Street photography in Central Hong Kong

Central Hong Kong: Sophistication and beauty

Lady crossing the street
Of course, walking the nose into her phone…

Doing street photography in Central Hong Kong is an interesting exercise for capturing people walking in the city. The very urban framework provides a very localized view. At the same time, the occasional tourist and the beauty of many ladies passing in the area makes for good photographic subject. All together, you can suggest sophistication, beauty, and occasionally, mix it up with tradition.

Tourists

Selfie Chinese
Two mainland Chinese take a picture in the middle of the road…

Occasionally, you will have some tourists (often from mainland China) who will be willing to take selfies in odd places, like in the middle of the street…

Other tourists

Tourists in Central
Two tourists look at the map to find their way

In other locations, you will find tourists looking for their way, which provides also the occasion to test the use of reflectors (in the case of these ladies, the map). I decided to produce this picture in black and white, as the color version was providing too much distraction from the main subject… Look also at the face reflected in the shop on the right. Seems an interesting counterpoint to the two ladies.

Phone-toting girls

One interesting thing of girls talking on a phone: they will look very “natural” and will not necessarily notice you. The inclusion of the tram in the background localizes the shot, while the horizontal and vertical lines guide the eye of the viewer.

Wall art in Central

Wall art in central
A girl mimics the wall art, while another tourist walks past.

People posing for pics in front of wall art in Central are also interesting when, like the girl above, they attempt to mimic the art and you manage to capture the right moment.

Technique

Now, except for the last picture in the series, I adopted a technique of street photography, which is to stay stationary and to shoot from a same place (namely sitting down in front of a bank). It is a good technique for obtaining candids as people pay less attention to someone staying in place rather than someone moving around.

Respect

This being said, if someone makes eye contact and is aware I took his/her picture, I always smile and bow to thank. In general, people are appreciative and generally ok with pictures. If someone does not want me to take his picture, I will respect that desire. Respect of your subject is paramount. Similarly, I am very reluctant to photograph homeless people or people who are living through hardship – artistically it brings nothing, and to these persons, it would not bring anything at all, except maybe shame.

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