ken yip, an amateur photographer Captured by Ken

““Since Childhood, I have a strong desire to record down scenes around me, but I have not been good at expressing my curiosity towards the surroundings and landscapes with writings. Eventually, a phone with camera function that I got in secondary school let me embark on the journey of photography”.

Light and shadow are intrinsically temporary. It is the nature of transiency in things that arouses the sense of duty in me to record with my camera. To me, photography is an art of sacrificing and making choices. Not only financially, it but also implies the choice of using your camera instead of your own pair of eyes to appreciate the only moments of now. There are many scenes that are happening only once, photographers chose to capture them with their lens for others to rekindle in the future. Each photo is the selfless sharing of the photographer. In my opinion, even in the digital age nowadays, photo-taking process still encompasses the photographers’ own interpretation of things in front of his eyes and the way he arranges them in one picture. It requires his experience, technique and visual acumen. The advancement in technology is only supplementary to his judgment.

In the exhibition “Hong Kong and Evening”, my awarded aerial photograph titled Rage of Hong Kong is featured. The piece is inspired by Home, a documentary that uses aerial shooting technique which gives powerful visual impression. Aerial shooting enables more angles and points of penetration to investigate Hong Kong’s daily. Rage of Hong Kong records Sham Shui Po, an old district in Hong Kong, at the moment when day turned into night. The vibrancy of the urban lights to me symbolizes the rage and struggling of the people, giving me unlimited poetic imagination. Many people in Hong Kong have his special linkage with the old district. They might grew up here as children, or visited the district for work, or having relatives living here. I was born and raised here in Sham Shui Po. I think this picture captures the evening of Sham Shui Po from the above can tell the story and spirit of Hong Kong people livelier than the typical modern buildings in Hong Kong. Throughout the journey of photo-taking, I always keep this inspiring quote in my mind: “To capture the infinite by finite”.” – ken

rage of hong kong*
sham shui po, hong kong (2017)
“Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
photographic print
A2
*the first runner-up in National Geographic International Photo Contest 2017 (Places)

density of hong kong
shek kip mei, hong kong (2018)
photographic print
A2

neon of hong kong
prince edward, hong kong (2018)
photographic print
A2