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SCMP Reporter

Jupiter Wong is Hong Kong's most famous film stills photographer.  Director Tsui Hark once said of Wong's images:  'Each of his film stills is a statement.'

Wong's work is a passionate  manifestation  of his love for film.  His images capture the spontaneous spirit of  film sets in a  dynamic manner that few local photographers have captured before.

Wong, whose photographs are  acknowledged by many as art rather than simply promotional pictures, said  the manner of his work was like stealing, snatching greedily and making use of  pre-existing elements on the set.

'I can use my independent status [as a film still photographer] to sense the things that are special about a scene and then express them [in photographs].'

This Saturday, Wong and Winnie Fu, programmer of the Hong Kong Film Archive, will hold a two-hour lecture, Camera and My Models, at 2.30pm at the Hong Kong Museum of Art.

They will talk about the art of film stills as part of the Education & Extension Programmes for the exhibition Artists and Their Models - Masterpieces from the Centre Pompidou, Paris.

Wong, who  worked in  television before joining the film industry, started shooting on location for the film magazine City Entertainment in the early 1990s.

Encouraged by directors such as Ann Hui On-wah, he became a professional film stills photographer  in 1997, working on the set with top-notch directors including Tsui, Derek Yee Tung-sing, Peter Chan Ho-sun and Fruit Chan Kuo.

'I am not a professional photographer, and I don't have a theory or a way of shooting film stills,' said Wong, who claims he does not know how to instruct his models to pose. His method  is to shoot obsessively and tirelessly on the set, in an attempt to capture 'the magic moment', which  occurs unexpectedly for a fleeting moment.

'Sometimes not even the actors know something is happening to them. Affected by the environment and their own thoughts, their subconscious is brought to the surface. But this only occurs for a split second, and it hides very quickly under the surface again.'

Wong hates using flash, even in a dim environment, because he worries that the sudden flash of light will break the spell.

'I am afraid that the actors are aware of me. That's why I prefer shooting them secretly.'

Such  an improvised way of shooting demands plenty of energy and commitment. But it is also exciting and fun.

Wong, who does not use digital cameras, said that most of his best film stills were delightful surprises - images that he had not expected to be usable when he shot frantically on the set but turned out to be amazing photographs.

'I see myself as a sniper, waiting for ... the very moment.'

The lecture is free. Seats are limited on a first-come, first-served basis.



Stealing beauty frame by frame