Photography was introduced to the world in 1839, and Hong Kong became a Crown Colony of the British Empire in 1841. The coincidence in time gave photography an invisible connection to Hong Kong’s history. To a certain extent, photographic images construct our impression of Hong Kong. Back then, photography is only available during the day due to its limitations, and the visual impression of the early night scenes in Hong Kong was absent.
For the residents of the sparsely populated small fishing village at that time, the bustling night scene of Hong Kong today is far beyond their imagination. Artist photographer Thomas Lin imagined that people in 1841 meet Hong Kong in 2020, simulating the photographic techniques of that time and constructing a blurry or overexposed night scene of Hong Kong.
Thomas imitated the limitations of photography at that time. There was no electric lighting, and the only light source for night scenes is moonlight. From historical documents, Thomas learned that the moon’s exposure value at the full moon is EV-3, which is an absolute value and consists of the different aperture and shutter combinations.
The selected shooting locations are closely related to Hong Kong history. For example, the place where the British army landed in 1841 is now Hollywood Road Park. The year the Island Eastern Corridor was built coincided with the signing of the “Sino-British Joint Declaration.” From this project, we also learned more about the history of Hong Kong.
攝影記者高仲明拍攝二十四位遭受警暴的香港人的傷痕，集結成《港傷》（Wounds of Hong Kong ）一書，現正於kickstarter平台進行眾籌（直至六月十二日）。這些受害人不只是示威者，還有攝影記者及途經的市民，有人被胡椒彈掃射、有人被打至皮開肉綻、有人患上創傷後遺症，其實這僅是冰山一角，看不見的真相，還有很多。
