When Darren Siu won one of Hong Kong's most prestigious photography awards for the second year running, he could not believe his luck. He only entered at the last minute after he grabbed his camera, ran down to a street market in Central and snapped some photos before leaving for Dubai to represent Hong Kong in the under-19 rugby team.
But Darren said that's Hong Kong, a place of fascinating images, colour, people and architecture that provide endless material.
Darren, 17, of Island School, shared the honours in the young photographer categories with Ben Marshall, 18, of King George V School (KGV), in the second annual Foreign Correspondents' Club (FCC) Photographer of the Year Awards 2002, for professional and amateur photographers. Both took home trophies and Olympus cameras.
Darren's work - two black-and-white photos titled 'The Market' featuring an elderly stall owner and a fishmonger - was chosen out of 18 entries as the winner of the SCMP Young Post Hong Kong Perspective - Beyond the Highrise category. Ben took home the trophy for the SCMP Young Post Hong Kong Perspective - World City category with his superimposed graphic images of the MTR.
Shingo Shirasawa, 17, of International Christian School, was first runner-up in the Beyond the Highrise category with two imaginative photos of Central and Admirality buildings.
William Lav, from KGV, was first runner-up in the World City category with his photo titled 'Rocket Tower'.