Your Street Photography Workshop Guide to Hong Kong
Hong Kong is another great place for interesting street photography. Not only has it emerged as one of the favorite tourist destinations in the world, it also offers a colorful and vibrant street life with a unique blend of western and oriental art and architecture.
It doesn’t matter whether you are an enthusiastic hobby photographer or a professional who is striving to improve your portfolio – Hong Kong inspires everybody!
The best locations to hit the streets in Hongkong
The Boat Fish Market and the Aberdeen Floating Village
One excellent starting point for a city trip through Hong Kong has to be the so called “Boat Fish Market”. Not only do you get the feel of ‘traditional China’ right in the heart of Hong Kong, it also gives you the opportunity of taking lively photographs of busy fish merchants and customers alike. Night and day, it is a busy place offering plenty of motives for street photography story telling. Taking a wander around, you can’t miss the Aberdeen Floating Village.
The people living on the floating homes are mainly Tanka, an ethnic group who arrived in Hong Kong around the 7th to the 9th century. If colorful festivals spark your interest as a street photographer, be sure not to miss the annual Aberdeen Dragon Boat Race. The long dragon boats carry up to 48 paddlers and are beautiful examples of Asian craftsmanship.
Sha Tin Wai Village and the Avenue of Stars
Sha Tin Village is another great location for street photography in Hong Kong. The most unusual aspect about the village situated in such a rural setting is the fact that, on the one hand, it is the biggest and most historic village in the entire district, but it also offers the most modern architecture Asia has to offer. Far any street photographer, this gives the unique opportunity of portraying both the “old” and the “new” Hong Kong through a single lens.
How about having a shot at Bruce Lee? If this tickles your fancy, your go-to place is the Avenue of Stars. From here, you not only get the opportunity of a magnificent photograph of the skyline of Hong Kong, you can also include statues of Bruce Lee and Anita Mui as foreground interest for your skyline motive. The Hong Kong Avenue of Stars is modeled after the Hollywood Walk of Fame and features the stars of over 100 famous citizens of Hong Kong from the past to the present.
Great Street Photography from Hong Kong on Flickr:
Inspiring Art Galleries, not only for Street Photography in Hong Kong
AO Vertical Art Space
A rather unusual layout of the AO Vertical Art Space is one of the key features of this art gallery as it offers a ‘vertical flow’ staircase setting stretching from the 13th to the 3rd floor. The different exhibitions show artworks of the famous Chinese photographer Ho Fan giving an impression of Hong Kong in the 1950ies and astounding captures of Belgian photographer Anton Kusters of Japan’s notorious and secret crime syndicate Yakuza.
If the work of other street photographers inspires your own work, then you might consider treating yourself to one of the photobooks published through AO and sold in the Photo Book Center in the Asia One Tower.
The Blindspot Gallery
On a wander through the south side of Hong Kong, you will find the Blindspot Gallery. Founded in 2010, this art gallery offers unique insights into contemporary photography and other image-based works. Stretching over more than 7000 square feet, the gallery is one of the largest in Hong Kong. Contributing artists include names like Ken Kitano whose inspirational art creates a unique blend of social documentary and etymological photography.
Martin Parr is another very inspiring street photographer contributing to the extensive portfolio of The Blindspot Gallery. His pioneering work includes different perspectives of street life and the depiction of people going about their everyday lives in the streets of Hong Kong. His unique style has been acknowledged through different awards such as the Doctor Erich Salomon Award of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Photographie (DGPh).
Contemporary by Angela Li
Another leading photography gallery in Hong Kong is Contemporary by Angela Li on Hollywood Road. The main focus of the gallery is to showcase contemporary Mainland Chinese artists. Chen Jiagang is one of the artists contributing to the photography exhibitions. His series of street photographs under the title “Smog City” for example shows impressive street photography shots with a unique mix of photographic and technical elements all coming together to a visual representation of city scapes and city life.
Peter Steinhauer is another very talented street photographer featured in the gallery. One of his most impressive photo-series’ is called “Cocoons” and features different photographs of sky scrapers and urban living space.
F11 Photographic Museum
The F11 Photographic Museum is located in a three-storey Art Deco building on Yuk Street in the centre of Hong Kong. The exhibitions are presented in the framework of an 80 year-old building that has been professionally restored paying as much attention to detail as possible.
The different exhibitions can be viewed by appointment and feature a wide range of famous masters of the art of photography. Periodically, the museum also showcases camera exhibitions including rare models such as the Leica Model A Anastigmat.
Street Photography Workshops Hong Kong
Hong Kong Creative Workshop
The Hong Kong Creative Workshop Street Lvl gives you the unique opportunity of exploring the most interesting corners of Hong Kong in company of our street photography experts. The tour will take you around the older part of town where you will get a shot at the most iconic architecture Hong Kong has to offer.
This street photography tour through Hong Kong will take you down a winding trail through the most interesting parts of the city and lead you back to one of the busiest places in Hong Kong; the Central MTR. To give everybody the best chance to increase their camera skills and experience the city on an entirely new level, our groups are limited to 10 participants.
MK Photography Workshops
Michael Kistler, the founder of MK Photography is a Hong Kong artist specialising in urban photography. In his street photography courses and workshops, he gives you the chance to see Hong Kong not only through his eyes but also your lens. Michael will tailor every course around peoples’ interests and help you create the most iconic compositions of Hong Kong for your street photography portfolio.
You have the chance of choosing either in a day course or explore the vibrant Hong Kong night life. If you want to take an intensive approach to urban and street photography, this course may be just what you have been looking for. Michael’s hands-on assistance and his focus on specific compositions and techniques will help you improve both your skill level and your experiences. To ensure everybody gets the most out of Michael’s courses, the number of participants is limited to 4.
Hong Kong Street Photography with Maciej Dakowicz
The popular in-public photographer Maciej Dakowicz shares his experience and local knowledge of Hong Kong and its surroundings on this unique 7-day workshop. The number of participants for Maciej’s workshops is limited to a minimum of five so it’s a good idea to throw your name into the hat early to secure your spot. This workshop takes you from the breathtaking view of the Hong Kong Island skyline, over the buzzing inner-city life of Central and all its magnificent residential towers to the betting and chatting at the famous Happy Valley Racecourse where you can take a shot at its clientele betting on one race horse or another. This setting gives you the unique opportunity of mixing the motive of “inner city buzz” with the spirit of trained animals.
During the seven days of the workshop, you will have the opportunity to explore Kowloon peninsula and its colorful shops and museums, the breath taking Wong Tai Sin Temple where you can dive into the breathtaking spiritual world of the Ancient East and Macau with its fortresses and churches. Each setting offers its own aspect of the life and culture of Hong Kong and you will have plenty of opportunity to watch Maciej at work and learn from his years of experience and knowledge. Part of this workshop will be a presentation of Maciej’s own work in and around the streets of Hong Kong. This will give you a feel for the possibilities and effects that you can achieve by using the different techniques you learn on his course.
Jackie Peers Photography Courses
Jackie Peers is another famous photographer offering workshops in Hong Kong. With more than 15 years of local knowledge and being familiar with the street photography hotspots in the area, her workshop will take you to more remote corners of Hong Kong such as Chek Keng, a deserted village and real treasure trove for any enthusiastic photographer and Tap Mun Chau, a picturesque island where you’ll step into the lost times of fishing communities.
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