Money Changing Hands

Last Weekend, on Sunday, we went to Hong Kong for a little break. It was Xiaoyi's idea to treat me for my birthday. We stayed right across from the Langham Place Shopping Centre in Mong Kok, Kowloon.

We arrived at about lunch time and enjoyed a 3-hour long lunch with friends from Hong Kong, after which they took us on a walk through the streets. I was not really prepared for the number of people on the streets on a weekend as all my previous visits were during weekdays.

Mong Kok is well known for their street markets, and people come actually here from all over Hong Kong to buy their fresh fruit and vegetables (and many other things, including clothes).

I realised that it will be very difficult to get any good street photos is such a crowded space, but it was, in any case, a good outing with friends.

Not too far into the first alleyway, I saw this orange seller. He had a black t-shirt on and white latex gloves. For me, he looked like a magician busy performing his magic to the crowd. I went in close, took a photo and directly moved on (he had quite a big stature!). The stall right next to him was also selling oranges. But the man saw what I was doing and when I approach him, he pulled a towel in front of his face.

This was it, it completed the magic show in my head!

Let the magic Begins	Abracadabra

I knew that the rest of the day I will only take closeup photos of hands - I created my own small street photography challenge. It is interesting to see how hands can tell their own story. The hand gestures of the buyer and the seller plays a role in the final price. In many cases, I noticed that neither the buyer nor the seller actually speaks a word, the whole transaction is done based on their hand gestures.

Some of the hand gestures reminded me of Zhao-Cai-Mao, the Japanese symbol of good fortune. This symbol is nowadays also a very popular symbol in the Chinese culture, and I did not have to walk far before I noticed one doing his magic in one of the clothing stalls.

Here are a few more of the hand gestures I found in the market.

Seller	Buyer
Buyer and Seller	Seller and Buyer
Buyer	Seller

Buyer and Seller

This is my #streetphotography entry for the week.

Hope you enjoy it.