Been working like crazy again. Have spent the last few weeks in HK doing a lot of R&D with some new processing techniques and camera systems for work and will be heading out for a few months very soon.
Was able to enjoy a walk down to the waterfront last night though! In HK I live in a village near Tai Po, a "town" of about 320,000 people. Every night there are some people who fly these massive kites up to 500m above the ground and its really cool to see the different kinds of kites they have.
This shot was taken from the top of the 1997 handover monument along the waterfront park. The body of water is Tolo Harbor and the town way off in the distance is Ma On Shan.
Back in HK, at least for a few weeks. Just spent a month in Singapore for work and am really happy to be back home now :-p So much more culture, so much more life, so much more of everything in HK when compared to Singapore.
Anyways, here are some pictures from last night. It is the Fire Dragon Dance in Tai Hang, Hong Kong. This year was the 131st year in a row that it has been performed. For some of the legends and history behind it, just check on Google!
Time-lapse of the infamous HK skyline for an hour before and after sunset...
06 April 2010
Hong Kong's Central district from the Expo Center in Wan Chai
Famous lights of Wan Chai at nighttime
Another one of the double-decker trams on the Island... HK has more of these than any other place in the world!
Policeman at a protest in Victoria Park this afternoon
Some of the protesters at said protest...
Perhaps the future of 'journalism' is people like this chap blogging about what is happening... at the exact time it is happening. Its amazing what the internet has done to transform the world of media in the last few years with the addition of new social networking tools...
Hong Kong's 'Gold Coast' area has the most incredible colors during sunset sometimes, especially when pollution levels are shredding the old records into pieces!
Somewhere near Elements along the West Kowloon Waterfront
It never ceases to amaze me how many different kinds of folding/portable/super tiny bicycles there are out there, especially here in Hong Kong. This one actually has larger wheels than a sizable number of others.
Density is a very interesting thing that warps and twists the shape of districts and cities. In Mongkok it has shaped the way that people live, especially considering that there are an estimated 140,000 people/sq km! Any building may have five or more floors of retail shops and restaurants below, at and above ground level and sometimes hundreds of people living in flats and apartments above those!
Oddly though a lot of the rooftops are fairly quiet and empty. Some of them are filled with lush gardens and swimming pools and ropes tethered to random items to hang laundry out to dry, but this sight really caught my attention because of the oddity of it... a bicycle and jump rope fifteen floors above the streets
Quick photo taken last night from an array of antennae above Lion Rock in Kowloon. The view is looking south over the old Kai Tak Airport and Kowloon Peninsula with Hong Kong Island and Victoria Harbor in the distance. Photo was stitched together from three images
Sorry that it has been so long since the last update on this blog. I suppose that life has just been crazy and busy lately, for better or worse.
My last entry on this blog was from the beginning of December there is a lot to catch up on. First of all, just a "few" pictures from recent shoots and whatnot...
Strings of dried fish hanging in stairways in the corner of the main wet market in Mong Kok, Hong Kong. No space is every wasted in places like this, and the stairwars are an ideal place to hand strings of freshly caught fish.
A little more creative dabbling on a project I started a couple of years ago while attending school in the state of Wyoming, USA. Its commonly referred to as TtV, or "Through the Viewfinder" photography and is rather enjoyable. Basically, take any tlr (twin lens reflex) camera and use your digital camera to take a picture of the viewfinder. Most people use something cheap like a Yashika or Kodak made of almost all plastic and with horrible optics and picture quality, but I prefer to use my trusty old Mamiya C330 tlr (I still use it with film occasionally and the negatives, scans and prints are beyond beautiful) The ground glass viewfinder on the Mamiya is gigantic and incredibly bright, which is always a pleasure to see.
The image in the viewfinder is actually in color, but since I always load b&w film into it I found this to be a little more appropriate.
Along the waterfront of Tolo Harbor there is a nice cycling path. It runs all around the harbor and eventually across the reservoir with branches in every direction inland. Basically, from Ma On Shan to Tai Po its possible to stay right next to the water on this path.
A view of Tolo Harbor in Hong Kong's New Territories. The white cluster of buildings on the left side is aptly nicknamed the Beehive because of a striking resemblance from some angles. Its a very refreshing break from the typical architecture of HK. All along the waterfront from Ma On Shan to Tai Po there are people fishing like this guy.
Buying fruit and vegetables at one of the many stands along the walkways through the village.
Typical scene in the early evening at Tai O.
In case anyone was wondering, this is indeed a dried headless shark skin! One of the wonderful things about Chinese food is that absolutely nothing is wasted, and, with an open mind to try new things, a lot of the food is actually really tasty. On the contrary though there are some things that are extremely far from being tasty too.
Along the waterfront at Tai O fishing village.
Along the waterfront at Tai O fishing village.
Tai O (traditional Chinese: 大澳) is a fishing town, partly located on an island of the same name, on the western side of Lantau Island in Hong Kong.
On the main part of Lantau, a river splits to the north and west and at this fork lies the island referred to as Tai O. Two pedestrian bridges cross the river on its northern and western forks. The village is located mostly on the banks of the river. The western and northern parts of the island facing the South China Sea are uninhabited.
Nearby archaeological sites date back to the Stone Age, but permanent, and verifiable, human settlement here is only three centuries old. Stories that would be impossible to substantiate have Tai O as the base of many smuggling and piracy operations, the inlets of the river providing excellent protection from the weather and a hiding place. In early 16th century, Tai O was once occupied shortly by Portuguese during Battle of Tãmão. At nearby Fan Lau, a fort was built in 1729 to protect shipping on the Pearl River. Smuggling of guns, tobacco, drugs and people remains a documented illegal activity both into and out of mainland China.
When the British came to Hong Kong, Tai O was known as a Tanka village. During and after the Chinese Civil War, Tai O became a primary entrypoint for illegal immigration for those escaping from the People's Republic of China. Some of these immigrants, mostly Han Chinese, stayed in Tai O, and Tai O attracted people from other Hong Kong ethnic groups, including Hoklo (Hokkien) and Hakka.
Tai O has a history of salt production. In 1940, it was recorded that the Tai Po salt marshes were covering 70 acres and that the production has amounted to 25,000 piculs (1,512 metric tons) in 1938.
Currently the fishing lifestyle is dying out. While many residents continue to fish, it barely provides a subsistence income. There is a public school on the island and most young people move away when they come of age. In 2000 a large fire broke out destroying many residences. The village is now mostly squatters huts and dilapidated stilt houses.
