The lights of Hong Kong, a photo from Hong Kong, South

Photographer's Note

This is Hong Kong as seen from the Kowloon side of Victoria harbour.

The tallest building in the photo (and also in Hong Kong, for the moment) is the IFC II Tower (International Finance Centre) which is 88 storeys and almost 410m in height. A 108 storey building above the Kowloon Metro station is currently being built and is due to be finished sometime in 2007.

The building on the far-left with lots of big white X's is the controversial Bank of China Tower (3rd tallest in HK). It was completed in 1990 and is controversial because many local people see the tower as a huge violation of the principles of feng shui. For example the 4 triangular prisms are negative symbols in the feng shui rule book; being the opposite to circles which represent perfection and (importantly in a bank) prosperity. Also, the huge crosses on the sides suggest negativity and its shape has been likened to a praying mantis (a threatening symbol), complete with radio masts as antennae. Interestingly, it was designed by a Chinese-born architect called IM Pei.

The image was a little warped, something that is quite noticeable with a lot of vertical elements in the photo so I straightened it out in Photoshop and then cropped the top and bottom to make it panoramic.

Regards,

Rich

irimi, jcdurka1, amino, happypoppeye has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

irimi (890) 2007-04-02 4:41

Hello Richard,
VEry lovely view of a colorful city. I really think you also should have considered uploading the poanoramic large version of the photo. I liked the composition but I think the photo is slightly over exposed bu +0.3 or +0.7 EV. The bright light on the left causing too much brightness over that section. Well done.

Greetings,
Ahmet

jcdurka1 (1950) 2007-04-02 6:14

Night view of big cities are usualy great for the amount of light that you can see. Your picture is full of light, your composition it's great and well done. Nice colors and sharped.
Nice regards,
Jean-Claude

Bruno40 (6662) 2007-04-02 7:03

Hi Richard,

Nice night shot. Very sharp and clear colors.

I read your intro. I wonder whyyou do not have any picture from Chile. Short time there or not good subjects?

cheers

Jorge

clnaef (6289) 2007-04-03 4:50

Bonjour,
Quel festival de lumières !
Bonne journée.
clnaef

amino (440) 2007-04-09 3:43

Beautiful colours and luminuosity and a nice horizontal catch. The deep sky tone background works nicely. Great night shot overall and thanks for an informative note...

Regards,
Amin

happypoppeye (4819) 2007-04-10 1:57

Great work. Really sharp and good cropping / composition. Great comment / explanation also.