Retro Kowloon: step back in time to 1990s Hong Kong at 3D photo exhibition

A sight once synonymous with Hong Kong – low-flying planes over Kowloon coming into land at Kai Tak – is showcased in a new exhibition of retro 3D photographs by one of Asia’s top cinematographers.

The Retro Kowloon collection particularly focuses on planes that used to pass over the area on the way to Hong Kong’s former international airport during the late 1990s.

The 12 images by photographer and lifelong Hongkonger Henry Chung were captured using stereoscopic lenses to merge two very similar photographs into a 3D landscape.

“It is really special,” he said. “It is like nothing in the world that a big aeroplane can come close to human beings. It is much clearer in 3D pictures.”

Chung took all the photographs, which have gone on display at the LCX department store in Tsim Sha Tsui, between 1997 and 1998, just as the sovereignty of Hong Kong was passed from the British back to the Chinese.

“Looking at the photographs is like going back in time,” he said. “There were no tall buildings back then. Now it has changed. It is like a forest. People have told me they love the old Hong Kong view because the scene is quieter.”