Urban jungle: architectural photography in Hong Kong
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Hong Kong is a city packed with architectural landmarks which most of you are now familiar with thanks to being one of Hollywood's cherished background.
Housing more than 7.3 million residents within just 426 square miles (1,104 sq kilometers), Hong Kong has become one of the highest population densities in the world. In such a limited and popular environment, developers tend to build as tall as possible, leading to the surreal sci-fi-like cityscape we all know.
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Taking a step back from the madness of the busy streets to observe this "kingdom" from afar is a great way to realize the extent to which the city is dense and compact.
I often wondered what would happen to these buildings if an earthquake tragically occured in this area. Knock on wood this never happens....
Much like many other cities displaying similar futuristic skylines, Hong Kong's concrete forest is best appreciated at night, when the lights come on and the streets have emptied out a bit.
Here are 2 of my favourite buildings which have an almost hypnotizing effect when observed once the moon has risen:
![]() The International Finance Center (IFC) | ![]() "Tetris" lookalike building found in Kowloon district |
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Something I've always found to be quite impressive and is, to me, one of the trademarks of Hong Kong, is the bamboo scaffolding enveloping numerous buildings around the city. It's almost impossible to visit Hong Kong without contemplating such a sight.
There are over 1,500 registered bamboo scaffolders in Hong Kong, yet apparently the practice of this unique industry is diminishing due to major shortages in material and labour. If you stand aside on the sidewalk for a few minutes and observe these men at work, you will be surprised by their spiderman-like movements and rapidity - often weaving their way around these bamboo webs up to 1000 ft above the ground, using very few safety restraints!
There is something so enchanting about seeing these impressive structures in the foreground, while ultra-modern glass skyscrapers can be seen on the horizon.
![]() North Point disctrict "Chicken Coop" | ![]() Jardine House a.k.a. The Thousand Butthole building |
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Although, not all buildings will impress you with their geometrical designs and intriguing facades... Much like this "chicken coop" in North Point, Hong Kong is filled with shockers which, luckily, are mostly found far away from Victoria Harbour, thus saving the famous cityscape money shots from looking like a rundown anomaly.
The skyrocketing housing prices in Hong Kong have forced many to live in dirty, cramped, and unsafe conditions. Tens of thousands have been forced to live in 6x2 ft "rabbit cages" - and the situation is only getting worse year after year.
If you wish to learn more about this not-so-glamorous side of HK most will not tell you about, this 13-minute documentary is bound to raise a few hairs:
On a lighter note, Jardine House (seen on the photo to the right) located in Central district, was built on reclaimed land (artificial land created as an extension within the harbour itself) and affectionately called the "Thousand butthole" building by locals. The building features a unique façade with circular porthole shaped windows, inspired by the nautical history of the city and the building’s site.
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Here is a list of all the contests you can enter on a daily basis:
Monday: foodphotography and animalphotography
Tuesday: landscapephotography and cityscapephotography
Wednesday: architecturalphotography and vehiclephotography
Thursday: macrophotography and colourfulphotography
Friday: streetphotography and portraitphotography
Saturday: sportsphotography and smartphonephotography
Sunday: goldenhourphotography and longexposurephotography
![hongkong_cityscape.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmXvpCNc8z1pDaXqivoihmNCEYRZqPaX9Fhoz7D45Jn9T1/hongkong_cityscape.png)
Illustrations by my great-grandfather | ![]() The Hundred-year-old Egg |
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![]() The treasures left behind by my great-grandfather #8 | ![]() Faces of Borneo - Portrait photography |
“Learning is not a race for information, it is a walk of discovery” - Jane Healy
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This is just awesome.
Such texture, composition, form, color.....you are a master photographer my friend, they are always art pieces. And what an extraordinary place Hong Kong is, I've never seen any views of it like yours!!
Cheers Ruth! Your comments always provide a big boost of positivity to my day 😍
I am floored by the chicken cage living. Of course, here in USA, in my coastal New England town we have homeless who routinely try to live in tents in the woods and are routed out and sent packing. I'm not saying these are good, but it's so sad how we always have such poorly treated poor side by side our 'normal lives'. So sad,.
Lovely photos otherwise though and Hong Kong looks amazing
It is a devastating fact indeed.. let's hope the blockchain leads the way to universal basic income.
If the poor can't even live in the woods, it says a lot about the state of humanity and the mental diseases money has created in all of us.
Thank you for your comment :)
thank you for this wonderful view and... complete : the bright side and the dark side. Anyway, how can light exist without shadow ? Magnificent post, Osmosis !
It's all about the yin and the yang ;)
Merci @tiloupsa
You got a never ending amount of cool buildings to photograph... and with that lots of unique textures and patterns. The trick is to not get burnt out right?
Right! Something which IMO, can easily happen in architectural photography, especially in big cities.
Although Hong Kong is never short of surprises and cool new discoveries. I find that the trick is to observe, always with a new eye.... as even buildings change!
beautiful post! and once again, perfect formatting!
I know you showed it as an example of the worst buildings, but I really like your photo of the chicken coop building.
Thanks for showing me a city I've never seen, love your posts!
Cheers girl! My pleasure :)
Great post and thanks for mentioning also the not so glamorous side! When I visited HK I chose a 4sqm room without window as my accomodation to get a feeling for that situation. Was quite a unique experience to live there for 5 days!
4sqm!!! I visited a 10sqm there once and thought it couldn't possibly get any smaller. But 4sqm wow... even Ikea wouldn't know what to do with that space!
Haha, yes but the room was surpisingly well equiped, even with a fridge, TV, aircon and a 1sqm separate bathroom! 😄
Unimaginable really... bet you couldn't even get enough distance to take a shot.
Bedroom:
Bathroom:
😃
NIIIICE haha!!! Silly me... plenty of space!
Love the attention to detail. I mean, the soap matches with the tiles. If that's not a sign of luxury, I don't know what is 😉
Haha, yes exactly, and you can save a lot of time there, where else can you use the toilet and the shower at the same time? 😉
Perfection. Eat that IKEA!
This is a great review of HK, particularly the bamboo scaffolding. That is an art in itself and part of the HK culture which is gradually dying away unfortunately.
Sadly yes.. do you know if they use the same techniques in Taiwan?
Since you've asked, I have been racking my brain, and looking around, I dont think they do
Must totally visit Hong Kong... they say it's the Asian New York - how could I have missed that for so long then??? :D
I love ALL the buildings featured here - beautiful or 'ugly' for most - I love the beauty of ugliness so basically, there's no ugly building for me, just differently beautiful :)
No ugly, just differently beautiful... I like that :)
You'll definitely end up visiting HK at some point in your life... it is a huge hub most have the chance to visit before heading to other Asian destinations.
I simply have to,yes.
I don't know about other destinations, not too many I wanna visit, but definitely HK, Shanghai and Vietnam :)
You can't miss out on the Philippines and Laos as well :)
Laos meh... Philippines, if @immarojas is there CLEARLY I'm going !!!
Ah ah I forgot Indonesia :D
Seoul...never forget to drop-by in Korea. Palawan Philippines yes, no buildings but just beaches.
Oh right, I almost forgot Seoul !!! :D
Well... beaches are cool too - Bitch on the Beach :P
Bitch on a beach all year round.
The Thousand Butthole building ---> that's something worth seeing lol
Kidding aside, I'm planning our trip back to HK, with kids this time :)
I hope I get to see these architectural sights even if just from the view of the Peak.
It sure is... "Hey kids, look up to your right, and admire the 1000 butthole building"
The forest of buildings looks amazing from the Peak. Have you ever done the walk around the Peak? It's about an hour, all flat, gorgeous views, surrounded by trees, and totally do-able with the kids - also even better at night (the path is lit)
We planned to do it in our last trip but we had too little time.
I am thinking about it, just hoping they don't get tired and make us carry them back to the tram or bus stop.
Omg if they say the word butthole with their friends... 😂😅
Haha, bumhole any better?
Could pass for kindergarten playground talk, lol