reflections ...

Reflections are very often able to attract and even fascinate one who loves taking photographs. I'm no exception ...
Posted on the FTF 050914:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1012&message=15032615

bowing for coins ...

" ... A thin man not really that old, 50 more or less, he looked fine physically and didn't appear to be suffering from any serious diseases that prevented him from finding a proper job other than begging on a busy footbridge. Passers-by obviously didn't pay too much attention to him and weren't impressed by his mechanical bowing. As far as I could see, people hardly stopped to give him anything ... He might have his justification or reasons behind but I felt deeply sorry for his choosing this embarrassing way of living."

This was my commentary when this series was posted on the Forum. I doubt whether I would write very differently even if I knew this series would stir up so much response, friendly and unfriendly. Perhaps I might add that I actually met this man (who was behaving pretty normally) on some different occasions; he's chatting with his friends before he started his 'bowing for coins' the other afternoon ...

When questioned about my meaning of a "proper job", I answered,

"... I am not a complicated man and hope I have not taken it too simple - a proper job to me is one which is doing good and of value to oneself, the others and probably the society ... If you have seen some of my previous street photos, you'll know how much I like and respect the man selling flowers in the rain, the old ladies climbing stairs everyday to their needlework stores, the 82 yr old man working 6 days a week on his antique sewing machine ... I am certainly not talking about the financial rewards but the meaning behind the job.

A job can be hard and without much business prospect (that's what I'm now facing myself), it's still giving me the joy to measure myself against all troubles as long as it's offering something good to the ones I'm serving ... That's what I think - a proper and respectable job."

I'm confident I'll walk my talk cause this is my belief; every time I view these pics, they will remind me that persisting will need more courage and faith than giving up. Yet it is this courageous persisting on which one can pride himself and show dignity in front of any obstacles or failures ...

Posted on the FTF 050910:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1012&message=14978882

city lights ...

I took these night shots as an attempt to record the rapidly changing cityscapes of the Hong Kong business district - there are additions of new skyscrapers almost every year. In just a couple of years, it will be impossible to take these photos from where I stood because some new commercial developments on the 2.5 hectareTamar Site will be blocking the existing view ...

Posted on the FTF 050908:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1012&message=14955078

the night mood ...

Couldn't tell where and when I would encounter a scene that would strike me; in order not to miss any opportunity, I carried the F10 with me all the time especially in the night. Despite all the F10's shortcomings, it had been such a wonderful machine for capturing and preserving such moody scenes as these.

Posted on the FTF 050903:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1012&message=14891577

strolling along the kowloon waterfront ...

On the last Sunday of my kids' summer vacation last year, we had a wonderful time and I shot quite a lot including some night shots of the City. The hazy sky and the F10's typical PF somehow made these landscapes shots look different from a common postcard ... :-)

Posted on the FTF 050830:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1012&message=14835969

the soho night ...

The SoHo is a trendy food district developed following the construction of an 800-metre escalator linking the Central business district and the Midlevels in 1994. It has been both praised as offering a dazzling variety of international cuisine and criticized as a bunch of restaurants without historical contexts, but loaded with signs of history in the absence of history ... As for me, I was a passerby somehow attracted by its exotic and bourgeois flavour, and interested to take a few shots.

Posted on the FTF 050903:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1012&message=14890492

evening tram ...

Tram is one of the oldest public transports in Hong Kong - in service since 1904. I don't know how to compare it with the San Francisco Cable Car but I can tell that it has been one of the most popular subjects of street photography here. Nevertheless, I like this transport of character so much that I decided to take some shots for my own collection ...

Posted on the FTF 050825:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1012&message=14774152

the rain and the grain ...

An odinary residential block I pass by everyday - one of the numerous concrete blocks which look similar. The rain and digital grain help to turn this ordinary residential block to a structure of character ...

Posted on the FTF 050821:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1012&message=14707131

having fun with iso 1600 ...

I might have said I would avoid using ISO 1600. However, I had to eat my words after I found that handheld shooting with ISO 1600 could be a big fun too ... I was attracted by these night scenes of the Third Street, but the light was so dim and it's impossible to set up any tripod in the mid of the street. I therefore decided to try the last resort - ISO 1600 of the F10. As expected, the noise was pretty noticeable; yet, totally unexpected was that the noise wasn't annoying at all. Instead, I found that the noise actually added to the atmosphere of these night shots and I loved the effect so much that I liked to call such noise as "digital grain" from then on.

Posted on the FTF 050816:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1012&message=14646425