Mirrored Dimensions (On Reflections #4)

Yesterday, we stopped at the suggestion of a photo assignment for which you may consider making use of mirrors to convey the theme.

Let me take for example an on-going photo assignment about urban renewal I am working on for hobby. Like any big city in the world, Hong Kong is facing a tremendous pressure to renew old areas. The balance is, however, so skewed towards the commercial value of renewal projects that almost anything old has been bulldozed. The genius loci of old areas are fast disappearing. There is an outcry for heritage preservation in its totality, not haphazard retention of some fabric of the areas to be renewed. In parallel, people call for a better pedestrian environment in the old areas. So, I came up with some photos including the two below, in which mirrors are used to convey my messages.

(A Jigsaw of Urban Renewal)

I took the photo “Jigsaw of Urban Renewal” outside a new sky-high commercial tower in a neighbourhood undergoing renewal. The jigsaw-like Reflections in the mirrors of the commercial tower are images of the surrounding old domestic buildings. Apart from creating traffic problems, the renewal projects give rise to discontentment of the residents nearby on the resettlement arrangement and social debates on preserving the local character. The jigsaw of urban renewal is how to put what where to make the picture right. I try to use the mirrored images and the word play to convey this message. (Some may wish to know that a “jigsaw” also means a complicated situation)

(One Way or Another)

The other day I was on the same photo assignment. This time I hoped to take some photos depicting the croweded pedestrian environment in the shopping districts located in older urban areas, which is another issue to be dealt with in urban renewal. I picked Mongkok (literally, Bustling Corner) in Kowloon. There I went to a shoppers’ mecca. The main roads flanked by shops in old buildings were parked with vehicles on both sides. As the sidewalks were really crowded, some passers-by just walked on the roads instead.

The most thought-provoking photo I took for the theme is the one above, “One Way of Another”. After walking the scene, I stopped by a truck and pointed my GX200 to its mirrors. The shop signs and ice-cream van on the far side of the photo give viewers an idea that it is a shopping area. The glimpses of the passers-by walking past the cars say how they steer forwards one way or another. Once again, the reflections in the mirrors add a visually interesting dimension to bring out the message.

Hopefully, these two examples illustrate some aspects of how mirrors can be used to better convey a photographic theme.

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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