Hong Kong Photographer Mak Fung (1918-2009) began photographing in the mid-1940s and documented the city’s street views and grassroots for more than half a century.
Hong Kong Once Was: 1946-1980s, a tribute exhibition to Mak Fung, was inspired by his 1997 photo book. It is an exquisite collection of photographs of old Hong Kong taken by Mak Fung from 1946 to the 1990s.
Hong Kong was a small fishing village. In Mak Fung’s photos, images of sampans in Aberdeen and drying salted fishes in Tai O remind us of its past. As a colonial city, Hong Kong’s architecture, such as the third-generation General Post Office in Central and Hong Kong Club Building, is reminiscent of history. Mak Fung’s lens also captures the street scene of Hong Kong and the daily life of ordinary people, such as the Graham Street market and the peddler on the street.
The exhibition showcases over 20 silver gelatin prints made in the 1990s and Mak Fung’s publications.
Hong Kong Once Was: 1946-1980s
Mak Fung Photo Exhibition
Date: 7-21, Dec, 2024
Time: 2:30-7pm(Wed-Fri), 2:30-6pm(Weekends)
Venue: Eastpro Gallery, 9A, Hyde Centre, 223 Gloucester Road, Causeway Bay
Whether in the movies or in reality, the US has always fascinated visitors. The country has inspired generations of photographers, from Robert Frank in the 1950s to today’s young street photographers.
Boogie Woogie Photography & PhotogStory are pleased to present a group exhibition, MADE IN USA, which brings together the works of eight artists exploring this theme. The exhibition will be held at the Loft in Wong Chuk Hang from 30 November 2024 to 24 January 2025.
It is a journey that embraces the diverse voices that have defined America and envisions stories still waiting to be told:
New York is the City; everyone sees and feels it from their perspective. Japanese photographer Takeshi Shikama‘s platinum print of Central Park is meditative and elegant; New York in the 1950s under the lens of Swiss-French photographer Sabine Weiss is dynamic. Meanwhile, US photographer Louis Stettner, who spent 70 years photographing Manhattan, captured the full spectrum of color within its urban scenery.
Harold de PuymorinHarold de Puymorin
In 2023, French photographer Harold de Puymorin embarked on an unforgettable photography trip across the Western USA, riding his Harley Davidson to explore the open roads of the American expanse. Through the endless deserts and flourishing mountains, Harold’s pictures show the diversity and richness of the United States and encourage those who dare to pursue their dreams.
Also in Western US, French photographer Isabelle Boccon-Gibod visited friends in Sun City Palm Forest, a residential community of 5,000 households with regulations so strict that she felt overwhelmed with anxiety. Only the instant film images of the sun and the road she embarked on during her subsequent journey could relieve her from such anguish.
Isabelle Boccon-Gibod
Hong Kong artist Reo Ma‘s motorbike installation echoes Harold de Puymorin’s road trip images. Vehicles symbolise speed and freedom but have also historically driven consumer culture forward, both in the US and elsewhere. Accompanying the motorbike are selected works from Reo, each representing his perceptions of our culture during his “road trip” of exploring the outer and inner worlds.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong artist Damon Tong used the “Made in China” stickers to collage the US flag. It can also be interpreted as a reflection of capitalism and consumerism in a broader sense.
US photographer Roger Ballen‘s staged photograph resonates with the exhibition’s titled theme. It portrays a constrained Superman who turns into a fragmented puppet. When Superman is no longer Superman, what becomes of the American dream?
Roger Ballen, Superman. All images Courtesy of Boogie Woogie Photography.
Boogie Woogie Photography is also pleased to present, with the prestigious Kraemer Gallery from Paris, 18th-century French museum-quality furniture and decorative art.
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.
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.
As one of the most celebrated photographers of the 20th century, Louis Stettner’s work included streetscapes, portraits, and images of New York, which he continued to photograph for seven decades. His work stands out in photography due to his ability to convey profound human emotions and everyday life with an understated yet powerful authenticity. Stettner’s work was collected by the V&A Museum in London, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
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. She was 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.
Takeshi Shikama’s life ambition is to capture the “invisible” world that lingers beyond the visible world of the trees. Each photograph is hand-printed by himself using the ancient platinum/palladium technique, considered the highest quality in black and white photographic printing. The Japanese Gampi paper on which he prints is a handmade UNESCO national treasure. It requires a great deal of time and manual labor, reflecting Shikama’s intimacy with his subject matter.
Roger Ballen’s photographs span over fifty years, and he is one of the most influential and important photographic artists of the 21st century. His strange and extreme works confront the viewer and challenge them to come with him on a journey into their minds as he explores the deeper recesses of his own. Roger Ballen is one of the artists representing South Africa at the Venice Biennale 2022 in Italy.
Isabelle was trained as an Engineer at Ecole Centrale Paris and Columbia University. 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. Her work is project-based, photography offering the means and the pretext to explore specific territories. She likes to employ ad-hoc techniques. Centre Pompidou in Paris collects her work.
Damon Tong received a Bachelor of Fine Art from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University (co-presented with the Hong Kong Art School) in 2008 and a Master of Visual Arts from the Hong Kong Baptist University in 2013. His creations mainly revolve around mundane events in his daily life, creating sticker collages comprised of thousands of small stickers assembled into simple phrases or patterns. The work may seem banal initially, but its overly repetitive arrangement suggests an overtone. The bright colors and patterns of the stickers provide a visually stimulating experience, albeit the conceptual content of the work is deliberately straightforward.
As a passionate adventurer, The Hong Kong-based French photographer Harold de Puymorin has lived and traveled in many different countries, including Myanmar, where his photography career began. With a keen eye for thought-provoking composition, his work is immersive and emotionally evocative, often arousing a deep sense of curiosity. Over the last 12 years, Harold has worked with brands such as Louis Vuitton and Dom Perignon. Besides commercial work, his photographic art was exhibited at numerous art fairs in Asia.
Reo Ma’s creativity has free rein in the myriad of mediums and materials he works with. With a background in fashion design, he has an affinity for hands-on production: he welds metal, moulds concrete and dismantles vehicles, all skills he taught himself. His sculptural objects thus take on a raw, unrefined visual quality that reflects the spontaneity and immediacy of his art-making. In 2021, Reo initiated War on Culture, a pseudonym that anyone can take on as long as they create works against the homogenisation of culture. In the fashion of guerrilla art, he has been putting up sculptural works since 2021 on the streets of Hong Kong, London, and Paris.
當時日本傳媒廣泛報導他的身故，當中不乏觀點偏頗的文章，其時傳媒蜂擁向細江英公徵求刊登《薔薇刑》照片，他以守護三島由紀夫及相片的名譽為由，拒絕提供照片給傳媒，一來照片與他的自殺事件無關，二來也害怕傳媒以偏頗的文章配上《薔薇刑》，感覺對三島先生不尊重。其實在三島自殺之前，由於攝影集在海外也大獲好評，他們已籌備出版國際版《薔薇刑》，事件發生後，細江英公中斷出版計劃，幸好後來三島由紀夫太太瑤子致電他務必將其付梓，於是翌年才有這本《薔薇刑》(Barakei – Killed by Roses)，由著名設計師橫尾忠則負責裝幀設計。
當時細江英公不僅拍攝她在工作室的場景、在工作室外第14街表演行為藝術的時刻(14th Street Happening)，同時記錄下她在紐約Castellane Gallery展出的情景。最特別的一張作品，是草間彌生被陽具雕塑圍繞， 雙腿向上伸展呈V字型，目光自信地望向鏡頭。細江英公以影像疊加的方式，令相片產生一種夢幻的效果，突出藝術家「重複」的創作理念。
1995年，在細江英公的提倡下，位於山梨縣的清里攝影美術館 (K*MoPA，Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts)成立，由細江擔任館長多年，以教育為目的收藏攝影作品，尤其是鉑金相片，收藏量豐富。去年到訪日本攝影師志鎌猛(Takashi Shikama)位於山梨縣家中時，夫婦二人曾帶我參觀清里攝影美術館，當年志鎌猛先生正是在這裡見到鉑金相片的魅力後，從而開始鑽研鉑金鈀金照片十多年。
同樣在1997年創作的《大選美》(The Great Pageant Show)，是「Hollian Thesaurus」系列中最多人認識的作品。肖像攝影是黃楚喬的重要創作，早於1981年，她便以4×5大片幅相機身邊的藝術家朋友拍攝肖像，包括導演許鞍華、攝影師梁家泰、作家蔣芸、詩人關夢南、藝術家麥顯揚及梁巨廷等（這系列作品被香港文化博物館收藏），地點則她與同是攝影師丈夫的李家昇在中環成立的攝影工作室。
Renowned Hong Kong artist-photographer Holly Lee (1953-2024) passed away recently in Canada at 71.
Holly pioneered conceptual photography in HK and experimented with Photoshop to create composite photographs that resembled oil paintings. Her most notable series, Hollian Thesaurus, was made between 1994 and 2000 and was collected by the M+ Museum.
Holly Lee has been a professional photographer since the late 1970s. She was one of the founders of Dislocation, a monthly photography journal in HK that was active from 1992 to 1998. She immigrated to Toronto in 1997, where she and photographer Lee Ka Sing set up an art studio space from 2000 to 2018. The duo published an online weekly periodical, Double Doube, in 2019, showcasing their diverse creations throughout the years.
In 2024, Holly presented her new fiction, “Sushi Grass in Paradise,” and three works for The Hollian Thesaurus in a duo exhibition in WMA in Sheung Wan.
Scroll down for English. 1987年，陳百強在DMI年代的《夢裡人》唱片封面，其黑白相片就是黃永熹在陳百強麥當勞道家中門前所拍攝；1991年，張國榮在《號外》雜誌反串花旦的封面照片，同樣出自他之手。還有1994年張學友《餓狼傳說》的唱片封套、1996年電影《金枝玉葉2》的梅艷芳劇照等，均是由他操刀拍攝。
1979年，黃永熹(Sam Wong)在加州藝術中心設計學院 (ArtCenter College of Design)接受商業攝影訓練，1984年回港發展後，獲劉天蘭邀請首次操刀拍攝葉德嫻《千個太陽》唱片封面照，隨即奪得該年「最佳唱片封面獎」。之後他先後拍攝張國榮、張曼玉、梅艷芳、陳百強、陳奕迅等巨星，可謂見證廣東歌的黃金時代。
1987年，他參與成立香港專業攝影師公會，是香港首個專業攝影師團體。黃永熹的作品橫跨廣告、唱片封面、電影海報及雜誌等範疇，入行40年，他最近才舉辦首次攝影展，展覽從一句雙關語開始，《It’s about Time》既「關於時間」，也有「是時候了」的意思，藉此回望黃永熹過去拍攝的時、地、人。
展覽詳情
日期：2024年7月15日至9月15日
時間：9am-6pm (星期一至日)
地址：調景嶺(HKDI)香港知專設計學院C003展館
After honing his commercial photography skills at the ArtCenter College of Design in California, Sam Wong returned to Hong Kong in 1984 to embark on a photography career. He photographed Deanie Ip, Danny Chan, Anita Mui, Leslie Cheung, and Jacky Cheung’s album covers and witnessed the golden age of Cantopop.
Sam Wong’s photographic works span advertising, album covers, movie posters, and magazine shootings. In his 40-year career, Sam recently held his first photography exhibition, titled It’s About Time. The exhibition showcased numerous portraits, leaving an indelible mark on Cantopop culture.
《Hong Kong Photographers Five-Mak Fung》，2010年出版，184頁， 收錄多幅1940至1990年代舊香港照片，HKD350。「顯影堂」有售。
至於2010年出版的精裝版攝影集《Hong Kong Photographers Five-Mak Fung》，可見有最早在1940年代中從山頂俯瞰中環的影像、1960年代雲咸街街景、1970年代的中半山景觀，中環遮打大廈的前身於仁行（Union Building）等殖民地時期建築，更令人懷念。 此外，攝影集也收錄麥烽在1950及1960年代拍攝的電影明星，如林黛、夏夢、苗金鳳、白茵、江雪、張瑛、江毅及李清等。
PS：今年是麥烽(1918-2009)逝世15周年，推介兩本攝影集：《香港曾經是這樣的》，1997年出版，108頁，收錄逾百幅1940中至1990年代舊香港照片，HKD 250。《Hong Kong Photographers Five-Mak Fung》，2010年出版，184頁，收錄多幅1940至1990年代舊香港照片，HKD350。「顯影堂」有售。
Hong Kong Photographer Mak Fung (1918-2009) began photographing in the mid-1940s and documented Hong Kong’s street views and grassroots for over half a century.
Hong Kong was a small fishing village. In Mak Fung‘s photos, images of fishing boats in Castle Peak Bay, Aberdeen Tanka boat people, and Tai Po fishing port remind us of its past. As a colonial city, Hong Kong’s architecture, such as the Union Building(now Chater House) and the third-generation General Post Office in Central, is reminiscent of history. Mak‘s lens also captures the street scene of Hong Kong and the daily life of ordinary people, such as the Graham Street market, the water wells in Kowloon City, and the children playing on the streets.
”Hong Kong Photographer Five-Mak Fung,“ published in 2010, is an exquisite collection of photographs of old Hong Kong taken by Mak Fung from the 1940s to the 1990s. The photo album also includes movie stars in the 1950s and 1960s, such as Lin Dai, Xia Meng, etc., witnessing the golden age of the Hong Kong film industry.
