河國榮, An Aussie in Hong Kong

From time to time, I manage to take one or two nice photographs (subjectively speaking of course). I'm currently using a Canon IXUS 400 but may soon have a new Canon EOS 350D to play with. Combined with the Canon SRL lenses that I already own, it should enable me to take more appeasing and attractive photographs. The problems with the IXUS 400 are the limitations of the lens, the non-sharpness of the images and the delay between pressing the button and actually taking the picture. All of these problems will be pretty much eliminated by the 350D.

In the meantime, here are two pictures that I took today in an area called Causeway Bay. Click on the images to view them at a larger size.

While processing a recent photograph with my favourite image software (Lasersoft SilverFast; I don't own or use Photoshop), I accidentally developed this photo. It's not what the original scene looked like but it left a big impression on me so I thought I'd share it with you. This version of the photo is too small to see but the small dot on top of the light pole is a bird.

He's a small praying mantis that I found in our flat. He wouldn't survive inside so I took him back outside. (Click here to see other web sites with amazing photos of praying mantii and stick insects)

A family of five monkeys travels in a circle through the bush around our villages. A couple of weeks ago when they arrived back near our home, I followed them with my camera. Trying to get good photographs of the monkeys wasn't easy but I managed to get a couple. I hope you like them.

A few weeks ago, I returned home with some of our children after taking them for their nightly walk. While taking their leashes off, they seemed very curious about something in one corner of the court area where our gas canisters are kept. A couple of the dogs even displayed sudden reactions to something that I could not at the time see in the dark that is night.

After letting the dogs through to the main garden area, I went back to take a look at the gas canisters. I was curious too and wanted to see what had them acting so unusually. It didn't take me long to spot the reason. A green snake was wrapped around the tap of the gas canister looking pretty scared. I guess I would be scared too if several dogs one hundred times as large as myself suddenly started poking their wet warm windy noses in my direction.

Overall, the weather here in Hong Kong has been dismal for the past six months. We've had much more rain than usual and blue skies have been rare. Unfortunately, even when we did have blue skies, they carried a heavy tinge of brown thanks to the increasing levels of pollution coming across from China. There's nothing we can do about the pollution except be grateful for the blue skies when they do appear.

Because blue skies are becoming rare, I sometimes spontaneously run off up the hills and mountains around Hong Kong to admire the view. This happened one fine day in the beginning of July when I took Batty and Siu Bak with me up a near by mountain. I took my camera with me too so I have a few photos to share.

While driving on the expressway to Causeway Bay 銅鑼灣 to make some arrangements for my trip to Indonesia next week, I couldn't help but notice that the sky was very unattractive. It looked pretty much like the skies you'd see in big China cities like Guangzhou 廣州. I really wanted to stop on the expressway and take a few photos but the policemen wouldn't have liked that.

Later on, on my way home, I couldn't resist the urge to try to get a few photographs. I surmised that the North Point ferry pier 北角碼頭 might allow me to get far enough out into the harbour to be able to see Central 中環 around the expressway. I was wrong but the view wasn't too bad anyway and I came away with a few reasonable shots.

I'm always trying to get good photos of some of the birds around our home. I'd love to get a photo of the owls that live here but I've only seen one of them once in the two years we've lived here, and I've only heard them; a pair of them calling out to each other; once on another night.

Apart from sparrows, there are only a few species of birds living here. There are pigeons which are difficult to photograph because they're so easily unnerved by onlookers, and there is another species of bird, one with red behind its eye and more red under its tail. I find them especially attractive and try to photograph them whenever possible. Both the pigeons and these 'red' birds live in pairs, always with the same mate.

Eventually, the birds did come and I was able to get a few reasonable photographs. I say reasonable because I'm finding it hard to get good photographs with my Canon EOS 350D camera. Under normal circumstances photographing normal things, the camera's definitely ok, but when I'm trying to get close to objects or when the available light begins to drop even just a little, the camera becomes a hindrance and I'm left questioning my age, eyes and skill.

One of the birds I was able to photograph yesterday was a medium size bird with a black back and a bright yellow belly. I was very surprised to see such a colourful bird in my neighbourhood, albeit inside the bush.

The focus is not perfect but it's a nice shot anyway. If anyone knows what kind of bird he is, please tell me. I'd like to gradually build a library of Hong Kong bird photographs and knowing the names of the birds would be very meaningful.

Another one of the birds I photographed on January 25, this bird was only there for a few seconds. One second he was there. The next, he was gone. I've seen him before though so I'll probably see him again. Hopefully, there will be opportunities to get better pictures of him.

While sitting up on that tree trunk twelve feet up in the air, there was one pair of birds that I saw more often than any other. They were mates and they were hunting together. They were later on joined by another pair of the same variety.

Forty years old and I've only now realised how marvelous it is to watch birds hunt. They sit on the branches looking in every direction, and when they see a flying insect, they flutter up, catch the insect and flutter back. The action is very quick and very absorbing; and extremely hard to photograph. Tracking them with your camera, keeping everything in focus and pressing the shutter button at the right time is almost impossible to do but I'll hopefully get there one day with more training and practice. In the meantime, you'll have to be content with my non-flying photographs.

One bird in particular didn't seem to be so shy. He flew around, sometimes very close to me, going about his business, pecking on the tree trunks, pecking through the scrub and generally being a happy bird. I've also seen him or one of his kindred near our home.

His motions are very quick. He almost never stays anywhere for more than a second. He's a rather squat little bird and his beak is remarkably straight.

This time last year, there was a spider population explosion. Hong Kong is host to a rather large black spider with a golden back. During this period known as 回南 'return of the southerly winds' last year, these black spiders could be seen everywhere.

This year, things are different.

Two days ago, I turned 41. I'm now officially what I consider to be over the half-way mark. It's not a bad thing and it's not a good thing. On average, I may still have forty years left with which to accomplish more goals, learn more languages and learn to enjoy my life and my family more.

Growing up in the countryside of Gympie Australia, I was always aware of the cicadas clicking away in the trees, leaving shells behind clinging to the trees when they morph, but I never actually saw a live cicada. A few weeks ago when the cicadas in our neighbourhood became active, buzzing all day long, I decided to see if I could actually find one. Finally, after being on this earth for 41 years, I saw my first live cicada. Once I knew what they looked like, I was then able to quite easily see them in the trees within a few minutes of hearing their buzz.

I like this photo so much that I had to share it with everyone. This is 小白 ('little white'), our second dog.

Sometimes you get lucky…

After the interview at RTHK yesterday, I walked through the RTHK car park back to my car and was attracted by a dragonfly. I'm currently trying, although not overly conscientiously, to photograph one of these in flight. It's not easy but it is possible. It's a matter of watching their flight pattern and hoping that they pause near you long enough to direct the camera, focus, position the subject and shoot.

While trying (unsuccessfully) to photograph the dragonfly, and getting curious looks from other radio visitors and employees, I suddenly became aware of bird sounds that I hadn't heard before. I do a lot of digital hunting by ear now and I needed to see what kinds of birds were making these sounds. I walked on over to where the sounds were coming from.

A couple of weeks ago before coming to L.A. while completing some chores in and around Causeway Bay, I was waiting in my car at a red traffic light when I suddenly saw something in the trees ahead of me. I immediately backed my car into the striped stopping zone behind me, picked up my camera and raced over to the trees.

In the 19 years that I've lived in Hong Kong, I've only seen these cute animals once, for just one glancing second in a tree near a friend's home in Repulse Bay. That was when I first realised that we have squirrels in Hong Kong. We don't have squirrels in Australia; we have wonderful possums but no squirrels; so getting the chance to photograph one in Hong Kong was a big thing for me.

Sometimes you get lucky…

The week before last, just as I was leaving home to go to TVB, I noticed a butterfly in the Christmas trees. The colours struck me immediately and I raced back inside to get my camera. Opportunities like these come once in a lifetime.

The result was a wonderful photograph which looks even better when enlarged.

A while ago, I discovered a wild bee hive near our home and managed to get a few photographs. As long as I didn't get too close to their hive in the base of a tree, they wouldn't feel threatened and I wouldn't be a target. The photos were ok; not great; but ok.

A few days ago, I was in the same bush area trying to get photos of a bird I could hear but not see. As I passed the hive, I thought I'd take a look and see how they were going. I was intriqued by what looked like a hornet, flying just above the entrance to the hive, occasionally getting side-swiped by a passing bee. It was very curious to watch because every time a bee came by, the hornet; or wasp, I'm not sure at this point; would outstretch all of its legs downward. It was intriguing and almost funny. Needless to say, I took a few photos and some of them turned out surprisingly well.

I went digital hunting yesterday. While standing on the upper rail of a steel pipe fence, leaning against a five-inch thick tree which was the only thing between me and an eight-foot drop to the road on the other side of it, I waited and waited. Suddenly, an unnatural movement of the twigs in the bushes ahead of me caught my eye and I watched and readied my camera. A few twitches later, I spotted the small bird, rustling through the bushes looking for food. He wasn't a variety that I recognised and I therefore hoped more than ever that I'd be able to get a decent photograph of him before he left.

Suddenly, he decided to leave; possibly aware that I was just ten feet from where he was foraging for food; but he needed to find out where his partner was. He flew up onto a strand of tall grass and called out to his partner who replied immediately from the other side of the road. Another thirty seconds and he was gone, but not before I photographed him a few times. Here is what I consider to be the best of those photographs.

It will be a busy week with "They're Playing Our Song" rehearsals every day, TVB dubbing tonight, TVB filming on Tuesday night and Wednesday night, and a special appearance at the Mongrel Adogtion function at the City University on Friday.

But the weekend was a break and a welcome one.

Sunday morning, noting the wonderful weather and hearing the sounds of the local white wagtails (just one pair) which I have not yet been able to photograph, I grabbed my camera and went outside. As I left our gate, I noticed the flicker of a bird on a nearby flowering bush. As I walked over, the bird saw me and left but the sunlight was perfect and the bird or other birds were sure to return if I sat still. So for the next hour and a half, I knelt as steadily as I could in front of the flowering bush. Nothing came!

If there's an advantage to having a polluted sky, it's that sometimes the sunlight filtered by the pollution can be quite extraordinary; bright and warm without being harsh. Such was the case yesterday afternoon, so I decided to hide out for a few minutes behind a bush hoping that the local Sunbirds would visit. While waiting, I suddenly became aware of another life, totally unexpected, and as I watched him, he suddenly noticed me and looked straight back at me; a praying mantis. Here is one of the photos I was able to take in that short fortuitous time.

p>My (relatively) new Canon 1D Mark III is in the shop getting a new focus mirror installed. You can read a lot about the problem on Rob Galbraith's page although it hasn't affected me as much as others. In addition, my Canon 70-300mm DO lense is getting a clean and recalibration, so I'm feeling orphaned and alone at the moment. Many of my photographs are of very small creatures usually shot at 300mm (x1.3=420mm for the 1D Mark III) and even at f16, the Depth of Field is extremely shallow, typically around 1/8". Manual focus is absolutely necessary to fine-tune the auto-focus and if the lense is not spot on, I return home with many non-ideal photos. 1/8" DoF means that I have to be very aware of my body movements while shooting because the slightest motion forward or backward will put the photo out of focus. The lense clean/recalibration will be very expensive but if you want great photographs, you cannot avoid these occasional expenses.

The first time I was in Hong Kong, visiting with a student from The University of New South Wales in 1985, we were hit by a #10 typhoon. At the time, I believe I was staying with his family in a hillside home made of tin and concrete next to the now non-existent 荔園 amusement park. It was quite an experience, although the hurricanes in Australia can be even stronger. In my hometown in Queensland, a hurricane lifted a hurricane-proof roof off from a motel and dropped it elsewhere!

Today though, here in Hong Kong, my family and I are staying indoors. No one in Hong Kong is going to work. Everyone is waiting, waiting for the biggest typhoon we've seen in a while pass smack right over the middle of Hong Kong.