Girls Just Wanna Have Fume

(This photo was taken with my GX200 set on a mini-tripod. The lady apparently noticed me taking a picture of her but she just didn’t mind)

Many years ago I met a Scot professor teaching in Australia during my first visit to the Down Under. When I expressed my puzzlement over the Aussie people not rinsing the detergent off the dishes under the tap after washing, he gushed in an amusing way, “The reason is simple. Some people are stupid.”

What an instinctive discernment! I don’t necessarily agree with him. Well, the Scottish people are known for their flair and hardiness, don’t they?

(I went near these girls like flies flocking around the rubbish bin and shot the photo in secret. Do they look cool? Make your own conclusion)
I am interested to hear his Scottish version of an answer to the trend that more women are smoking cigarettes while men are quitting. At least, this is the trend in Hong Kong. According to the latest government statistics, the number of female cigarette smokers have been on the rise after a steady drop from 1982 to 1990 when the tax on cigarette shot up. Now the daily cigarette smokers consist of 20.5% of the male and 3.6% (amounting to about 100,000 ladies) of the female population aged 15 or above, down from 28.5% and up from 2.6% in 1990 respectively. If there is a figure for the non-daily smokers, I shall not be surprised to see a higher prevalence of the bad habit among women.

Both sexes in the local cigarette smoking community are growing increasingly addicted to the illness causing sticks. On the whole in 2008, female smokers puff with 11 cigarettes a day, the same proportion as among the young smokers aged 15 to 19.

(I took several photos of her right in front of her. To my surprise, she didn’t give me a scold or any attention. She just kept on smoking her cigarette on one hand and holding the LV handbag on the other)

What does smoking 11 cigarettes per day mean?

Tobacco emits carbon dioxide which jams the delivery of oxygen once it enters the body system. The skin takes the blunt of the harm, turning dry, dull and delicate. Wrinkles show up at the edges of eyes and the mouth. Nails, teeth and the skin will grow yellowish. The aggregate effect could be that Hong Kong has fewer healthy, good-looking ladies.

Well, they may apply thicker foundation to cover up the external flaws. But they may only wear lots of cosmetics some of the time, or some cosmetics all the time but not lots of cosmetics all the time. The defects will show. After all, it is their health which they are putting in the harm’s way. My remark to this is just a little short of the possible Scottish version of the witty professor.

(This was the last shot before she was so annoyed that she went away)

If any of them think that the illed effects of smoking cigarettes can be reverted after quitting, they are dead wrong. And ladies, what you forsake in health with huffing fume you don’t make up for with a characteristically cool look. Fact is, I can swear that smoking ladies are off-putting to most straight men if that is a concern.

Men or women, I hope this post makes you a bit more circumspect in reaching for the next cigarette.

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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