Lessons in Street Photography on a Trip to Hong Kong

Continuing from a story I did a few months ago, I'm back to talk about another moment when I started to rediscover film photography – especially the intricacies of shooting street photography.

Getting back into film in late 2018, my first few rolls revolved around my time in school and a few nighttime college events that I went to. Using my Olympus Mju 105, I didn't really have to think about much other than choosing my subject. The process was made much easier because I was very familiar with the crowd that I was in, so I never felt self-conscious or shy to take photos of the people around me. The end of 2018 brought my first time traveling abroad with film and I was excited about how it was going to be. Street photography was something I rarely experienced in the Philippines, since the infrastructure is catered towards vehicles. So this would be my first true experience of shooting random people on the street. Looking back on this experience, here are some things I learned and the photos I took during this trip.

Blink and You'll Miss It

Shooting on the streets in Hong Kong was something new for me since the city is much more accessible than Manila. Its infrastructure allows you to explore different parts of the cities much more easily and you'll always find something interesting to shoot. Though there is some form of mall culture that is big in Manila, walking the streets of Hong Kong let me see the life and spirit of the city. Always on the move, I needed to be ready to capture moments on the street that zoom by in an instant. At that time I didn't really understand the concept of shutter speed and aperture so I was just capturing everything I could as quickly as possible. Despite some shots being blurry I really like the effect I got from it and it made me also understand my camera a bit better.

Keep On Moving

With street photography sometimes you just have to see where the roads take you. Usually, when I travel I hit a few key places such as cool stores or areas, and then just go around freely and see what new things I can find. During this time I was in Hong Kong I was exploring my fashion taste and also getting into film photography, which is how I ended up on this street in Tsim Tsa Tsui that had a cool skate shop and a film camera store near each other. From there I just explored the rest of the other streets. For the succeeding days that's what I'd do as well, pick a "landmark" or something that I really wanted to see, and then just get lost in the sea of people.

Becoming Thick Skinned

I never want to appear rude or obnoxious, but this trip taught me how to take more risks and be more daring when it comes to taking photos. One of the things I always admired was how people could take such captivating photos of strangers on the street. This was my chance to try doing something similar, since I was an outsider who perhaps people would never see again. I was still sensitive and didn’t want to seem intrusive or irritating, so I tried to be a discreet street photographer, capturing people on the subway, the streets, and in any location. Though at that time I didn’t realize my camera wasn’t the fastest, the blurred looks of the people seemed cool for me as in a way it seemed like a way to keep their privacy as well.

As always with film, I didn’t even know the results until a few weeks later when I finally got the time to develop the rolls through one of our local labs. Seeing these scenes immortalized through my camera, I was really satisfied with the results, that had a mix of some dreamy city scenes mixed with blurry nightlife images. Not every shot was perfect but it was a lesson learned in film.

Reflecting on this trip, the three key lessons I got from this trip would stay with me as I continued my photography journey. This Hong Kong trip was a key journey for me as it prepared me for when I eventually did an exchange in Tokyo where I shot a lot of film—a story for another time.

What was your first experience of street photography? Share some stories down below!

written by rocket_fries0036 on 2023-03-26 #culture #people #places #tutorials #night #street #street-photography #hong-kong #apac #olympus-mju-105 #beginner-s-journey