Hong Kong always pulses with energy, but there’s something especially compelling about its quieter rhythms on a public holiday. On June 2nd, 2014—Dragon Boat Festival—I chose to sidestep the noise and spectacle of the races and head instead to Kowloon. My aim was simple: to wander with a camera, observe without agenda, and see what the city had to offer when no one was really looking.
Armed with my Fujifilm X100—a trusty companion for street photography thanks to its compact profile and fixed 35mm equivalent lens—I drifted through streets I knew well. Markets were half-shut, foot traffic lighter than usual, but the life was still there: in shopfront shadows, lone figures, and moments of stillness amid the usual bustle.
I shot everything in colour initially but processed the series in black and white using Lightroom and Silver Efex. There’s a certain honesty to monochrome—it removes the distraction of colour and brings the focus to form, gesture, and contrast. The approach was deliberately minimal: no heavy editing, no dramatic cropping. Just the frame, as it was seen.
This outing straddles the line between travel and street photography, but to me it’s more about the quiet act of looking. Public holidays have their own character in Hong Kong. With fewer people rushing and more space to breathe, the city reveals a slightly different face. It felt like the right time to revisit.
This set is a time capsule of sorts—mundane, maybe, but truthful. And sometimes, that’s more than enough.
