A Thinking Street Photography Site
All that labour.
Those goods on display.
Yummy stuff.
Sometimes we don’t see all the work that goes into work.
We negotiate a life.
And a city emerges.
It’s bigger than us.
The labour of thinking.
Camera: Leica M6
Lens: Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 SC
Film: Ilford XP2 400
Inspiration – that sudden realization.
Some find it in trees.
Others find it in rocks.
Many find it in the interaction between the built and natural environment.
There’s a biblical angle to inspiration, akin to revelation.
What is the street asking of me these days?
What is my street?
Is it an impersonal grid?
Is there a personality emerging?
Where is the street these days?
These are all reflections of our selves.
Camera: Leica M6
Lens: Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 SC
Film: Kodak BW400CN
We’re all looking for something.
There’s a gap in our lives.
If only that gap could be filled, we’ll be happy.
We all want something.
Anything.
A friend.
A thing.
To whet an appetite.
After that, the world would make more sense.
Camera: Leica M6
Lens: Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 SC
Film: Kodak BW400CN
Must we have people in street photography?
Or is the mere suggestion of human presence enough?
I’ve grown to appreciate the poetry of things.
So as to be on the lookout for stories to tell.
There’s a poetics of space here.
There’s a story of workmanship here waiting to be told.
What sort of obstruction is being prohibited? Are the owners of those chairs obstructing access to the door prohibiting obstructions to the chairs? Isn’t the sign itself obstructing access to those chairs?
Work, work, work.
The labour of mobility.
So that we know the weight of things.
The signpost of a neighbourhood.
Camera: Leica M6
Lens: Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 SC
Film: Kodak BW400CN
Hong Kong people work very hard.
You could attribute it to culture.
Or you could attribute it to the nature of an economy that drives its people.
We are our work.
Work teaches us to be.
To do otherwise is a privilege most can’t afford.
Camera: Leica M6
Lens: Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 SC
Film: Kodak BW400CN
These are poses we adopt.
We pause.
We think.
Should I?
I want! I want!
Do I need this?
We have an expertise.
We need a poultice.
I need this.
I want this.
Yum.
Buying, after all, is an art we’re good at.
Camera: Leica M6
Lens: Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 SC
Film: Kodak BW400CN
A vision of the night.
There’s usually nothing to see.
Still, we try.
It’s a time for reflection.
We try to think.
We sit.
And rest.
Camera: Leica M6
Lens: Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 SC
Film: Ilford XP2 400
The geometry keeps changing.
Hong Kong is a good place to be a flaneur.
Take a step and the view changes itself.
Lots to absorb.
You could stand at the same spot.
The landscape will change very quickly.
It’s easy to enjoy the view.
You seek out order to square the circles.
Hong Kong will come to you.
And so will the rest of the world.
Camera: Leica M6
Lens: Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 SC
Film: Ilford XP2 400
I’m fascinated by what you could see when coming down the Mid-Levels Escalator at Central in Hong Kong.
You could see lots of small businesses, restaurants and shops.
You could also see unruly leaves and branches against grey concrete buildings.
They’re part of human activity.
Things happen, though they don’t always announce themselves.
Life is understated sometimes.
At other times, it is in your face.
This is how concrete lives.
How we live with concrete.
The unruly beauty of nature and concrete.
We can’t help but look again and again.
Camera: Leica M6
Lens: Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 SC
Film: Ilford XP2 400
I was in Singapore for a short working trip, presenting a paper called “The Poetics of Occupy Central – A Photo Essay” at an academic conference.
So of course I brought my camera along.
I spent an evening on my own, a day before wifey joined me at the hotel.
So of course I did the most natural thing that came to me – I pretended to be a tourist at VivoCity.
Darn – I can’t seem to fit a filter on my lens without it vignetting (see top corners).
It seems like my Voigtlander 35mm doesn’t like filters.
I’ve tried a B+W filter, and a Hoya filter as well. They both vignette.
I would be grateful for any advice from readers more knowledgeable than me in this respect.
Crowded shopping malls depress me.
There was a bridal fair – and you realize weddings are very regimental affairs.
Everyone (including myself) is searching for life’s defining moments in a cookie-cutter manner.
There’s a water park of sorts above the mall.
The feeling here is more carefree.
But such scenes are possible only because of the packed shopping crowd below.
They are paid for by all that buying and selling that happens below.
We all buy and sell in our cookie-cutter lives so as to achieve moments like the one above.
Of course, it’s not just Singapore or VivoCity that does this.
One could never be truly outside of VivoCity, even if one leaves.
Thanks for reading.
Camera: Leica M6
Lens: Voigtlander 35mm F 1.4 Nokton SC
Film: Kodak Bw400CN
Hong Kong Lucida 