Michael Rogge是當時少有在香港拍攝16米釐片段的攝影師，1952年，他是HK Amateur Cine Club聯合創辦人之一，留港數年間拍攝許多珍貴片段。十多年前他開始在Youtube公開當年拍攝的片段，這些影像引起很大迴響及關注，連在影片中穿插的舊香港照片也引起人們的興趣。2010年，中環Tao Evolution畫廊邀請他舉辦攝影展覽，並出版攝影集《Hong Kong Fifties》，他的故事及照片在香港也逐漸為人所知。
攝影集《Hong Kong Fifties》，54頁，精裝版，26.4 x 32.8cm，HKD250。「顯影·書櫃」 @photogshop 有售。
The 94-year-old Dutch photographer Michael Rogge set foot in Hong Kong in 1949 to work for a Dutch Bank. He has been a genuine enthusiast of photography and filmmaking since childhood. He always carried a small Kine Exakta 135mm camera and a Paillard Bolex movie camera to walk through the streets of Hong Kong to document people’s daily lives. Street barbers, letter writers, and passers-by carrying wooden barrels with a shoulder pole, his camera witnesses the life of ordinary people in Hong Kong at that time. Children are always seen under his lens, little girls drinking beverages with younger siblings on their backs, a boy sitting in a rattan basket, and the kids swimming at the pier.
Michael Rogge left Hong Kong for Japan in 1955 and then briefly returned to Hong Kong in 1961 to continue photographing the city. After 28 years, when he returned to Hong Kong in 1989, the city underwent tremendous changes in the era of economic take-off. Many colonial buildings had long gone, and the country lanes in Shatin became concrete roads. The images he recorded can hardly be seen anymore.
大概在2004年，Alex Bartsch已收藏黑膠唱片，然而直到2015年，他才開始這種創作手法。家住倫敦南部Brixton，當時他在選物店買下Joe’s All Stars的《Brixton Cat》之後，得悉封面照片的拍攝地就是附近的市集，於是嘗試將唱片封套與真實環境融為一體。雖然事隔46年，不過照片看起來卻絲毫沒有違和感，就這樣開始這個Album Cover Project。
Joe’s All Stars 《Brixton Cat》
Alex Bartsch尤其鍾情雷鬼音樂，用三年時間走訪倫敦的不同地方，尋找出五十張個人珍藏的雷鬼音樂黑膠封套的拍攝地，以同一手法拍攝出時光交錯的照片，並在2018年集結成《Covers: Retracing Reggae Record Sleeves in London》一書。這批黑膠唱片的年份介乎1967年至1988年之間，他說這段時期的封面照片跟時下的封套設計風格大相逕庭，沒有太多商業計算，往往只用簡單、真實的場景拍攝，看起來很隨意，然而卻總有意想不到的效果。
Jah Woosh《Religious Dread》
Pat Kelly的《Pat Kelly Sings》（1969年） 、Al Campbell的《Rainy Days》（1978年）、 Jah Woosh的《Religious Dread》（1978年），Matumbi的《Point of View》（1979年）等，這些專輯面世已數十年，不禁令人好奇Alex Bartsch是如何得知唱片封套的拍攝地？原來，他不但嘗試聯絡歌手本人，還找來當年負責唱片的監製、攝影師及設計師等， 一張照片往往要探訪幾個人，才得知當年確切的拍攝位置。
Carroll Thompson《Hopelessly in Love》
雖然倫敦的面貌在過去半世紀經歷巨變，但幸運的是大部分封面的所在地，並沒有太大變化。其中一張他最喜歡的黑膠是Carroll Thompson的《Hopelessly in Love》，唱片在1981年推出，事隔三十多年，當Alex Bartsch來到這個街區時，發現眼前的畫面非常熟悉，正如封套照片一樣，於是將它完好地融合在真實的場景中。至於最難尋找的封面拍攝地，不得不提Harry J. All Stars的《Liquidator》，一來它誕生於1969年，不易找到當年的製作人，加上照片原本在一棟舊民居的天台拍攝，四周沒有標誌性建築物，也為照片增添難度。
Harry J. All Stars 《Liquidator》
Alex Bartsch還將創作過程拍攝成短片，記錄他在市集、遊樂場、天橋底、河邊、紀念碑等地拍攝時的情景，有時他不惜爬高蹲低、有時又會引來途人好奇的眼光及交流。這批照片不僅見證時間的流逝，同時發掘雷鬼音樂在英國的發展及歷史，令更多人知道這種被人忽視的音樂文化。
Inge Morath的作品多元，曾為《亂點鴛鴦譜》 (The Misfits)及《The Unforgiven》拍攝劇照，分別拍攝過Marilyn Monroe和Audrey Hepburn。她在威尼斯、中國及蘇聯拍攝的作品，不僅是出色的街頭照片，還見證一個特殊的時代。2002年1月30日，Inge Morath在紐約逝世，終年79歲。
Inge Morath was born today (May 27th) 100 years ago.
“To take pictures had become a necessity and I did not want to forgo it for anything.”
Originally a translator and a writer, she wrote articles to accompany Ernst Haas’s photographs. Robert Capa invited her to Paris to join the newly founded Magnum agency as an editor and researcher. She started photographing in 1951 and joined Magnum Photos as a photographer two years later. While working on her first assignments, she assisted Henri Bresson during 1953-54 and became a full member in 1955.
Morath traveled extensively in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East in the following years. Some of Morath’s most significant work includes cityscapes and portraits of passers-by and celebrities. After her marriage to playwright Arthur Miller in 1962, Morath settled in New York and Connecticut. She first visited the USSR in 1965. In 1972 she studied Mandarin and obtained a visa to China, making the first of many trips to the country in 1978. Inge Morath died in New York City on 30 January 2002.
At the occasion of the French May Arts Festival 2023, Boogie Woogie Photography & PhotogStory are pleased to present “French+,” a group exhibition at the Loft in Wong Chuk Hang from 4th May to 3rd June 2023 together with the prestigious Kraemer Gallery from Paris presenting 18th-century French museum quality furniture and decorative art.
+ means more and extra, which also denotes infinite possibilities. French+ is not just about French art but also language, culture, and lifestyle.
The exhibition comprises eleven French photographers and artists’ artworks. It is our first time exhibiting paintings with acclaimed Monaco-based expressionist painter Philippe Pastor. Using living matter, its transformation through time and immediate surroundings, combining soil, pigments, minerals, and plants of all kinds, Philippe Pastor represents his vision of life, environmental destruction, and Man’s involvement in society.
We are also happy to be representing Elsa Jeandedieu, Hong Kong-based muralist. On view is a personal tondo, inspired by the Mediterranean Sea, made of plaster and copper leaves.
Florence Levillain’s creative and humorous photos are eye-catching among the photography artworks. She takes the French expressions as inspirations and literally turns the metaphor phrases into pictures. This imaginative photography series aims to raise awareness of the lyricism and humor of French language metaphors.
Florence LevillainFlorence Levillain
Additionally, French+ can be interpreted as a diverse photography style, like Sabine Weiss’s Dior dress, Willy Ronis’s Paris impression, Raymond Cauchetier’s Hong Kong journey, and Thierry Cohen’s surreal starry sky images, which represent the rich and unique French photography culture.
FRENCH+
Date: 4 May – 3 June 2023
Time: 2-7pm (Wednesday – Saturday)
Address: The Loft, 8/F, E. Wah Factory Building,
56-60 Wong Chuk Hang Road, Wong Chuk Hang.
About Boogie Woogie Photography
Boogie Woogie Photography is a company founded in Hong Kong in 2016 to promote photography in Asia. The mission is to act as a platform for galleries, collectors, companies, and photographers aiming to develop photography projects in Hong Kong and Asia.
About PhotogStory
PhotogStory is an online Photography platform and Guest Curator based in Hong Kong. We focus on stories of local and international photographers, and stories behind classic photos.
Thierry Cohen, Courtesy of Boogie Woogie Photography
Artists Profile
Bogdan Konopka (b. Poland, 1953-2019)
Born in Poland and an immigrant to Paris in 1989, Bogdan Konopka has been photographing cities he visits or lives in from Europe to China. His images are immediately recognizable whether the subjects are a fragment of nature or an interior space. Using large format or pinhole cameras, Konopka pays close attention to the quality of his photographs. His hand-made gelatin silver prints on chlorobromide paper are mostly contact prints, which have the same size as the original negative to achieve perfection. Konopka’s work was collected by Musée National d’Art Moderne and Centre Georges Pompidou, etc.
Elsa Jeandedieu (b. France,1983)
Hong Kong-based French muralist and visual artist Elsa Jeandedieu has been spreading her creative talents and bringing her beautiful, unique texture artworks and wall murals to spaces from Hong Kong, Shanghai, Paris, Italy, and beyond. Her inspiring energy and creativity have resulted in commissioned wall designs, artworks, and luxury art pieces for many high-profile clients, including CHANEL and Victoria’s Secret. Elsa moved to Hong Kong in 2008 and launched her eponymous atelier, Elsa Jeandedieu Studio, in 2015, where she now heads up a team of dedicated artists.
Florence Levillain (b. France, 1970)
Florence Levillain began an independent career as a reportage photographer in 1994. She explores various territories ranging from the business world to the streets of the suburbs. She works for the press (Liberation, Le Monde, Paris Match, etc.) and carries out numerous reports abroad on social issues. She won the Kodak Prize in 1999 for reportage on women working at night in Rungis, a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris. Florence Levillain’s work has always focused on rediscovering the universes close to everyone but unknown or forgotten by many. Her new work, “au pied de la lettre,” is an unusual series of photographic works that aims to raise awareness of the lyricism and humor of French language metaphors.
Isabelle Boccon-Gibod (b. France, 1968)
Lives and works in Paris, Isabelle Boccon-Gibod was trained as Engineer in France (Ecole Centrale Paris) and the U.S. (Columbia University, NY). Her life has mixed art and industry throughout her career. Having first worked on collages and installations, she elected photography twenty years ago as her core medium. She attended the Photography School of Brussels, Belgium. Her work is project-based, photography offering the means to explore specific territories. She likes to employ ad-hoc techniques. Her work is collected by Centre Pompidou, Paris.
Jacques Henri Lartigue (b. France,1894-1986)
Known for dynamic photographs of car races and fashionable ladies, Lartigue made a decisive departure from the stiff formality that characterized early photography to capture joyful, carefree scenes of bourgeois leisure. Born into affluence, he documented the excitement of the final years of the Belle Epoque with a gimlet eye and photographed the wealthy vacationers on the French Riviera from the 1920s through the 1960s. Lartigue’s work was underappreciated until the Museum of Modern Art exhibited his photographs in 1963.
Patrice Bodenand (b. France,1958)
Born in France in 1958, Patrice Bodenand made his career in the textile industry, which gave him the opportunity to travel and the desire to discover other countries and cultures. He immigrated to Hong Kong in 2000, then to Mauritius Island and to China, in Qingdao, to return and finish his career in Hong Kong. “What is exciting in photography is to capture a precise moment to fix it in time, even without chronology, but just for memory, individual or shared.”
Philippe Pastor (b. Monaco, 1961)
Philippe Pastor was born in Monaco. He works between Monaco and Spain. Committed to the environment, Philippe Pastor has developed a personalized vision of nature through his work, translating Man’s interaction with the planet. Since 1990 his work has been recognized at Venice Biennale and has been shown around the world. He is the official artist of the Monaco Pavilion at the Universal Exposition EXPO Milano 2015.
Raymond Cauchetier (b. France, 1920-2021)
Raymond Cauchetier was the most famous photographer of the French New Wave. His first photographs were taken in his thirties while serving in the French Air Force press corps in Indochina. Cauchetier traveled through Hong Kong in 1954 and stayed for one week. He left a bouquet of memories, a little yellowed but always authentic.
Sabine Weiss, Chez Dior, Paris, 1958 Courtesy of Boogie Woogie Photography
Sabine Weiss (b. Switzerland, 1924-2021)
Sabine Weiss decided to become a photographer when she was eighteen, during a time when being a photographer was not a common profession, especially for a woman. Sabine Weiss apprenticed under photographers Frédéric Boissonnas and Willy Maywald, and Vogue hired her as a photo reporter and fashion photographer in 1952. Robert Doisneau discovered her photography and asked her to join the humanist-leaning photo agency Rapho, allowing her to work and travel for many other publications such as Time, Life, Newsweek, and Paris-Match.
Thierry Cohen (b. France, 1963)
Thierry Cohen has been a professional photographer since 1985 and a pioneer in the use of digital techniques. He lives and works between Paris and Monségur, close to the Atlantic Coast. Since 2006, he has devoted most of his time to personal work. Thierry is interested in the impact of human activities, particularly on nature. His works are held in private and public collections and regularly exhibited in New York, Los Angeles, and Paris.
Willy Ronis (b. France, 1910-2009)
After selling his first photograph to the newspaper L’Humanité in 1935, Willy Ronis worked as a press photographer. Ronis always linked his personal experience to his work, which also developed and grew through contact with friends and family: portraits of Marie-Anne, his wife (including the famous Le Nu provençal), his son Vincent, his cats, his friends (Robert Capa) and personalities he met (Sartre, Brassaï, etc.) express the same poetics of the universal as the rest of his work.
FRENCH有法文的意思，攝影師Florence Levillain的作品，便透過幽默的影像帶出法語的魅力。法國人每天用上大量生動的法文比喻，卻很少人認真思考及探究這些詞語的由來， 例如「Avoir la tête dans les nuages」(have your head in the clouds) 的字面意思是腦袋在雲朵裡，這當然是誇張的說法，它其實是指心不在焉。攝影師為相片中的女士頭部加上一朵雲，生動地演活這個詞語，帶領觀眾探索法語比喻中的詩意和獨一無二的幽默感。
Bogdan Konopka出生於波蘭，1970年代中期開始攝影，1989年移居法國。他的作品曾在世界各地展出，包括法國龐比度中心。Bogdan Konopka極其注重照片質素，作品大多以8 x 10吋或4 x 5吋菲林的大片幅相機拍攝，然後親自在黑房裏以「接觸印相」(Contact Prints) 的方法製成銀鹽照片，這種方式直接將菲林與相紙進行接觸印製，在相紙上以1:1的比例呈現出菲林底片上的影像，展現出不同深淺的灰階及出色的光暗效果。
1994年，Florence Levillain開始她的獨立攝影師生涯，曾為《Le Monde》及《Paris Match》等報章雜誌拍攝社會問題的報道，最新作品《au pied de la lettre》將語帶雙關的法國詞語，變成一系列充滿超現實風格的影像，以提高人們對法語隱喻的抒情性和幽默感的認識。
Isabelle Boccon-Gibod (法國，1968)
Isabelle Boccon-Gibod是一名工程師，曾就讀於巴黎中央理工學院和紐約哥倫比亞大學。她的職業生涯融合藝術和工業，最初從事拼貼和裝置藝術創作，二十年前她選擇以攝影作為主要創作媒介。她的作品屬於專題式創作，如巴黎橋底風景 (Paris Under The Bridges)、建築物空間 (南法小鎮的E1027別墅) 等。她現於法國巴黎生活和工作，作品被巴黎龐比度藝術中心收藏。
Jacques Henri Lartigue七歲時已拿起相機拍攝，長大後他成為畫家，反而攝影一直是業餘興趣，以輕鬆手法拍攝家人與朋友玩樂的動感畫面。作為金融大亨後代，他的生活過得富裕無憂，看他早期拍攝的照片，不是拍攝汽車、飛機，就是穿著時髦的女人，記錄上世紀初法國「Belle Époque」的美好年代。他原本在攝影圈一直默默無聞，直至1963年現代藝術博物館(MoMA)為他舉辦個展，當年《Life》雜誌也刊登過許多他的攝影作品，令這位大器晚成的攝影師一時間炙手可熱。
Raymond Cauchetier是法國新浪潮電影劇照攝影師，1951年，他隨法國空軍到胡志明市 (舊稱西貢) 服役，當時正值第一次印度支那戰爭，他拍攝空軍的行動以及戰役，為此還得到戴高樂將軍的褒獎。1954年戰爭結束後，他展開遊覽東南亞的旅程，在香港、澳門、越南、柬埔寨、老撾及日本等地拍攝當地的風土民情，在他的舊香港照片中，可見人來人往、掛滿招牌的街道。
Sabine Weiss, Chez Dior, Paris, 1958 Courtesy of Boogie Woogie Photography
Robert Capa曾為畢加索與孩子拍攝許多生活照，這張照片在1948年拍攝，畢加索第三度做爸爸，66歲老來得子，顯得很份外開心。孩子名為Claude，由畢加索與相差四十歲的Francoise Gilot在1947年所生。在Capa拍攝他們一家三口的照片裏，畢加索幾乎都是笑逐顏開的，可惜好景不常，二人關係也並非一直穩定，1953年，Gilot帶孩子離開年逾七十的畢加索，讓他再次進入痛苦孤獨，幸好枯樹逢春，畢加索很快認識第二任妻子Jacqueline，直至1973年離世，這自是後話。
美國攝影師David Douglas Duncan最廣為人知的作品，就是拍攝畢加索的相片。1956年由好友Robert Copa介紹，認識比他年長35歲的大藝術家畢加索，二人一見如故，成為莫逆之交，直至1973年畢加索逝世。畢加索居於法國康城的別墅，David Douglas Duncan經常來拜訪他，為此更搬到鄰近的小鎮居住。他拍攝下許多罕見的畢加索影像，如沐浴、跳舞、扮鬼扮馬、用餐等日常生活畫面。在他出版的28本書籍中，就有八本是關於畢加索的，不僅如此，他也與畢加索的妻子Jacqueline及女兒Catherine成為好友。他說自己感覺就像他的家人，拍攝這些照片是很簡單及自然的瞬間。
對秦偉而言，香港國際七人欖球賽作為香港回歸後碩果僅存的大型英式體育文化活動之一，其實是有象徵意義的。1993年，在法國留學多年的他回到香港，思考如何捕捉這座殖民地城市的最後歲月，於是萌生拍攝七人欖球賽的念頭。從1995年至2018年期間，秦偉幾乎每屆賽事均會在南看台附近為裝扮趣怪的球迷拍攝肖像，這些照片最近結集成攝影集《異域狂歡 香港的南看台》(A Revelrous Heterotopia – The South Stand of Hong Kong)。
多年來，秦偉拍攝過數以百計的球迷照片，在攝影集中，他以球迷所扮演的角色並置，天使與神父、蝙蝠俠 vs 超人、蘇聯士兵與公安，可見排版與編輯的心思。當這些照片以並排的手法呈現時，既有歸類效果，同時也加強觀看時的趣味，令人不禁好奇下一頁會是甚麼角色。事隔三年，香港國際七人欖球賽去年尾再次在香港大球場舉行，重看這些作品時，不免有久違之感。
