A Thinking Street Photography Site
I’m taking a break from street photography to look at mundane stuff.
Stuff our eyes don’t normally focus on.
But they do create an environment of sorts.
Repeat something enough and it becomes a life.
Pavements can be interesting.
Stuff lying around.
There’s an order of things here.
A call to discipline.
Camera: Canon Prima Twin S
Film: Fuji Superia Venus 800
It never ends – this appreciation for a more laid-back lifestyle.
It’s probably ideal, rather than actual.
Still, it’s worth keeping in mind.
We’re all tourists to this thought, this possibility.
It can be commercialized, of course.
There are those who buy the idea.
Those who consume it and are consumed by it.
We all gaze with a kind of desire.
It all makes sense when there’s a vendor.
Satiation.
Wants, desires and goods – a life that makes sense.
A meaning-making kind of sense.
Camera: Leica M6
Lens: Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 SC
Film: Ilford XP2
Some more thoughts of Cheung Chau.
One photograph, one thought.
It’s a nice local economy one could believe in.
It’s a personable economy.
A joyful economy.
Though sometimes you’d have to wait for a bit.
Public sculptures.
There’s time for a conversation.
Time to stroll.
Time to sort it all out.
It’s all very laid back.
Part of it is in shadow.
It’s not always peachy.
There’re always things to buy!
People to look at.
And a wall to lean on.
Camera: Leica M6
Lens: Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 SC
Film: Ilford XP2
On Cheung Chau island.
The atmosphere is rather relaxed.
One could dream of a life here.
It’s one of those possible doorways.
One could just stand here and admire the wall.
Lack of love?
An advertising and laundry space.
Very homely.
Though sometimes we could be in a hurry.
Oh I’m dreaming I’m dreaming of a slower pace of life.
Is it possible?
It is possible.
Maybe I’m romanticizing too much.
It’s a possibility, I suppose.
Camera: Leica M6
Lens: Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 SC
Film: Ilford XP2
There’s nothing like a short walk to get away from the city, even if it’s just for a bit.
We all need breaks.
A short climb.
Getting there.
So one could disappear.
There’s a haiku in there waiting to be written…
Camera: Leica M6
Lens: Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 SC
Film: Ilford XP2
It goes without saying that space is at a premium in Hong Kong.
This is true even in the more rural areas.
Things need to stay organized.
Nature needs to know its place.
Heidegger: “Everywhere everything is ordered to stand by, to be immediately at hand, indeed to stand there just so that it may be on call for a further ordering. Whatever is ordered about in this way has its own standing. We call it the standing-reserve.”
It’s all standing by.
Nothing is to be wasted.
It’s all about discipline.
Places to go, and places you can’t go.
All these structures are standing, even in our literal absence.
Camera: Leica M6
Lens: Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 SC
Film: Ilford XP2
A good rule is worth breaking once in a while.
There’s a quote attributed to Robert Capa that if your photos aren’t good enough, it’s because you aren’t close enough.
Hence, the usual advice is to go for 28mm or 35mm lenses.
But hey, sometimes it’s worth doing the opposite, just to see what happens.
You look for colours.
You look for grids.
Blocky rectangular grids.
There’s a story waiting to happen.
On another day at Central.
Thanks for reading!
Camera: Canon Prima Twin S
Film: Kodak Ultramax 400
We’re all caught within our own worlds.
Not quite looking even when we’re looking.
It’s an accumulation of life.
A kind of mobility.
We pace ourselves.
A universe in a phone.
A map is not the same as the world.
Still we look at the map.
We can’t live outside ourselves.
Camera: Olympus XA3
Film: Kodak UltraMax 400
It begins with a journey.
Then there was land.
Then there were people.
It doesn’t take much to make a world.
A house and a car.
Neighbours.
Some rules.
Some more neighbours.
And then you have a government.
And then we wait for things to sort themselves out.
In the meantime, my exhibition is still going on – come by if you’re in the area!
Camera: Leica M6
Lens: Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 SC
Film: Kodak BW400CN
To be interested in street photography is to be careless.
The above might look better if the boats were cut out of the photograph. The subject would be clearer.
But the eyes don’t always discriminate properly.
Found scenes are things as they are.
Boats and paths as they are.
A child as he is.
There’s an accommodation of sorts.
An ordering of nature.
Camera: Leica M6
Lens: Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 SC
Film: Kodak BW400CN
