Hollywood Road at Night (荷李活道) (Explored)

4s, f/13.0, ISO 400, 14 mm

In Hong Kong, I live in the neighborhood of Soho, short for south of Hollywood Street. The neighborhood is on a dramatic hillside and is home to some truly great streets. It's also an area frequented by expats. There are lots of western restaurants and bars around and a number of fancy condo buildings and serviced apartments. But unlike other parts of Hong Kong, it's also an incredibly diverse neighborhood. Just down from Hollywood Road, there is a vibrant meats and vegetable market. Locals live, work, and shop here and walking these colorful streets is a nice contrast to the sterile, mega malls in Central (Hong Kong Island's downtown, of sorts). I like the that fact that the neighborhood gives me a chance to interact with some people I would rarely encounter if I lived in a true expat enclave--even if that interaction is pretty limited (I'm embarrassed to say that I'm still struggling with the handful of Cantonese phrases I've try to teach myself).

Having such a colorful neighborhood at my doorstep is, of course, a treat for a photographer. And there is no shortage of great street scenes to photograph. Many of the vendors are not keen to be photographed, and I generally respect that or ask before I shoot if someone seems uncomfortable. On the other hand, street photography is about capturing the life on the street as it happens rather than a staged version of it. So unless someone affirmatively makes clear they don't want to get photographed, I simply take my presence and raised camera as sufficient notice.

Included in this post are some recent shots from around Hollywood Road. They are taken with a number of different lenses, including the Canon 14mm f/2.8 L lens. I few weeks ago, I rented this super wide angle lens, which provides more than 110 degree field of view. The extreme wide-angle made for a bit of a learning curve but once I got the hang of it, it was a very useful lens for pulling in a lot of street life.

Continue below the fold for more shots.