Let There Be Light

(Nature's Dialogue: This was shot in Nathan Road, the main thoroughfare in Kowloon, Hong Kong. I turned on the marco for this one. Some passers-by mocked me with their mystified looks about what photos could be made out of a modest roadside flower. This shot is only possible in autumn. During any other time of the year, the sun would have been too high or strong for this.)

A friend of mine who runs a unique boutique hotel in Bali travelled to Hong Kong for several times. She was badly impressed by the sultry summer weather here. Poor thing, it couldn’t be more wrong: summer is absolutely not the season to visit Hong Kong, except maybe for business.

(Sitting Out: The low rising autumn sun in the morning brings out interesting shapes and shadows. The man left immediately after this shot, probably having found my shooting annoying.)

For the best season to visit Hong Kong, don’t look beyond late October to late January. The cool and breezy autumn weather starts around late October. This is the season to do anything and everything outdoors. The best part is: the low hanging sun leaves a trail of abundant, gorgeous autumn light on earth in the daytime. Taking photos during those months will yield a higher percentage of good results.

A good example is the best sermon: Cristi, a photographer from London now having great fun shooting with his GRDII and GX200 around Hong Kong, has picked the right season to go on a photo trip here. I am sure that he is enjoying himself a lot.

(Light Walk: The gorgeous light walks by all places and all the colours awake.)

All parts of the world are not created equal. Hong Kong is a sub-tropical weather. For countries farther away from the equator, you should check out the season when the sun hangs low in the sky.

(Playful Light: The playful light in the street was waving to the camera with its reflection. I didn’t expect to see this most beautiful white colour reflection to be in such a form and on the ground.)

For Hong Kong in autumn, the light is most playful for two hours starting from 7:30 a.m. when you can see interesting crisp colours, geometry, shapes and shades; most illuminating around noon when clear colours and soft shadows make a good theme; and most romantic within the two hours before and after sunset when you should watch out for the epiphany of wondrous sky colours. The sunset is so romantic that you will wish to kiss your loved ones right away.

Come to Hong Kong to take photos in the right season. Don’t bring along your well-stocked camera bag, but bring a serious compact on a wide lens. Buy one if you haven’t got any. You won't regret.

(Sunset Silhouette: The autumn sky is cloudless on some days, and with numerous tiny heaps of low clouds on other days. Look for the days with low clouds. They will make for a great sunset scene.)

A Real Hero

(Grip On Reality: This photo was taken on my way to work. I was walking past trucks parking on a cul-de-sac when the ropes caught my attention. The light was right, the colour was right and the criss-crossing pattern was perfect and I held up my GX200. People passing by checked me out and wondered what could be made out of such a boring scene. To me, the fun in photography is that the photographer makes something interesting out of what is not obvious to most at the scene. The ropes tied in knots somehow reminded people I know who are in the grip of the recession) You must have also known a friend or two, or even yourself, being baffled by the spiral downturn of the economy. Bank went bankrupt and the rich was faced with a shrinking wealth. A friend of mine has just had his salary cut by over 10% and some of his colleagues started to be shed. But, wait. Was this done really for the sake of continuing the business? Or is there a factor or greed in it? I wonder whether the

New Low Prices

The window shopping some hours ago has almost provoked my AgIDS illness. Just in case you’re in Hong Kong or are coming here, and have the money to burn (All in HK$/ body only): GX200 = $3,280 GRD2 = $3,380 LX3 = $3,180 G10 = $3,280 Prices are available form a gear shop on the 1st floor of the Mongkok Computer Centre. Besides these new low prices, I found that Wing Shing Photo (55-57Sai Yeung Choi St., MK Tel: 2396 6886/ 91-95 Fa Yuen St., MK Tel: 2396 6885) is offering a Sony A700 + Carl Zeiss Lens package for HK$9,980 (hopefully, a bargain will make it some hundreds cheaper).

Eye Contact

(Leica D-lux 5) The digital era may make it easier to end up with fave shots. Even lousy photos may be turned likable after a few clicks in the post-processing workflow. But if digital advancement or amendments have any bearing on the cultivation of personal style, no photographers will need to discover his or her own photographer’s eye. Undoutedly, this is out of the question. Only with a trained photographer’s eye can we give a thinking gaze and capture an eternal moment, in our unique style. Style is the soul of a great photo. A few posts have been written in GXG to touch on the topic of photographer’s eye. Instead of finding an answer, which would require academic discussions, the posts are intended to give my general reflections and spark interests in moving towards further exploration of the topic. The posts can be viewed after the links: 1) Photographer's Eye: Storytelling 2) Photographer's Eye: Little Show of Observing 3) Photographer's Eye: Sight-Worthy 4

GX GARNERINGS

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