GX GARNERINGS

(Leica X1) Hong Kong is so full of life at night that it is a sin not to venture out of the house and snap some street shots, not least on Saturday. One of the best places to feel the atmosphere is the pedestrian precinct in Mongkok. The whole street is turned into actions and performances every Saturday night. The performers are absolutely amateurish but that is the fun about it. They don't choreograph every move or rehearse every singing note to the minute perfection, but combine their movements or singing with shyness in one second and boldness in another. (Sony A55) There are street artists selling stuff you can't get just in any shop, and also human subjects galore for free shooting!  

(Ricoh GX200) After raining for five days, the sky is clearing up a tag bit tonight, affording a fantastic view to the harbour and the either side of it. Compared to the Sydney Harbour, the Victoria Harbour outdoes it for being more breathtaking with the tall buildings aglow in a motley of lights at night. This alone is worthy of a special trip to Hong Kong. The "Photographer's Eye" discussion can best be finalised by today's shot taken with my trusty, 4-year-old GX 200. It produces photos with a unique quality to them which I like lots. It is like meeting an an old friend every time I take it along coz I know its weaknesses and strengthens like the back of my palm. I am perfectly sure about how I will end up with what by the GX 200. Yes, as we discussed yesterday, we should stick to a fewer number of cameras, if not just one. To say the very least, shouldn't  we fully grow with one before contemplating another?

(Leica D-Lux 5; Hong Kong has been raining for four consecutive days now) I can venture to say that a seasoned photographer moves towards uniformity in his or her works. This is the one thing that I have yet to go a long way to achieve. Uniformity is not a euphemism for boredom or repetitiveness. It refers to the consistency in photographic themes, subjects and outcomes. In terms of artistic technique, the combination of such is known as photographic style. As tyros just into photography, we seem to be forever fascinated by different cameras. We fancy new gear and contemplate the chance to get additional acquisitions every now and then. We experiment with different photographic themes and carry a camera with us all the time. On one day, we do street snaps and on another portraits or landscapes, so on and so forth. There are some well-known photographers in Japan of whom the works can make clear the point. Hideaki Hamada keeps using his Pentax 67 II with the Kodak Portra 160 NC or 4...

(Leica X1) Today's shot could be another example of me as a photographer having noticed some special elements in a scene without consciously knowing it on the spot. By now, I may have myself ridiculed by some of you about what I mean by sight-worthiness. Well, the girl in hot pants was what I thought aroused my interest then. But on the computer, as you can see in the shot, it became obvious that what attracted me was actually the harmony of complimentary yellow and blue throughout the scene. Now I know why the girl appealed to me when she walked past me. My radar promptly going up for the colour matters is probably a result of training. Since five years ago, I have been learning colour pencils drawing with a famed designer-painter widely known in the field in Hong Kong and China. My sense for colours has been heightened on the strength of improved skills in using colours in doing the weekly creative drawing assignments. No, I haven't learned any proper theories about colour...

  (Leica X1) Could experienced photographers observe with a skilled eye with little show of observing? Or, in fact, do they observe without even noticing it themselves? I was walking past here looking straight ahead when this scene on my right caught my attention for some reason not obvious to me at the moment. It was probably the face-masked woman sitting on the stair that first arose my curiosity. I walked back a few steps, held up the camera and snapped the shot. This all happened within a few seconds. It was not until I reviewed the photo on the computer that the elements other than the face-masked woman showed evidence of my observation without being aware of it. It becomes obvious to me that it was actually the combination of several elements which imparted to me the message that this scene would make a worthy photo, namely, the invisible diagonal lines linking the four subjects, the interesting contrast between the three faceless subjects and the lady in her black dress, ...

(Leica X1) Flipping through the photos I took during last weekend, I am especially attracted by images which were taken out of instinct in that the mind was not consciously calculating for what, why and when at the very moment the shutter was pressed. It was like I saw it and instantly snapped it. Among the piles of images, those pictures ooze out a taste more natural, with a touch more intriguing and timing seemingly more perfect. But I wonder how a photographer's eye works. Does it see a scene in a way that the final image has been subconsciously figured out in the mind in a nano-split of a second? Or does it automatically match ideas deeply seated in the photographer's mind with a scene which coincides with those ideas, so the shot are therefore made? Or are there limitless processes in which it contributes to the final images when the shutter release is pressed? While this mechanism remains to be explored, and if clues can be derived from my results, I think, for one thing...

(Leica D-Lux 5) This is Sunday. Have a peaceful day!