Winners inspired by city
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'.
Prizes were presented for the awards, which featured 15 categories, with 188 entries, at the FCC last week.
Darren said he often looks around Hong Kong at different images that he thinks would make good photos. 'The culture [here], just walking around, you see so many different things. You go into the city, you have those buildings, the markets,' he said.
After his GCSE photography teacher suggested he enter the competition, he decided to give it another go. Although he enjoys photography, he said it would remain a hobby, while he pursues a career as a physical education teacher.
Shingo, too, was urged to join the competition by his art teacher and his success showed that one does not have to be an expert before one tries different things.
'I was surprised I did well as I'm not experienced in photography at all, it's my first year,' he said.
Shingo said his shot, 'Rising Eagle', of a bird flying against a Hong Kong mirrored central skyscraper, was symbolic. 'I wanted to show how Hong Kong is developing and the rising eagle is a symbol of this development,' he said.
He took the shot while using his father's camera, not realising it would make such a striking image.
The art student said Hong Kong people are straightforward and emotional, which provides an abundance of photographic material. 'I think Hong Kong is a great place with a lot of cultures and races who all have different ideas, interacting.'
Ben's amalgamation of three super-imposed images of the MTR was created on the computer. 'Hong Kong is the coolest city for something like this, the architecture, the airport and the Convention Centre, it's really lovely architecture, it's definitely inspiring, not just for photography, but also for graphic design,' he said.
Photographer of the Year Awards (POYA) chairman Terry Duckham said the increase from one to eight schools participating in the awards was a good sign.
'The student category is very important and the enthusiasm of the students encouraging,' Mr Duckham said. 'We are hoping to be able take photographers into the schools to do workshops and seminars in the coming year as part of the POYA programme.'
