Hong Kong Family Holiday Photos
Hong Kong Family Holiday Photos
I get families contacting me from time to time to take family photos while they are on holiday in Hong Kong. Almost always these families have Hong Kong roots; Cantonese from Sydney, Toronto or New York City. But Hong Kong sticks with everyone who has any connection to the city. Last November I had a chance to really cover a couple of interesting corners of the city for a three-generation Canadian family session. Mom and dad were visiting from Toronto with their one-year old daughter. The grandparents also traveled from Canada, so they wanted to document the areas in the city where they had lived before emigrating to Canada in the 1990s.
I realize that many family photographers shoot in the same locations every time, sometimes only one location for all their sessions. In a way this is very smart, you know your spot cold and basically do all your sessions exactly the same. In another “if I did it all again” moment, I would probably organize my business around this concept. But I learned from my friends who are news photographers, and I always aspired to be someone who could, and would, shoot anywhere. (Within reason!)
Hong Kong Family Holiday Photography
So the brief for the session was to capture three grandparents, two new parents, and an exactly-one-year old in locations in Hong Kong that pertained to family history. Granddad One had grown up near Whampoa Garden in Hung Hom. Granddad Two lived in Chi Fu Fa Yuen, Pok Fu Lam when he was young. Luckily the day was the first super bright weather in weeks, so we could use it to our advantage for these HK family photos. Shooting in dense urban spaces is tricky at best on overcast days as there just isn’t enough light penetrating down into all the nooks and crannies of the Hong Kong Urban Jungle.
Hung Hom Family Photography
We got some fun shots in the end. Wandered around Whampoa, which still has some very Old School Hong Kong spots. The location in Pok Fu Lam was a great counterpoint to the density of Hung Hom; very open and bright. We did some shots using the building where Granddad Two lived and did some kiddo shots in the playground. She was a spectacular subject, as I mentioned, having just turned one a couple of days earlier. Three hours of smiling and laughing. Incredible.
Any time you can get family history into a session, that’s major bonus. I am now offering extended Lifestyle Family Photography Sessions in Hong Kong that are designed precisely for this. Going out and documenting
