Super Charged

• An amazing storm system kept the skies lit for hours in Hong Kong. What a show!

Going to Beijing

- My first series on Hong Kong's visual density "快啲! 快啲! (Hurry! Hurry!)" will be exhibited during the Second Beijing Photo Biennial at the CAFA Art Museum and Three Shadows Photography Art Centre from October 15 to November 29, 2015.

Five Elements Exhibition

Five photographers interpreting one element each. An exciting personal journey of discovery. On show at the Fringe Dairy, 2 Lower Albert Road, Central, Hong Kong until the 8th of April, daily from 12:00 to 18:00. More info at http://www.five-elements-concepts.com/intro/

Doc Brown's in Town

Ahead of the upcoming ADOBE Event with 'Romeo' Brown and 'Juliet' Kost, I had the pleasure to guide my American colleagues around to Hong Kong's buzzying districts. Our ten hour whirlwind tour around town consisted of costumed medival street dances, incense filled temple halls, last minute spicy curries, market crowded frustrations, dizzying heights (without tripod) and a nightly bird eye view. A day to remember!

Image Hunters on location: Michael Shainblum, Russell 'Doc' Brown, Julieanne Kost and Carsten Schael (left to right)

Spot-lighting Cartoonists

My portraits of Hong Kong Political Cartoonists were just published in an article on localiiz

Award Winning Architecture

One of my architecture images was awarded The Champion (Local Projects) by the Hong Kong Facade Association (HKFA).

The reflection of the spectacular entrance of the K100 in Shenzhen, China (designed by TFP FARRELLS) was the favourite of the judges and audience at the recent 10th Anniversary Dinner of the HKFA.

Special Treat

Tara Joseph, Sebastião Salgado, Jitendra Joshi, Carsten Schael (photo by Ali Ghorbani)

I had the opportunity to meet one of the great photographers of our time, Sebastião Salgado, today at the Foreign Correspondents' Club Hong Kong and to listen to his passionate presentation of his latest project GENESIS. Eight years of travel to the far flung corners of the globe to (re-)discover the raw beauty of nature, wildlife and indigenuos cultures. The self-proclaimed atheist photographed images that presented very 'biblical' views of our planet. Stunning work!

TODAY DIGISCOPIC Talks at ChaiWanMei

Please join me today (noon to 8 p.m.) for the talk and exhibition on DIGISCOPIC, my latest personal work.

Location: 6/F., Chai Wan Industrial City, Phase 2 Wing Tai Road, Chai Wan, HK.

Talks at 3:30 & 4:30

How to get here: MTR (Blue Island Line) to Heng Fa Chuen Station (Exit A), at Street Level take 62/62A Minibus to Chai Wan Industrial City Phase 1&2. Also take 788 Citybus from Central directly to Chai Wan Inustrial City.

1800 FCC TONIGHT

PART II OPENING 

Please join us to celebrate the second part of DIGISCOPIC. A big THANK YOU to the hundreds of people who viewed Part I and shared their comments.

"Stupendous!" - Ken Haas

"… very fresh." - Tan Shen Guan

"We have never seen photography like that." - Beth & Glen Thompson

"… your exhibition pieces are amazing …" - Hillary King

"It's very striking …" - Henry Steiner

And THANK YOU to the ones that bought custom prints at only HK$1 per square centimeter to grace the walls of their offices and homes.

Look forward to seeing you tonight.

Go See Today

Getting Ready 

Opening Tonight - Please join us at 6 p.m. at the Foreign Correspondents' Club, Hong Kong. The show will continue until 31 January 2014.

Showtime

Exhibition Poster

My latest creative project DIGISCOPIC, an exploration of Hong Kong's visual density, will be shown at the Foreign Correspondents' Club, Hong Kong.

Please mark Thursday the 9th of January 2014 at 6 p.m. for the opening of Part I.

Hope you can make it.

Special thanks to CANON Hong Kong for their support.

Showcased

Happy to receive the latest book on Adobe Lightroom 5 including samples of my creative work and a statement on my approach to photography (see below). 

Adobe PS Lightroom 5 Book

"Photography is the challenge to grab the eye and then have the mind follow."

The inspiration for my personal work is all around me in every day Hong Kong life. The city is a mixing bowl of extremes in which I wander around and constantly sample the results of its energetic hustle.

"FAI DI! FAI DI! (Hurry! Hurry!) is the colloquial Cantonese phrase that describes the rush which is part of local life, always maximizing time and space. My images explore the omnipresent visual density, then tweaking the captured RAW data allows me to create the tonal compression, which further dramatizes the scenes.

Color and texture are part of my signature style in personal and commercial work. Therefore food photography plays to my visual sensibilities. The dish, as a result of the chef’s creativity and precision, produces this most interesting still life subject. Within seconds, or at most minutes, its fleeting beauty has to be captured.

In all my photography I like to start with a plan that addresses all the relevant components of a shoot (concept, technique, execution) and therefore being well prepared, something which I teach my students at the Polytechnic University, will help to take more chances once the shooting begins. Then again, leaving the preparation behind, if chance provides unforeseen opportunities, can be equally important.

The unexpected is often the muse for more creative work.

​Sunset With A Sense Of Drama

Evening Sky Over Hong Kong Island

As Super Typhoon Usagi is heading towards Hong Kong, the city is preparing itself for the possible onslaught of nature's might. Meanwhile we are being treated with a rich display from it's colour chart.

Stay Safe

Full Moon Over The Tarmac

USS Bonhomme Richard

Getting a sneak peak of this floating collection of military hardware and mingling with personnel on board.

When Is It Good Photography?

Digiscopic #49

It is all about communication.

Photography is a visual language that requires the right vocabulary and grammar to communicate effectively. Looking at an image it should be apparent to me what it is about. Or it should be intriguing and thereby provide an invitation for further 'reading' of its story. If the image cannot connect to me as the viewer, it fails its purpose.

Similar to good prose or poetry, the essence of a good image comes from the multitude of decisions that the author has made during its creation. Mostly, it is a process of elimination, by subtracting all the non-essential information from the frame, thus reaching a clear visual expression as the end result.

As personality is an important part of the decision making process, a good photograph often conveys a personal aspect of the photographer.

Great images connect with us in an instant, they deliver their message and leave us emotionally touched, educated, inspired or otherwise impacted, with the visual imprint often lasting for a lifetime.

(A piece that I wrote a few years ago and just rediscovered.)

Must See

​René Burri with two of his iconic works. 

Very rarely in Hong Kong we can enjoy the original works of one of the great photographers and have the opportunity to hear him speak in person about his work.

Last night I had the great pleasure to attend the opening of the UTOPIA exhibition by René Burri at the Museum Galley of the Hong Kong University.

As one of the longstanding members of Magnum, Burri has covered the world for over half a century and did hardly put down his Leica during the evening.

Not to be missed.

Mission Accomplished

​Walls of the main bar

After an intense week of work, just finished the curation, production and hanging of an exhibition celebrating 70 Years of The Foreign Correspondents' Club Hong Kong.

Seven decades in images of correspondents in the field and members in and around the clubs various locations from war torn Chungking to glitzy Hong Kong.

Big Party Tonight

Photo-Quilting

​Boundaries

On assignments and during personal work I have always collected the occasional visual morsel or snippet. Textural bits, specs of light, natural compositions find their way into my ever-growing visual scrapbook.

This weekend I started dicing and splicing single images in order to enhance their graphic appeal and found the results rather intriguing.

While quilting is an old craft of using bits of left-over fabric to turn into geometric and graphic pattern bedspreads, quilts, etc., photo-quilting looks to me like a creative way of using visual bits to craft new and unusual images.

Watch this space.

App Inspiration

Bird View

The most enjoyment I get from using my camera phone on these little journeys of creative discovery.

Seeing something, taking a picture and then pulling it through the various app filtrations and effects to find a suitable match. Often being surprised by the failure and the success.

Keep discovering!

Autumn Arrival

Every year there is that day which distinctly marks the end of the Hong Kong summer. When you step outside and suddenly sense a crispness in the air. Today was that day. Yesterdays humidity and mugginess has passed and we can get ready for the best season of the year.

Get your gear ready.