Photographers Blog

By Bobby Yip

Those who have visited Hong Kong know how packed the buildings are, how busy the traffic is and how quickly people walk. When there was a global photo project on the world’s population reaching 7 billion, the first image that came to my mind was Mong Kok – one of the most crowded places in the world. The Guinness World Records lists Mong Kok as having a population density of 130,000 per square km or 340,000 per square mile.

Unlike the two high class shopping districts for tourists, Causeway Bay on the island side and Tsim Sha Tsui in Kowloon Peninsula, complete with world famous fashion brands, Mong Kok has a more authentic feel of the territory. Here you will find older residential buildings, smaller stores of all kinds with tags displaying cheaper prices. It’s packed with people on the pavements, crossing the streets and even sitting on the ground.

I tried to illustrate my feelings by showing many of those walking past, isolated; seeing what happened within a split second of this isolation.

One of the two approaches I used was with a slow shutter speed, holding the camera steady on my face or supported by concrete. In others I shot with a fast shutter speed, observing the subject but not through the viewfinder while clicking the shutter. In this case the camera settings, including focus, were pre-set.

I admire the Henri Cartier-Bresson approach of street photography in catching the decisive moment so a high-speed motor drive was not a must here. But the difference between Paris in 1930′s and Hong Kong in 2011 is that so many people are walking in front of you or blocking the view. Though I like the perspective of a standard lens like Cartier-Bresson, there was just no space for me to step back (too many people) and capturing a person’s full length with a standard lens is nearly impossible. So, I attached my full-frame camera with a super wide angle lens without a lens hood on it so I could move around as freely. The super-wide angle perspective also helped to depict the isolation.

It was an early wake up call for Barack Obama’s inauguration day, and I was assigned to photograph the enormous crowds on the National Mall in Washington. I left the office with New York City based photographer Shannon Stapleton, only to find out the crowds of people would prevent us from entering the National Mall. Even without media accreditation the amount of people trying to gain access to the National Mall became a giant obstacle.

After trying to gain access at all of the entrance points we realized that it may not be possible to get in and do our jobs. Stress levels quickly rose as we realized that our assignment would not be easy, or even possible. We were stuck in the streets with impatient crowds with all of our gear and computers strapped to our shoulders.

Shannon had heard rumors of an entrance at 3rd st while we were waiting in line at the 7th st entrance. We decided to split up, hoping that at least one of us would get in. Around 10 am, I got a phone call from Shannon and learned he had gained access. I quickly ran down to the 3rd st entrance, only to find out it was too late, the line up was too long.