At last Hong Kong, and just before another visit..

I have been promising since February that I would write about my first proper, get out of the airport trip to Hong Kong and so here it is.

What can I say about Hong Kong other than I liked it and felt relaxed and comfortable there. Maybe it is just a little more familiar as I am used to Taipei, and Hong Kong is like a condensed version. Yes it is crowded, the streets are busy and the MRT is packed most of the time. However, if like me you prefer to stay above ground and walk when you have time quiet corners can be found.

I really enjoyed the Star Ferry, what a nice way to get from Hong Kong to Kowloon, super cheap too. That is the one thing that is cheap in Hong Kong, transport. It is so easy to get around, buses, trams, MRT, ferries and of course no shortage of cabs, as you know though I like to walk, even cheaper!

Heading over to make the obvious photographs of the Hong Kong sky line in the morning as the sun came up afforded me an opportunity to wander back along the marina front at causeway bay. There isn't much going on down here, fishermen sleeping in their cabins during the late morning after a nights fishing and later on men gather to play cards and have a drink in the evening sun. This scene seems miles away of the crowded streets just a few hundred feet away.

Wanting to get even further away I took the MRT all the way to Lantau Island to go and see The Big Buddha, or Tian Tan Buddha to give it it's correct name. The statue is bronze and stands 85ft (26m) high. Sitting it it's plinth at the top of a long flight of steps, which left many wheezing as the laboured up it looks back over the beautiful parkland of the Island towards Hong Kong. Yes it is touristy and yes I got corralled by Chinese tourists so they could have their picture taken with the western man, I find that simply good fun. Somewhere when they get home and are showing their photographs to their family and friends, their will be me an unknown white guy they thought it fun to put their arm around for a picture. Somehow that makes the world seem like a big place still, it just makes me want to grab opportunities to travel and see more and more.

I will be back in Hong Kong in a few weeks time, I am not sure how many pictures I will be making, I hope to have a few meetings and also spend a few days by the water's side fishing and relaxing, it has been along time since I have done that.

I have told myself that Monday's should be blog days and I will try to stick to this. Sadly I have a PC issue and it is at the menders while I write this on my iPad. Since my last blog I spent a month teaching for the first time, I had two great students and, bright and eager to learn all they could about photography and post processing techniques in the limited time we had. They told me they enjoyed the lessons and I certainly had fun teaching them what I could.that will be in a future blog. For now though I have to go and get into Taipei, I am looking at a studio space for Wednesday's portrait shoot, picking up a light from the repair shop and then heading to the protest that is now in its fourth week at the Legislative Yuan to make a portrait with the occupation as the background, who knows what will happen there. Finally at the end of the week I am off to a wedding fair with a make up artist friend to shoot, I am hoping to get some great shots by the pool and see what else I can make, fingers crossed the weather will be on our side and we can create something beautiful.

So until next time, I hope you enjoyed this, remember to share this and all my blogs, that is what I write them for. Most importantly if you need a photographer here in Taiwan or anywhere around the world then please feel free to contact me with whatever you may need photographing.