A Thinking Street Photography Site
Here’s a book that came out a while ago.
It uses street photography as a research method to explore urban spaces in Hong Kong.
Some of the images and ideas in the book have their beginnings in this blog.
More info can be found here:
I’m still walking around…
The streets are exhibitions waiting to speak.
What would the stall say?
What’s he thinking about?
We’re all concealed by what we buy and sell.
We all buy and sell.
We’re all waiting.
Until it’s all meat…
Camera: Olympus XA2
Film: Ilford XP2 400
Some days, it seems like things just won’t come together.
You’re feeling blocked.
The framing is off.
You look up.
You look back at people.
You look up again.
You try again.
What else can one do, but try to fail better.
And then you get the feeling that things are coming together finally.
And you find something that makes sense, finally.
Camera: Leica M6
Lens: Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 SC
Film: Ilford XP2 400
Stand at a corner and look confused.
Fumble with my camera long enough and someone will walk past.
I’ll look a bit lost and confused and frown at my camera.
I wasn’t holding the camera to my eye.
Another favourite activity: aim at the window.
And let people get in my way.
I’ve come to appreciate photographs that look like they were taken accidentally.
Street photography is an art that requires artlessness.
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
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
So, my ten-year-old son is into Geocaching.
It’s basically a game where you hunt for hidden caches – you could then sign your name in the booklet in those canisters/boxes hidden or buried in various places in Hong Kong and the rest of the world.
We’ve found magnetic canisters stuck behind signposts, or hidden under piled-up logs full of ants and spiders.
You could then announce your success to the whole world and leave a few clues via the Geocache app.
So you see, it’s killing two birds with one stone.
I get to do a spot of street photography, and my son gets to do a bit of geocaching.
That’s what I call father-son bonding.
It doesn’t matter where I go as long as I’m on the streets.
We could meander and come back to the same place – it doesn’t matter.
Some people fish, others are into street photography, and of course, some are into geocaching.
And we’ll have a late lunch after a morning of running back and forth.
I suppose it’s another day in Hong Kong.
We do what we can to preserve our sanity…
Camera: Leica M6
Lens: Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm 1.4 SC
Film: Kodak BW400CN
All images were taken with one camera on a single roll of film on the same day.
Fare well, Occupy Central.
At Causeway Bay.
Freedom under watch.
At Admiralty.
Camera: Contax TVS II
Film: Kodak UltraMax 400
An early Christmas for Occupy Central at Causeway Bay.
Fare well.
People are packing.
Amidst Christmas sale.
Installation with steel resolve.
Imagine what might have been.
Freedom under the eye of the clock.
At Admiralty.
Unpoetic translation: even if there’s disappointment, one cannot lose hope.
There’s a time to pack up.
A time to plant fresh hope.
A time to remember.
Time to take stock.
Sacrifice.
Hope.
Restrain.
Hunger strike zone.
Merry Christmas Occupy Central.
The central government offices are overwritten with desire.
Home is Hong Kong.
A time to build up.
A time to let go.
A time for nostalgia.
Merry Christmas Occupy Central.
Fare well.
Fare well.
Photos in previous posts have been featured in the following literary journal articles:”Whither Hong Kong?“, Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement: Four Poems” and “The Umbrellas and the Tear Gas“.
Camera: Canon 600D
Legacy Lens: SMC Takumar 35mm f 3.5
Hong Kong Lucida 