May the Force be with you Photo

Photographer’s Note

A common morning sight in Hong Kong, people practising morning exercize can be seen in a number of parks all around the city, they are often of a certain age and practise in small groups as on this photo, apparently the man on the left side has the lead and other participants follow the pace looking at him.

Interestingly such a traditional activity takes place just right next to the symbols of international financial powers, we're here on the edge of Chater Garden at the feet of the Bank of China and HSBC towers. As you can see passing people just don't pay any attention, only tourists stop... In order not to perturbate the ongoing action and concentration, I took distance and used my zoom to get the scene.

luisafonso, bibiweb, nwoehnl, andante, kevinos, Xalkida, Luan, digi-mom, tcht, singuanti, lasscor, bebeM has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

luisafonso (858) 2006-05-17 5:25

What a great documentary shot. I wondered what they were doing but that’s all on your note. Good composition and good choice for the medium aperture. It gives some context to the scene and that’s important here. Very good.

bibiweb (8) 2006-05-17 5:50

Salut Jean-Yves,
Comme dit Luis, une belle photo documentaire. J'imagine des Genevois en train de faire la même chose sur les places de la ville. Les flics auraient vite d'arriver en imaginant qu'il s'agit d'une manif non autorisée. LOL!
J'aime bien ton cadrage large qui permet de voir à la fois ce groupe qui fait ses exercices ainsi que l'indifférence des passants autour.
Bonne journée.
Bibi

feather (50154) 2006-05-17 6:42

They have such a look of concentration on their faces. Can you imagine the looks we would get if we did this in any European street. Interesting shot.
Kath

nwoehnl (120) 2006-05-17 7:07

I like to see you try something different than usual with this one, Jean-Yves. The contrast of the meditating group and the busy/oblivious rest of the scene is quite well portrayed. Compositionally one might wish for less overlap between the figures but I think that given the discrete approach you took to take this photo the result is fun and interesting.

andante (7092) 2006-05-17 7:11

I lived in Flushing, NY for a while, and this was a common scene every morning on certain streets and parks. I like a lot how you have capture the diagonals on the composition, it adds to the dynamism.

Cheers,
Enrique

kevinos (6927) 2006-05-17 7:21

A very interesting picture Jean Yves, if one didn’t know what they were doing , it would look quite comical. Like Charlie Chaplin's walk This form of exercise is very popular here too, but not as much so as Aerobics. You have captured the scene very well,

hdl (6737) 2006-05-17 7:33

Salut Jean-Yves. Ben, pour les Chinois ou les Japonnais c'est probablement très courant et j'ai déjà vu cela sur la télé, mais si tu vas essayer ceci dans le parc de Bruxelles je t'assure que tu vas attirer des regards bizarres. Pourtant, c'est loin de stupide de pratiquer un peu d'exercise le matin. Ainsi tu commences la journée de travail avec un esprit fraiche et réveillé. J'en connais qui en ont besoin parfois ;-). Belle photo intéressante et bien fait de toi de ne les pas déranger. A la prochaine.

startacked (1286) 2006-05-17 7:44

Ah, i've seen this one time somewhere in Kowloon and I took a picture of it and than someone approached me and told me it was not okay to take a picture of the ritual. Than when I got back I asked about it here in Holland and my Chinese friend told me it is no problem to take a picture of it. Why not? he asked me. I don't know. I should have asked when I was there. TFS, Gilbert

sebinho342 (18784) 2006-05-17 8:24

Un grannnnd sourire pour celle là jean yves ! :)))
Le titre est trop drole et c'est vrai que ça fait un peu bataille de l'espace avec cette armée robotisée :))
Excellent, super bien vu (comme d'hab')

Xalkida (11740) 2006-05-17 12:27

Salut JY

Very nice scene, common for the chinese world. Excellent catch of the movement of these people. Very nice job.

Luan (15935) 2006-05-17 13:24

Je ne saivais que dire sur cette image ce matin, certes une scene cocasse, enfin pour nous, mais la bas, c'est monnaie courante aux regards des passants, du Tai Chi c'est ca ? J'aurais peut etre isole les personnes exercants et les 2 passants dans une espece de pano...quoi que le background situe la scene dans un quartier business pluto qu'un parc, la ou on pratique ce genr d'exercice non ?
Funny Jean yves, funny

tcht (7298) 2006-05-17 14:37

Hi JY,
The name of this exercise is 'Tai-Chi', which is traditional martial arts based warm-up exercise for old people. The South Korean flag is also known as 'Tai-Chi' flag or 'Taegukki' (in Korean) - notice the Yin-Yang symbol of the Korean flag - an important element in this exercise too. It's not vigorous exercise but just like Yoga.etc it's healthy.
Maybe it'd look cooler if you're closer ;) and with a low PoV. Here it's fine (didn't disturb them) but not 'intimate' enough.
Good classic shot of HK.
CheukHin

gilou530 (35700) 2006-05-17 17:27

salut JY
je nous vois mal faire la même chose en france, les coutumes sont vraiment pas les mémes que chez nous, bien vu et immortalisé
amitiés
gilbert

singuanti (15240) 2006-05-17 22:10

Hey JY. Yes I don't think I see any future Jedi Knights in this class!! That's a fun pose you caught them in and for some reason I do like the people walking past them. Nice shot!

lasscor (7637) 2006-05-18 16:24

Bonsoir Jean-Yves,
Composition typique des promenades matinales que l'on peut faire quand on va en Asie et qui me fait penser à mon voyage au Vietnam l'année passée. J'aime beaucoup la décontraction et le naturel avec lequel ces personnes pratiquent leurs exercices matinaux. Nous n'oserions pas le faire ici en Belgique.
Bien vu!
Corinne

bebeM (412) 2006-05-22 4:09

How funny! And the note elucidated the mystery... :)
BB

gebala (0) 2006-05-26 3:41

hello:) wow always at 6:30 am I do the same:D right leg, left leg:) than hands into air:) deep breath:D and I can go :D

beauty photo, exellent point of view:) nice colours, too:D

have u take course, too?:D:D

rgs