*Fuck the PoPo*
GW690iii + JCH400
With the protests that have been ongoing since last summer, new, more political tags, have been appearing all over the city. This is a set of narrow alleyways and stairs in Sheung Wan and I liked the combination of the column, the leaves, the stairs and the tag.
*North Point Wet Market*
Fuji GW690iii + JCH400
This is very possibly one of the most Hong Kong shots I’ve ever taken. Ever since I discovered the North Point wet market I knew I had to come back with a camera. After all it’s not everyday you see a tram in the middle of a super busy street. I love the symmetry here, and the encased feel of it all.
*Sitting on Top of the Stairs*
Fuji GW690iii + JCH400
My wife says there’s a Montmartre vibe to this picture, but I just don’t see it. This is so Hong Kong to me. Sure, you can find similar stairs in Paris, but the run down walls, the enclosed space, the somewhat grimy look, it just all screams Hong Kong to me. Truth be told, I wish I’d had either more ambiant light or a higher sensitivity film to avoid the blur in the foreground, but it does lead the eye upwards I suppose…
*Waiting for the Ferry*
GW690iii + Ilford Delta 400 (Expired)
When I first started film photography about a decade ago I bought a lot of old, cheap cameras including a couple of medium format folding cameras. I couldn’t make much of anything with them at the time, so I focused on easier to handle 135 cameras. When I recently purchased my GW690iii I noticed I had a couple of rolls of expired 120 film in my stash, including this roll of Delta 400. I exposed it at 200, and while there’s some clear extraneous texture on the film, I quite like the effect and the result, particularly on this shot taken inside the Wan Chai Ferry Pier building.
*A Corner of Sky*
Fuji GW690iii + JCH 400
I’ve attempted this kind of shot many times in the past (the Hong Kong skyline gives you plenty of opportunities) and the trick is to keep some texture in the sky while maintaining detail in the building facades. I think I managed to expose this one just right, and I like the jagged line of building roofs.
*Verdant Profile*
Fuji TX2 (XPAN) + Ilford FP4+
Model: L.
When I first started this project, my goal was to burn the white background entirely to have the subject stand out as much as possible. But since studio lighting is an inexact science (and I’m an imprecise scientist), quite often a little bit of the texture remains on the edges of the shot where the light on the background wasn’t quite bright enough. I could photoshop that out easily, but I’ve grown to like it, a reminder that this is film.
*Aluminium Tattoos*
Fuji XT2 (XPAN) + Ilford FP4+
Model : M.
The impact of subtle differences in relative exposure on the textures appearing or not fascinate me. Here, the low contrast between my daughter’s blonde hair and her pale scale was not enough for me to overexpose the skin too much and have strong texture only in the hair, but I love how the taxture shines in the less exposed parts of her back.
*Amaranth Back*
Fuji TX2 (XPAN) + Ilford FP4+
Model : N.
This semi-improvised session of double exposure I did with my family as models was mostly to test some slightly more scientific exposure approaches. I did each shot three times at three different exposure settings, and this particular photo gave me an a-ha moment both in terms of textures and exposure. I’d shot two different textures for this session, aluminium plant and globe amaranth. The former was as textured and structured as the latter was low-contrast and chaotic. With this shot I realised that low-contrast and chaotic still worked, but only for silhouettes and underexposed.
*Patterned Youth*
Fuji TX2 (XPAN) + Ilford FP4+
Model : M.
When you cannot find models because of social distancing (and because the ones you know will pose are 10000 miles away), you work with those closest to you, so last week-end I shot textures on my wife and kids. My 8 year old daughter wanted to be silly at first, but took some serious and quite lovely poses in the end! Her skin and hair lack contrast for a truly striking effect, but that’s not her fault!
*Aluminium Beard*
Fuji TX2 (XPAN) + Ilford FP4+
Model : L.
This is very much a COVID-19 era shot. My son let his teenage beard grow wild during lockdown, I didn’t have any models for further double exposure experimentation, so the two combined to form a sort of session in my mind. This was a bit of an experimental session, with the idea of trying different exposure levels for each shot. I really like how this one came out, with the texture lightly imprinted on pale skin but starkly visible in the beard and hair. Oh, and the leaves are from pilea cadierei, aka the Aluminium Plant.
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