November 01, 2012

Southern Cambodia photography workshop - Feb 2013

November 01, 2012/ Gary Tyson

Our next Cambodia workshop will be concentrated in the southern part of the country for 5 days around Sihanoukville, Kep and the surrounding islands. This promises to be another successful experience for a small group of photographers (maximum 6) to fully immerse themselves in a photo rich environment with 2 instructors for personalised hands on training. For more information on the workshop and to register your interest, please follow the link below or click on any of the images:

http://www.f8photography.com.hk/event/southcambodiafeb2013/

Here are a few images of this wonderful part of the world from one of our previous trips there that we will enjoying exploring with you again soon.

Thanks for taking the time to visit our blog, if you like our blog and website, please ‘like’ us on our public Facebook page or on the ‘LIKE’ box to the right side of this blog. You can share this story with your friends with the Facebook and twitter links below or on the left side of this blog. You can also subscribe to our blog via the RSS link below or on the right of this post OR by clicking this link.

F8 Photography provides commercial photography and photography and video training workshops, more details can be found via the ‘courses and workshops’ link and upcoming events via the front page of our website.

October 10, 2012

Manila Photography workshop - signup this week for discount

October 10, 2012/ Gary Tyson

As some of you may know, we are hosting a photography workshop on the streets of Manila in the Phillipines with acclaimed photographer Kurt Kamka from 16-18 November 2012. We are offering an early bird discount price for clients who signup and pay for the workshop before 20th October, so thats just a few days left to go. Save HK$500 by signing up now.

We have capped the workshop at 8 participants, so far we have ONLY 3 SPACES LEFT...act fast if you wish to have a great photography trip with some like minded people.

If you wish to escape the hustle of Hong Kong for a few days and shoot in a subject rich environment in a small group, improve your composition, learn some new techniques, this could be the workshop for you.

Heres the link to the workshop events page:

F8 PHOTOGRAPHY MANILA WORKSHOP - EVENTS PAGE

Heres some blog posts we have done about some of the areas in which we will shoot in Manila:

MANILA WORKSHOP RECCE

PEMBO - PHOTOGRAPHERS PARADISE

MAKATI,MAKATI, MAKATI

LIFE BEYOND THE GRAVES IN MANILA

And heres some very recent blog posts from clients that attended our last workshop held in Cambodia, see their images and read their thoughts.

CAMBODIA WORKSHOP REVIEW BY F8 PHOTOGRAPHY

October 05, 2012

Manila Photography Workshop Recce

October 05, 2012/ Gary Tyson

Details of our November 2012 workshop in Manila can be seen here: http://www.f8photography.com.hk/event/manila-photography-workshop/

I have been to Manila 3 times in the last 2 months and am starting to get familiar with a few of the locales for shooting street life and have hung out with Kurt Kamka a few times, hes an American photographer based in Manila, so its great to have good communication with someone who already has 'boots on the street' (ironically the name of his blog also, which can be seen here).

All images below are shot on the Olympus OMD with 12mm, 25mm, 45mm lenses and processed in Adobe Lightroom 4 with VSCO film presets or Niksoft Silver Efex 2 for black and white images.

(Welcome to Guadalupe, OMD, 25mm)

This last trip we explored the Guadalupe area of Makati which yet again proved to be a fruitful location full of life and great friendly people. Every single person we met was more than happy to be photographed - if anything the only problem was that once you stopped to talk to people and take an image or two, a crowd sometimes gathered which made it more difficult to get good compositions due to the scene becoming far too 'busy' with willing subjects.

(Kurt shows the kids their portraits, you can't help but smile when you see their reactions)

Kurt was shooting with his Leica S2 camera, a beast of a machine capable of producing some amazing image quality, its a bit out of my price range unfortunately and since I am recently divorced from Leica, luckily I am avoiding their gear, although I do agree with him that the quality is second to none. I was using my trusty OMD for this trip again, as it constantly delivers the goods for me, is lighting fast and the lenses are unsurpassed for these 4/3 sensors.

(My tribute image to James Nachtwey style composition, OMD, 12mm)

(Mini-gangsta, OMD, 12mm)

We met all sorts along the way, small kids, elderly people, mini-gangstas...all totally friendly. It's easy to see how some people get worried walking around Manila, as of course there are some dangerous areas, much like any other city, however, just knowing which areas to avoid is all that is needed to ensure a pleasureable experience shooting in the streets, I found the place each trip to be more enchanting and you can't help but appreciate the people.

(Friendly lady, OMD, 25mm)

(Need a shave?, OMD, 25mm)

When you look at these images, bear in mind that all of them were taken in the space of 2 hours, that should give an idea of the versatility and range of interesting people that we found in just a short walk down a few streets. Its not easy in some countries to find so much diversity of characters, especially ones so willing to be photographed. I think Kurt is a lucky man to live in such a cool city.

(View across to Makati, OMD, 25mm - HDR effect - combined 3 images in Photomatix Pro)

When looking over at Makati from a bridge the mix of poverty with the new world is evident, with slum housing blending into skyscraper towers only a few metres apart, there is a lot of contrast in Manila, I noticed that, with high end shopping malls and designer brands all around certain areas, but I am not shocked or surprised by this anymore as Hong Kong is exactly the same in my view with these kind of contrasts.

(Manila in colour, OMD, 25mm)

(More colour in Guadalupe, OMD, 12mm)

(Every little shop window greets you with a big friendly smile, OMD, 25mm)

If I could describe Manila in colour tones I would say its 'Kodachrome'....the pastel colours that I see everywhere remind me of this, and it really is a place that lends itself to colour photography....the last few trips as its still monsoon season, there have been lots of muted grey skies which helps give the colours a nice soft look, perfect for photography...as long as you take your umbrella in case of a downpour.

(Jeepneys in monsoon season, OMD, 25mm)

(Big Mommas house - OMD, 12mm)

(Street scene, OMD, 25mm)

(Need a room? OMD, 25mm)

(The daily news, OMD, 25mm)

(More street scenes, OMD, 25mm)

Just shooting street scenes on every corner interest me in Manila, the characters all seem to be just 'hanging out' in interesting poses or compositions, it makes photography easier in this sense, and of course I still love black and white photography in these streets even though I just said earlier that it lends itself very well to colour imagery.

On the way back at the end of the shoot we were strolling along the Pasig River banks and came across a bunch of crazy kids jumping off a road bridge into the river, which looks pretty polluted and has a very very strong current.....these kids must have amazing immune systems, and can swim like olympic athletes to resist that current....not to mention the dangers of jumping off a 50ft high road bridge....one kid had climbed right to the top of the girders as can be seen in the image below...i didn't see him jump from there, maybe he has second thoughts once up there, but Im quite sure some of them have done that before...have to admire their fearless attitude and passion for having fun, no matter the risks.

(The jumpers, Pasig River, OMD, 75mm)

(Underpass, OMD, 25mm)

We will be returning to Manila to run a workshop with Kurt Kamka in November, its really a great place to shoot, its perfectly safe, my only advice there is don't go street shooting at night, keep to areas that are safe and be wary of taxi drivers, almost every taxi driver I met always trys to tell me 'the meter doesnt work' or the fee is an extra few hundred pesos....its just one of those things...confirm the price before you set off with a cab or ensure they use the meter, then you'll be fine and still have a few hundred pesos left over to buy the kids a coke for being so friendly in their village :-)

Details of our November 2012 workshop in Manila can be seen here:

http://www.f8photography.com.hk/event/manila-photography-workshop/

Links to Kurt's work can be again seen here at the links below:

http://www.kurtkamka.com/

http://bootsonthestreet.tumblr.com/

If you want to see other posts we have written about Manila, please click this link below which will search out all the Manila posts for you on our blog for your convenience:

http://www.f8photography.com.hk/tag/manila/

August 28, 2012

Pembo - Photographers Paradise

August 28, 2012/ Gary Tyson

(Welcome to Pembo, OMD - 25mm)

Welcome to Pembo...my new favourite part of Manila. I have to say that ANY photographer visiting Manila simply MUST take the time out to visit this area. Its an amazing little district full of intertwining streets and an extremely vibrant street life culture. This place is exactly how I imagined Manila to be in my mind before I visited, full of smiley faces, great colour and amazing characters - even the cats look cool in this part of town!

(Coca Cola Cat, OMD - 25mm)

I'll start off this post with just a few images from the first 10 minutes of walking into Pembo....this should give you a view into the place, from chaotic traffic, variety of characters, smells of street life (check out the pig photo!) the place was like a circus of life, and I must yet again thank my new friend Kurt Kamka for showing me this place.

(It's all about family - OMD - 25mm)

(Hanging out on the street, OMD - 25mm)

(A local form of transport - the trike - OMD - 45mm)

(Bacon sandwich anyone...OMD - 45mm)

(Peek-a-boo, OMD - 25mm)

As I wandered down the street in Pembo (I was only here for 2 hours), I couldn't decide which lens to use on my camera (this is one reason why I usually just take 1 lens with me whilst out on the street....to minimise confusion and help me concentrate on one focal length)....There was so much to see here, I wanted to shoot wide angle environmental shots, then shoot close up portraits of the same people....luckily the Olympus OMD lenses are all very small and light, which enables me to carry 4 primes, which all together weigh less and take up less room than just one of my Canon 'L' lenses. I switched frantically between my wide, medium and longer lenses (12,25, 45, 75) throughout the walk to enable me to capture as much as I could of this place.

(Harsh light, works for me!, OMD - 45mm)

(A sneak peak into someones living room, OMD - 25mm)

(A proud man, OMD - 25mm)

(More than happy to pose, great character, OMD - 25mm)

Something myself and Kurt discussed on our walk was how everyone just can't help smiling in the Phillipines. Its a great 'de-stress' exercise to just go for a walk around Manila, its infectious and by the time we had finished our shoot, we felt we had a very fulfilling afternoon and pleasant experience, and I feel lucky to be able to just walk around and engage with these people, my life is enriched by meeting them and I am very grateful that they allow me a few seconds of their time to capture their vibrant smiles and laughter.

(Laughing girl, OMD - 45mm)

(Brotherhood , OMD - 25mm)

(Shy at first...OMD - 75mm)

(...then strike a pose...OMD - 75mm)

The light was very harsh and the weather hot as we walked the streets, but as the whole area is made up of small streets and alleyways there is plenty of opportunities to use the shade and dappled light to get some nice shots, even in harsh light, I don't worry too much, there is always a way to shoot...i love shooting into the light as much as anything, so I am always on the lookout for interesting light to use to my advantage when the weather is like this.

(Full of character, OMD - 25mm)

(Hello stranger, OMD - 45mm)

(I LOVE the colours of the buildings - OMD - 75mm)

(Shy boy, OMD - 75mm)

(Mini-Gangsta, OMD - 25mm)

(shooting into harsh light works well with natural diffusers, OMD - 25mm)

We were lucky enough to stumble onto a basketball match between some locals also and they allowed us to shoot them for a while, this was a welcome break for us from the harsh sun outside as we hung out in their indoor court for 20 minutes and a good chance for me to test the high speed 9 frames per second framerate of the Olympus OMD, as I had not used it for sports photography yet, worked pretty well i thought.

(Olympus OMD had no problem with fast moving sports, OMD - 75mm)

(A national past-time in the Phillipines, OMD - 12mm)

I know this blog post is quite a long one with plenty of images, I hope that doesn't bore anyone, I really couldn't make my selection any smaller to show this place, its so interesting for me, I just wanted to share the beauty of this place, and as I said earlier, I strongly encourage anyone visiting Manila to take the time to visit this locale. Here are a few more images of some of the great people we met along the way.

(Family life is everywhere , OMD - 75mm)

(One of my few black and white images from this trip, OMD - 25mm)

(Eating 'Balut', a fertilized duck embryo complete with feathers....yummy....OMD -25m)

(Local musicians in Pembo, OMD, 75mm)

(Friendly waves goodbye as we left Pembo, OMD - 25mm)

(We will be back for sure!, OMD - 45mm)

All images here are shot on the Olympus OMD with various prime lenses and all processed with 1-click presets fromVSCO film presets, still by far my favourite film simulation filters that work directly as a preset within Lightroom 4.

For other posts I have written recently with images of the new Olympus OMD in Manila please see the links below:

LINK TO BLOG POST: Shooting the back streets of Makati

LINK TO BLOG POST: Residents of Makati Catholic Cemetery

LINK TO BLOG POST: OMD goes to Manila (first trip in July 2012)

LINK TO BLOG POST: OMD shooting in Ulingan, Tondo, Manila

Thanks for taking the time to visit our blog, if you like our blog and website, please ‘like’ us on our public Facebook page and share this story with your friends with the Facebook and twitter links below. You can also subscribe to our blog via the RSS link below.

August 28, 2012

Makati, Makati, Makati

August 28, 2012/ Gary Tyson

(Kurt Kamka on the prowl on the back streets of Makati, OMD - 25mm)

Some will know Makati as the business district of Manila in the Phillipines....some may know it for another reason - an infamous red light district.....you will find neither of those places featured in this blog post.

Today's post is about two guys just going for a walk down a few streets of Makati, well away from the business zone and suits and well away from the red lights. I see both those things in Hong Kong on a day to day basis whilst moving around town and I have no desire to feature either of them here, so I wanted to simply show a few images from taking a walk down some completely normal streets just off the tourist map in Makati with my new shooting buddy Kurt Kamka.

I was lucky enough to hook up with Kurt Kamka on this trip who was my trusty guide throughout my few days shooting. He does some outstanding photography on the streets of Manila and his work can be see at the following links:

1. Kurt Kamka Blog

2. Kurt Kamka Tumbr site

Something I have mentioned a few times before and will continue to do so is about using the Olympus OMD camera for this type of photography - in my mind its perfect....simple as that.....both me and Kurt shoot in a similar fashion with this camera, fully utilising the rear tiltable screen as a viewfinder and one touch shutter release of the screen...it works wonders. Ironically both of us previously shot with Leica M series cameras but are both finding the Olympus to be well up to the job on the streets (Kurt also still shoots with a Leica S2 camera).

(Brothers, OMD - 75mm)

We had earlier been shooting some people that live at the Catholic Cemetery in Manila (blog post on that featured here) then grabbed some water and headed for another hours walk round some back streets. These are the images that we captured on that walk. I am still mesmerised by the colours of the Phillipines, I actually find it hard to shoot in black and white here, as everything has a beautiful 1970s pastel colour tone to it (in my mind at least), which I just want to record all the time with my camera. Even this little girls blue Ukalele seen below was exactly that, from the clothes to the Jeepneys, the colours just scream out at me.

(Perhaps the warmest smile of the day - OMD - 75mm)

We came across these kids sat in the street playing musical instruments and having a great time together, I stopped to take some photos, help them practice a little bit of English and then scare them with my terrible Ukalele skills...lol.

(Image by Kurt Kamka - The kids weren't familiar with my Beatles and Rolling Stones renditions...lol)

I have never seen so many smiling kids as I have seen here during this trip, a lot of people call Thailand 'The land of smiles'....I'm quite sure the Phillipines could easily win this title also.

(Land of smiles, OMD - 75mm)

There were also plenty of animals to be found along these back streets, I saw a lot of cockerels tied to doorways, and Kurt explained to me that these were used for 'cockfighting', a viscious sport I imagine which seems to be very popular here and in many other parts of Asia. I also encountered a vicious dog or two, luckily tied to a post, and probably the skinniest cat I have ever seen!

(Who let the dogs out?, OMD, 25mm)

('Ma-Cat-i' in Makati, OMD - 25mm)

As well as the young kids in the street we met plenty of elder folk who were equally as nice and pleased to meet and interact with us as we wandered through their neighbourhood. Of course we had a few funny looks at first, but with big smiles and friendly gestures, every single person we met was more than happy to be photographed.

(Friendly gentlemen in Makati, OMD - 75mm)

On our way out of the back streets we came across a building site, where some workers were hanging around outside on a break, they stopped us in our tracks and insisted that we photograph them. The Fillipinos just seem to LOVE being photographed at every opportunity.

(Pinoy smiling builders, OMD - 75mm)

As we finished our walk the heavens opened and poured down, so it was time to jump in a cab and head back for a coffee and some editing. A succesful day was had by both of us and a great first meeting. On the way back to my hotel I was reminded of the poverty that of course exists here as beggars tapped on the taxi window asking for money, I am never sure what is best in this situation, does giving them money keep them on the streets...i guess so...but its always a hard call for me...

(Begging at the roadside - OMD - 12mm)

The following day I found a photography paradise in a part of town called 'Pembo'. I am currently editing my images from that location and will do my next blog post on that once I arrive back to Hong Kong tomorrow afternoon. Please be sure to come back for a look as there are some great characters featured in those images and if anyone reading this has any desire to photograph life in the phillipines, I strongly recommend visiting that place.

For other posts I have written recently with images of the new Olympus OMD in Manila please see the links below:

LINK TO BLOG POST: Residents of Makati Catholic Cemetery

LINK TO BLOG POST: OMD goes to Manila (first trip in July 2012)

LINK TO BLOG POST: OMD shooting in Ulingan, Tondo, Manila

August 26, 2012

Life beyond the graves in Manila

August 26, 2012/ Gary Tyson

(Entrance to Makati Catholic Cemetery - OMD, 25mm)

Along the backstreets of Makati in the heart of Manila lies an old Catholic Cemetery, seemingly abandoned, but on looking inside it has a lot of residents, who are quite alive.....living in the tombs that remain within. It always amazes me the places that people can turn into quite homely communities....this was yet another one of them, full of smiling faces and vibrant colours.

(Graveyard kids - OMD, 25mm)

During my short trip to Manila I hooked up withKurt Kamka who I have met through our Hong Kong Street Photography group on Facebook (feel free to visit our group and join in if you like shooting street, linked here). This was the first time we had met in person, so we grabbed lunch together and had a chat about cameras and life and it was good to see that we were both shooting with the Olympus OMD today. Another interesting observation from shooting together was that I was preferring to shoot in colour and Kurt shoots mostly in black and white. I also usually shoot this kind of scene in black and white, however, I am finding all the colours of the phillipines impossible to resist, so am still personally hooked on colour for almost all my shooting in Manila at present and also I am loving the VSCO colour film presets that I'm using in Lightroom 4 that allow me '1 click' presets to get me to retro film looks from my OMD RAW files with ease.

Some links to Kurt's work can be found below at his blog and Tumblr sites:

1. Kurt Kamka Blog

2. Kurt Kamka Tumbr site

Kurt suggested we visit the old catholic cemetery as it was very close by. Of course I thought this was a great idea and opportunity to visit a location that I'm quite sure I would never have found on my own - you can't beat local knowledge when travelling somewhere unfamiliar.

(Kurt Kamka (left) and myself outside the cemetery (Kurts websites are linked above this image)

Inside the cemetery, we were greeted by lots of different people, each and every one of them very happy, and quite surprised to see us. I'm guessing they probably don't get many visitors there, and especially not westerners, but like most of the other places I've visited in Manila, we were welcomed by friendly faces and open arms, some of the elderely ladies took a liking to us and insisted on having their photographs taken with us, which was fun and very humbling to be hugged by these people, they really are very genuine people and truly great characters.

(Kurt sharing the love with a friendly lady in the cemetery - OMD, 25mm)

(Great character, full of smiles! - OMD, 25mm)

(Smoke break at the crematorium - OMD, 25mm)

The children we met followed us round for an hour or so and they were more than happy to hang out with us, take some pics and practice their English language skills, I think almost everybody I have met in the phillipines speaks pretty much perfect English, from the youngest child to the eldest of folk, so it makes communication very easy.

(Children living in the graveyard - OMD 12/25mm)

Lots of people were resting in the midday sun whilst we were at the cemetery, so we were careful not to wake them whilst we were wandering around shooting our images, they seemed to be quite content in their hammocks which were usually strung up between two large gravestones.

(Rest in Peace - OMD, 12mm)

The children here have turned certain areas of the graveyard into their playground, a few of the young boys were keen to demonstrate their acrobatic skills springing from tomb to gravestone like some military obstacle course.....I took a few images of this, but was trying to discourage one young boy as he kept looking to me for approval every time he jumped, and I couldn't help thinking that if he missed his landing spot, he was going to be seriously injured!

(The jumper - OMD, 12mm)

(Graveyard girl - OMD, 45mm)

Some areas of the cemetery had dogs roaming around, some of the residents warned us that the dogs could be aggressive, so we kept a few yards from them in most cases, I think they were most likely just hungry dogs so that would make them grumpy and aggitated for sure. I noticed some tombs had dogs tied to the stones, I'm not sure if they were supposed to be guarding that particular tomb, as one man told us the stories of the grave robbers who regularly come at night, digging out graves and taking anything and everything that could be used to make money (gold teeth...metals...etc).

(Graveyard dogs - OMD, 25mm)

It certainly was a unique place to visit, with a vibrant and interesting mix of people living within the cemetery. Again I must say, its always such a humbling experience in these kind of places, always greeted with big smiles, hugs, asking nothing in return.

(Old and young residents of Makati Catholic Cemetery - OMD, 25mm)

I will be shooting again with Kurt Kamka during this short trip to Manila, and will be posting more images from our adventures around the city in the coming day or two, so please check back to see more from this amazing city. In the meantime, here are the links to Kurts sites again, please take a look as he has been living in Manila almost a year now and has an extensive portfolio of images from the city.

1. Kurt Kamka Blog

2. Kurt Kamka Tumbr site

All images here are shot on the Olympus OMD with various prime lenses and all processed with 1-click presets from VSCO film presets, still by far my favourite film simulation filters that work directly as a preset within Lightroom 4.

For other posts I have written recently with images of the new Olympus OMD in Manila and other parts of Asia please see the links below:

LINK TO BLOG POST: OMD goes to Manila (first trip in July 2012)

LINK TO BLOG POST: OMD shooting in Ulingan, Tondo, Manila

LINK TO BLOG POST: OMD goes to Cosplay event in Hong Kong

LINK TO BLOG POST: OMD goes to Cambodia

March 15, 2012

Eric Kim Street Photographer - Hong Kong (VIDEO)

March 15, 2012/ Gary Tyson

Eric Kim was recently in Hong Kong running a street photography workshop in partnership with F8 Photography. After the workshop we had a few days to go around town shooting and on the last night we decided to catch Eric's thoughts in a short interview to get his opinion on how the workshop went and also ask a few other questions about his views on street photography in general. There is footage of the workshop and shooting in Hong Kong mixed in with the interview.

F8 Photography continues to run photography workshops and training in Hong Kong and Cambodia and lots of student reviews and workshop information is available on the website and our blog which can all be seen via this link.

Special thanks again to Will Gell for supplying the background music, and to Nate Roberts for asking the questions and Trevor Smith as 'soundman'.

Here is the video: (can watch in HD on Vimeo).

http://vimeo.com/38560897

F8 Photography provides commercial photography and training across Asia, with workshops on Street Photography and other photography and video training courses, more details can be found via the ‘courses and workshops’ link and upcoming events via the front page of our website.

January 21, 2012

No Photos allowed.....or are they? (VIDEO)

January 21, 2012/ Gary Tyson

Cat Street market stall advertising 'NO PHOTOS'

In recent news here in Hong Kong there has been much controversy about photographers rights to shoot in public places (in particular in front of large branded designer stores, etc). Security guards have been misinformed by their employers about what is 'public space' in front of a shop and therefore this has led to confusion, aggressive and sometimes even violent confrontations between photographers and staff.

These big stores are not the only places that try to 'enforce' a ban on photographers, even small market stalls have signs up saying 'no photos', 'no cameras', or 'photo - $200', etc.

To those of us in the know, this is basically outrageous behaviour on behalf of the shopkeeper, trying to create some kind of martial law around their own property, thinking they can control what you do with your camera in a public space.

Now, I don't want to confuse the issue of photographing people, I am well aware as should everyone be that some individuals do not like having their photograph taken, especially without permission, and I completely understand the issues surrounding that. This is not what this blog post is about, it is purely about having the right to shoot an interesting market stall, a shop facade or interesting building without having to worry about consequences or thinking that you are doing something wrong - you are not, its well within your rights to take photographs.

This short video we shot in an hour or so the other day shows a quick walkaround Central and Sheung Wan in Hong Kong shooting a few market areas where they have these signs. I have heard many people say they get confronted in these places so thought I would try to see for myself if we had similar problems and I highlight in the video the ways in which we shoot to try to avoid confrontation.

This is the first DSLR video that Gurung RJ has shot with very little instruction in advance, so I must thank him for his efforts in helping me put this together.

Also a special thanks to Will Gell who has very kindly allowed me to use his music for various projects, amazing musician, check out his albums here:

Please remember when out shooting that you WILL upset some people sometimes, that's unfortunately the nature of the beast with street photography, some people will always react negatively no matter how polite you are, maybe they just had a bad day, or maybe they just grumpy...thats life, its a choice you make if you wish to become a street photographer, never take it personally, and try not to respond in the same manner, keep smiling, say thank you and continue on your way.

Previous recent blog posts that relate to the same issues are linked below, the first one has an extensive video shooting street photography in Kowloon with a GOPRO camera attached to the top of the Leica M9, linked together with the images that we captured during the walkabout:

HOW WE SHOOT STREET PHOTOGRAPHY IN HONG KONG (VIDEO)

DOLCE & GABBANA PROTEST FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS RIGHTS IN HONG KONG

January 16, 2012

Photographers rights protest at D&G

January 16, 2012/ Gary Tyson

Recently in the press there has been a fair bit of exposure about an incident here in Hong Kong involving a security guard (who looked more like a burly bodyguard) at the Dolce & Gabbana store in Tsim Sha Tsui stopping people with cameras from shooting the facade of the building from the public pathway. Allegedly they were refusing local Hong Kong photographers from taking pictures, but allowing mainland chinese customers to do so, as long as they were coming into the shop and buying goods. This kind of racism and discrimination is clearly unacceptable behaviour for anyone to have to endure and we are very happy that the public has reacted in the way it has over this incident.

A few of us expat photographers decided to gather during one of the Sunday afternoon protests and head down there armed to the teeth with cameras and HD video headcams to film the protest, take lots of photographs and generally assist the protesters in sending their message, wearing Grahams custom made 'No Photo' signs on our backs to add some impact to our message.

getting ready for battle... Our uniforms for the day

Both myself and Graham Uden, having previously served in Iraq as photographers were quite happy to stick on the headcams and dive straight in at the front, through the police line and get to the front of the action. We managed to attract a fair bit of attention from the chinese news teams and photographers as there weren't many other westerners there apart from our small crew of professionals and regular RGB members including myself, Graham Uden, Carsten Schael, Angelo Costadimas, Viveck Bansal and Gareth Brown.

Graham undercover on 'Operation D&G' straight to the front door...

Graham gave some interviews to various TV and radio media who were keen to hear our views on the subject and we believe we achieved our aim by showing that this is not just an issue for the chinese, but equally for all photographers, no matter where they come from.

Graham conducting interviews

Other protestors were dressed up in different outfits to attract attention from the media, so the whole event was good for us as there were plenty of things to photograph during the protest.

female protestor female protestor dressed up...or down...

The protest went without any problems, we didn't see any representatives from D&G come outside to apologise at all, despite the repeated chants of 'apologise' in cantonese from the large crowd that had gathered....This clearly irritated the protesters as it showed more arrogance from the brand as they appear to be simply refusing to acknowedge the problem (at least during the time we were there, this was the case).

protestors getting vocal

We commended the police on their manner during the protest, they were very polite and helpful towards us, and there was no violence during the protest, which is always good.

police controlling the crowd