Hong Kong photojournalist Laurel Chor on protests, primates and how industry has taught her some uncomfortable truths

Chor gained huge exposure for her work on last year’s anti-government protests but she says it wasn’t always out of concern for Hong Kong’s people

Conservation is also her passion and she has worked with gorillas and on exposing ivory poaching and the jaguar trade

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Laurel Chor has covered stories across Asia, including the deadly 2018 earthquake in Palu in Indonesia, Rohingya Muslim refugees in Bangladesh and the assassination of the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Kuala Lumpur. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Published: 7:15pm, 20 Jul 2020Updated: 7:15pm, 20 Jul 2020

Photojournalist Laurel Chor Lik-fung walks into a cafe in Hong Kong’s Central district, camera dangling from one hand. Being prepared is crucial. “I might have to head to the Metropark Hotel. It’s just been named as the location for Beijing’s national security office,” she says.

Born in Canada – she left Vancouver and moved to Hong Kong with her family aged five – she says that as with many industries, Covid-19 has created a tough climate for freelance journalists. Gone for now are the days of jumping on a plane to cover a story. But the 30-year-old is staying positive.

“It’s been a big adjustment, but it’s nice to be in one place … and nice to hang with friends,” she says.

Police arrest anti-government protesters at Hong Kong Polytechnic University on November 18, 2019 in this photo taken by Chor. Photo: Getty Images

Chor has experienced a meteoric rise in the world of journalism. In 2014, while working her first job at news group Coconuts Hong Kong, her photos of Hong Kong’s “umbrella movement” – also known as the Occupy movement – earned a nomination for the Society of Publishers in Asia award for excellence in news photography.

She joined Vice News in 2016, leaving to pursue freelancing in early 2019. A few months later, protests erupted in Hong Kong against a since-withdrawn extradition bill that later morphed into an anti-government movement.

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