Hong Kong photos through Australian Eyes offer a new perspectives
Hong Kong photos by four Australian photographers
Hong Kong Through Australian Eyes Exhibition
Hong Kong photos by Australian photographers
Four Australian photographers living in the city is the subject of the exhibition: Hong Kong Through Australian Eyes.
Elizabeth Ward, Australian Consul-General, Background photos by Palani Mohan
Australian Consul-General Elizabeth Ward says the collection of photographs is just a small sample of the ways in which Australians feel connected to Hong Kong.
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“This is a connection of long standing, dating back more than 200 years when the first Cantonese-speaking migrants ventured south seeking new opportunities,” she said.
“Since then, the movement of people in both directions has forged deep people-to-people links between our communities.”
Photos by Jayne Russell
Photographers Palani Mohan, Isaac Lawrence, Simon Fuller and Jayne Russell shared their views, inspirations, and reasons on why they love Hong Kong and how they chose images for this show.
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Palani Mohan is a photographer and the author of six books. Since he came, he has left Hong Kong twice and returned three times. He shares how that is reflected in the images that he has chosen for the exhibition.
“I’ve lived in Hong Kong for a long time. And this is the third time we’ve come back. Each time we’ve had a different experience.
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When I first came to Hong Kong in 1998, I was fascinated about the hustle and bustle of people and the noise. I was doing a lot of news, working for Time Magazine, Newsweek and The Times.
Photos by Palani Mohan
It’s been a journey from that to where I am at the moment, where I just do fine art work that involves the quieter moments of Hong Kong. You need to live in Hong Kong for a long time to go through that journey to get it.
Seeing Hong Kong differently from 20, 30 years ago
So, I see Hong Kong very differently from twenty, thirty years ago. If you look at my work, especially my black and white work, it’s really about silence and stillness and movement and long exposures and clouds and mist. It’s the quieter things that I’m interested in.”
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Mohan explained what continuously draws him back to Hong Kong.
“I think it’s very simple. I just really liked living here. I like the outdoor spaces. I like the atmosphere, and it is such a visual place. Dubai, where I lived two years ago, is not a very visual place. Hong Kong has got a soul. I’ve lived in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, London, and India — of course I was born there.”
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Simon Fuller, a video producer and cameraman, reflected on why he likes taking photos in Hong Kong.
Photos by Simon Fuller
“I like to work. It was about capturing an image, because I learned very early on when I moved here that Hong Kong is a moving city, it’s changing. You take a photograph that means nothing to anyone, but years on, exhibit that photograph and it means something to someone; things change. For me it’s about recalling those moments when I always carried my camera.”
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Fuller explained how he found images while walking around Hong Kong.
Photography is also about the luck of the moment
“They literally all fell in front of me. I’m pretty lucky; artistic photography is about luck. It’s the moment. Yes, there are some skills, but I think there’s also some luck, because the sun shines in a certain place, and you wait for it. I remember waiting for a photograph in London, of the Queen of England, and I waited and waited and waited, only because I knew she would be there at that time.”
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He has some specific criteria when selecting the photos for this exhibition.
“Before I did my current job, I was a colourist [Simon worked on Transformers: Age of Extinction and Now You See Me 2]. I based my selections on colours of Hong Kong. I got down to about thirty-five, and then I crowd surfed because I was too close. I wanted illumination, so I just put it out to family and friends. And then when it came to the submission, I submitted eight, and Gavin McDougal [the show’s coordinator] said, ‘You’re allowed six.’ I said, ‘Fine, you pull out the two you don’t like.’ The ones he pulled out were the cliche shots.”
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Photojournalist, Isaac Lawrence featured cityscapes of Hong Kong. He explained how his experiences in Hong Kong inform the photographs he takes.
Photos by Isaac Lawrence
“I’m a photojournalist, so a lot of my images are just basic daily life. I chose my images from a Hong Kong aesthetic so that you could see the photo and know straight away it was from Hong Kong. But then I try and put my own spin on it, for instance, that famous estate in Chui Hung. Everyone does that on Instagram and they oversaturate it and it just looks fake. So, I wanted to do something a little bit different to still show it, but show the Hong Kong side.”
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“With the Star Ferry crossing the harbour with the rain, you only see that two or three times a year, when you get that torrential downpour. It’s something very atmospheric. It’s almost a moment in time that’s paused. For that picture it was good timing, so a lot of my job is walking around the streets, constantly, every day.”
Photos by Jayne Russell & Isaac Lawrence
Photographer, Jayne Russell, who has been based in London, Sydney and currently in Hong Kong, elaborated on how she chose her photos.
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“I was working on a project which was the Tanka people in Hong Kong. Once you start thinking about something, then you look and see it everywhere. So I’m still spotting things that would be related to Tanka people, fishing people, coastal people, and every time I see something I like then I take it.”
Photos by Jayne Russell
“I decided on the theme and then went through all my work and found that there’s no way that I could pick the last selection. If you’ve gotten some emotional attachment or you really like that person or you spend a lot of time with that person, or if it was just a very hard picture to get, that doesn’t necessarily mean the photo was a good picture. It was just a hard picture to get. So, I sent them eleven and… they made the decision.”
Text & photos by Martin Wray
