In the 2 years I have lived in Singapore, Hong Kong is my favourite place to visit, so much so that this is my 5th time here. I always try to find somewhere new to shoot as well as re-visiting old favourites, all with my good friend Singe who lives here over the course of a week.
I started with the best view in the city from the Peak; I went 3 mornings in a row and on the second was treated to the amazing sunrise you see below.
I was on a mission to shoot more neon this time, especially as I have heard the government are removing it. I dream of shooting 20 years ago when the streets were filled with it. I explored all the streets of Mong Kok, to find that I had already shot some of the best neon in my first trips, the street scenes I found were not as cool and very few fitted perfectly into the 3:1 ratio.
I love this scene but only wish it had more than one sign in it to fill the left of the frame.
During my 2 days of walking, I found the incredible scene below, I only intended to shoot the street with no cars or people in the way. As I set up ,trucks came and parked in my shot so it was a long waiting game for a clear scene, then when it was clean there was a constant stream of people walking across which I didn’t want due to my ½ second exposure as the blur would not look nice, so I waited some more. It was during all the waiting that the scene spoke to me, the perfect moment to capture flashed before my eyes as a mini bus drove across the scene and all the pedestrians crossing paused for a brief moment before crossing. Of course my hand was just too slow to react in time to capture it but I knew that was the moment I wanted on film.
So I waited even longer, pressing the shutter as mini busses drove by, all not quite what I was looking for but maybe that moment I saw wouldn’t happen again before it get’s dark so I shot what I could. After almost 3 hours having been stood here, a taxi stopped to drop off a passenger, and then 2 ladies started to cross at the perfect time as another taxi whizzed by and I pressed the shutter for the perfect moment you see below. I was so happy after waiting for so long wondering if I was stupid and should have packed up hours ago. I am always wondering what delights could be around the next corner.
I loved exploring the hills around the city for new angles to capture and on this trip I planned to visit all 3 at sunset- Braemar Hill, the Devils Peak and a relatively unknown spot over near Tsing Yi that over looked the docks. All three were incredible in their own way.
Each time my visit to Hong Kong comes to an end there is always something else I want to come back for. I have been trying to shoot panoramic on the trams half in and half out showing the life and the city all in one shot, but film exposure times have prevented me getting anything usable to date. I will be back soon to try again for sure.
