Silas Ming Lee was born in Japan in 1947 to a Chinese American father and Chinese mother, moving to San Francisco when he was four years old and eventually driving a taxi cab for the last 45 years. But his life is not limited to that lifelong career. According to photographer and son Sean Marc Lee, Silas is a licensed pilot, is trained in kung fu and lion dancing, was once a proud Harley-owner and a longtime fashionista.

With an intimacy and playfulness that reflects his father’s perceptible humor, fighting spirit and defiance against the stoic stereotype of Asian fathers, Sean’s photographs and films in his series Daddy Lee draw a portrait of a life lived wholeheartedly.