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Photographer Brian Yen's stunning shots of Hong Kong and Asia

Brian Yen talks to Gloria Chan about the photo that won a global National Geographic contest and why he prefers to stay firmly behind the camera lens

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Vertigo,taken from Hysan Place, in Causeway Bay. "Looking down on a Hong Kong street can make your legs a bit weak," says Yen.
Vertigo,taken from Hysan Place, in Causeway Bay. "Looking down on a Hong Kong street can make your legs a bit weak," says Yen.

Brian Yen got his big break on a day out with his daughter at Ocean Park. On the Hong Kong amusement park's Ocean Express, a five-minute train ride during which the lights dim and the overhead monitor displays underwater animals, he saw a woman staring at her glowing phone in the middle of the packed carriage.

"I noticed her standing there, so I raised my arms and took a couple of shots in that direction," he says. "It took a few tries to get it right."

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The stay-at-home dad entered A Node Glows in the Dark in the National Geographic Photo Contest 2014.

A Node Glows In The Dark, taken at Ocean Park, won the 2014 National Geographic Photo Contest's Grand Prize. "Mobile data, smartphones and social networks have forever changed our existence," says Brian Yen. "Although this woman is standing in the centre of a jam-packed train, the warm glow from her phone tells the strangers around her that she's not really there. She's a node flickering on the social web, roaming the Earth, free as a butterfly. Our existence is no longer stuck to the physical here, we're free to run away, and run we will."
A Node Glows In The Dark, taken at Ocean Park, won the 2014 National Geographic Photo Contest's Grand Prize. "Mobile data, smartphones and social networks have forever changed our existence," says Brian Yen. "Although this woman is standing in the centre of a jam-packed train, the warm glow from her phone tells the strangers around her that she's not really there. She's a node flickering on the social web, roaming the Earth, free as a butterfly. Our existence is no longer stuck to the physical here, we're free to run away, and run we will."
Price of Modernity shows the Lamma Island power station. "Since there are so few accessible beaches in Hong Kong, on a nice spring weekend, people still hang out at this beach even if the water quality and scenery is less than perfect," says Yen.
Price of Modernity shows the Lamma Island power station. "Since there are so few accessible beaches in Hong Kong, on a nice spring weekend, people still hang out at this beach even if the water quality and scenery is less than perfect," says Yen.
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"One morning I got an email telling me I'd won [the grand prize]," Yen says. "Growing up, being a National Geographic photographer was a romantic ideal for me, so I was super happy. It's unbelievable, and I'm sure there was a lot of luck involved."

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