the hidden stories. I primarily work on doing street photography as well some product photography. My interest in street photography has taught me to bring my camera everywhere to find the special moments in everyday life.

WildLife

Compilation of my wildlife bird photography

Badminton

Badminton sports photography

Viktor Axelson

Event photography for #1 badminton player in the world

Band

Event photography for the school band

Remembrance Day

Event photography for school Remembrance Day ceremony

Acting

Event photography for school play

Soccer

Sports photography for the school varsity soccer team

Portraits

Street portraits of strangers and friends

Streets

Street Photography of Vancouver

New York

New York Street Photography

CMU

Carnegie Mellon University street photography as well as course photography

Video

A few of my best films

Sports

I have been a competitive athlete for my whole life from my junior years in school all they way to being captain of the varsity badminton team. I have always participated and found enjoyment in sports.

Swimming

2012-2020

Vancouver Pacific Swim Club and St. George's Swim Team

I spent many of my junior years as a swimmer at VPSC. My best stroke was the backstroke. I was also on the school swim team where I was one of the few full time swimmers on the A-team. We often won many of the 4 person relays. I was part of the school team when we won a provincial championship.

Track & Field

2013-2019

Coquitlam Cheetahs, Thunderbird Track

I competed in track and field as a junior, I was the primary high jumper for my school team and have won bronze at the provincial level in the event. Other than high jump I also threw discus and javelin and competed in both events for my final season.

Badminton

2019-Present

ClearOne Badminton

I found a great attraction for the sport of badminton at the end of grade 7 and have put in hundreds of hours of work to get to where I am today. I started out as a small inexperienced singles player in the provincial B category and through the years I have honed my skill and am now one of the top ranked doubles players in BC. In addition to my achievements outside of school I am also the school varsity team captain and recently won the MVP award for our team after placing 5th at the BC provincial championship this past spring (2023).

Projects

Ever since I was a little kid whenever and wherever I could get my hands on something to play with or build I did. This inevitably led to me deciding that I wanted to become an engineer and through these years, I have worked on many projects creating and trying to innovate in order to someday better the world. Following are a few of my active projects.

Pocket ASL

2017-Present

Personal Project

Since the project came into fruition in grade 7 I have tried to create a translator app for the deaf that need to use ASL on a daily basis. The original idea behind the app was that those who interact with people who are deaf on a regular basis but do not know ASL by heart can use it to communicate. This helps to remove the language barrier. I have used an API developed by Google and Microsoft in order to get this program up and off of the ground, and it can currently recognize and translate the entire alphabet as well as a few words all in real-time and quite accurately.

ASIP

2023-Present

Outreach Project

Over the past few months, I have been working with a large team of inspired and driven young individuals to try and get technology out to the people who need it most. The idea builds off of a previous project to build low-cost computers using raspberry pi’s that I had started during COVID. This has evolved into a significantly larger operation. Currently, I am on the team that is working on the solar panel charging dock for the device. We are involved in designing the charging portion of the tablet that will allow the tablet to charge off of the sun instead of an external source which some of these communities may not have access to. We are focused on trying to send this technology to the more remote places of Africa in order to educate future generations and hopefully give them a chance to learn what the world will be soon developing into. Currently, the outreach team has been working hand in hand with our people in Africa in order to find out exactly what is needed.

Art Portfolio

Ever since I was a child I have been introduced to every single different type of art from painting, sculpting, ceramics, photography and photoshop, to violin and clarinet. Although these experiences have truly shaped who I am today I have found my stride in photography and don't plan to slow down anytime soon. These pieces will forever stay a part of who I am and what I have done in the past. Below are some of the pieces that I was especially proud of during my childhood.

Painting

This is a photo of me when I was working on my most recent piece where I was painting a mountainside in the northern alps.

Painting

In this panting I was trying a new technique which was to use only a pallet knife for the entire painting instead of a brush which created a cool effect.

Painting

This was one of the paintings I am most proud of which was a very large painting of a leopard in a tree I did this while I was very young.

Sculpture

This was an old wire sculpture I created while in a summer camp.

Digital Art

Photoshop composition of the Blade Runner 2024 poster with my face instead of Harrison Ford.

Digital Art

Photoshop composition of the Hacksaw Ridge poster with my face instead of Andrew Garfield. My friends had fun plastering mud all over my face for the photo shoot.

Work and Volunteering

In recent years, I've served as an assistant badminton coach, mentoring beginners and guiding veterans in strategy. I've also coached two junior robotics teams to qualify for world championships. Giving back to the community is a responsibility I deeply value. In addition, I contribute my videography skills to MUN conferences, creating conference recaps and promotional material. I've also worked part-time as a rental advisor at a bike shop to gain experience and fund my personal projects.

Volunteering

Badminton Assistant Coaching

2019-Present

ACE Badminton Center

Over the past couple of years I have coached some of the junior players inside of my club. I have helped some of them get to the point where they are playing competitively and winning multiple competitions.

Robotics Mentor and Assistant Coach

2020-Present

Robostorm Inc.

I have been a part time teacher at the club for several years teaching Robo Bee, Vex IQ, and LEGO Ev3. I was a coach for both a Vex IQ competitive team as well as a Coach for a First Lego League team. Both of these teams excelled under my supervision and I helped bring guidance, especially in the project aspect of the competitions. Having had the experience of being a competitor in the past I was able to share my experiences and tips, allowing them to excel. I showed them robots and projects that I had worked on to give them ideas and inspire new creative solutions to problems they were facing.

MUN Conference Videographer

2022-Present

VMUN, CahsMun, Horizons, CaiMun

Over the past year I have been attending Model United Nations conferences as a videographer. I am on the support team creating promotional material as well as conference wrap up videos for the delegates to enjoy in the closing ceremonies. I have been called in to do multiple conferences this year. Working throughout the night of many of these conferences I have done almost 300 hours of work over the course of the conferences I have attended.

Work Experience

Cycle City Rental Advisor

2023 - Present

Cycle City Vancouver

In order to support my exploration and experimentation I have started working at a local bike shop as a rental advisor. I have always had an interest in the bike industry especially working on bikes and fixing them. I have enjoyed downhill mountain biking for many years and when I found this opportunity I was ecstatic to not only learn more about bikes but also earn a bit of money.

Awards

Grade 9

  • Waterloo Pascal Contest Honor Certificate
  • USA Computing Olympiad Bronze Division
  • Waterloo Math Fryer Distinction Certificate
  • Level 2 Service Tie (40+ hours of Community service)

Grade 10

  • Vex VRC Judges Award at Provincial competition
  • 4th place out of 70 teams in VEX VRC Skills Provincial Competition.
  • 2022 BC Science Fair Honorable Mention - Pocket ASL (American Sign Language)
  • G10 Waterloo Beaver Distinction Award
  • American Association of Teachers of French – Honor Certificate
  • VRC Badminton U17 Boys Doubles 1st Place
  • VRC Badminton U17 Mixed Doubles 2nd Place
  • ClearOne UBC tournament U17 Mixed Doubles 2nd Place
  • Level 3 Service Tie (60+ hour of community service)

Grade 11

  • AP Scholar Award
  • Scholastics Photo Award - Honorable Mention x 2
  • 9th place Skills at VEX VRC Season Opener
  • Vex VRC Create Award at Provincial Competition
  • Vex VRC Design Award at Provincial Competition
  • 3rd place in U19 Mixed Doubles at ClearOne Thanksgiving tournament
  • 2nd place in U19 Boys Doubles in VRC Remembrance day provincial tournament Nov 10-13,2022
  • Bronze in U19 boys doubles and 5th in U23 Men's Doubles at ClearOne New Year Tournament
  • Varsity Badminton MVP, Won 5th Provincial Championship, Championship of ISA championship
  • Waterloo Math Fermat Distinction Certificate
  • Level 4 Service Pin (80+ hours of community Service)

Grade 12

  • AIME Qualifier
  • AMC 12 Honor Roll Of Distinction
  • Head of School Leadership Award