The My Father's KowloonCity project provides an opportunity for me to appreciate the beauty and power of the synergy from technologies of different generations: century old Stone Houses with an annex equipped with multimedia exhibition capabilities; a 50 year-old camera with modern lenses; Kodak Tri-X films with Piezography digital printing; etc. In addition to local Chinese media coverages, a review of the book and exhibition from China Daily today sums up nicely:
My Father's Kowloon City 在獅子山下尋找他的足跡 - Introduction
A conversation with photographer John Chee on his book My Father's Kowloon City 「在獅子山下尋找他的足跡」available at the following bookstores:
>> Amazon.com (outside of Hong Kong)
>> The Eslite Spectrum (誠品)
>> Metrobooks
>> Chung Hwa Book Co. (中華書店)
>> The Commercial Press (商務印書館): online or in-store
>> Joint Publishing (H.K.) (三聯書店)
>> Cosmos Books (天地圖書)
>> Cite Bookshop (城邦書店)
>> Logos Ministries Ltd. (基道書樓)
Book Launch
今天新書 在獅子山下尋找他的足跡 正式上架，大家可在以下香港各處書店找到:
On the book launch day, more bookstores in Hong Kong are added to the list that carry my new book My Father's Kowloon City:
>> The Eslite Spectrum (誠品)
>> Metrobooks
>> Chung Hwa Book Co. (中華書店)
>> The Commercial Press (商務印書館): online or in-store
>> Joint Publishing (H.K.) (三聯書店)
>> Cite Bookshop (城邦書店)
>> Cosmos Books (天地圖書)
>> Logos Ministries Ltd. (基道書樓)
>> Amazon.com - outside of Hong Kong (香港以外地區)
Don't miss the corresponding photography exhibition that is on view in the Store Houses between March 26 and April 3, 2016.
新書在香港「商務」丶「三聯」丶「中華」有售 New Book Hitting the Bookstores
由即日起, 除 Amazon 之外，香港讀者可以在「商務印書館」（各門市及綱購）丶「三聯書店」丶「中華書局」找到我的新作：《在獅子山下尋找他的足跡》 攝影集。 此書, 藉八十張相片抒發出對舊社區的情懷；對父親的思念。請電郵至 mail@johnchee.us 登記參加三月廿六日的新書發佈會。
Besides Amazon, the first bookstore (one of the largest) in Hong Kong has started to carry my new photography book, My Father's Kowloon City. You can order it online or in-store at The Commercial Press, Joint Publishing and Chung Hwa Book directly. Don't forget to register for the exhibition/book launch party on March 26th via mail@johnchee.us.
Promise 諾
Piezography Fine Art Printing for My Father's Kowloon City Photography Exhibition
Starting from January 2016, I confidently migrated to 100% digital printing after years of experimenting digital solutions for fine art prints (while maintained traditional darkroom workflow as my main post processing method until last Christmas). To prepare for the My Father's Kowloon City exhibition (March 26 - April 3 @ Stone Houses, Hong Kong), I did a side-by-side comparison between the trusted Digital Silver (laser prints on silver gelatin fiber papers) from Digital Silver Imaging in Massachusetts (that I have used for over five years) and digital monochromatic printing with Piezography on JonCone Studio Type 5 fiber papers by a master printer in NYC. I opted for Piezography because of its superior quality in every way.
Faith
I adopted a hybrid (i.e., analog and digital) workflow to approach this project, and used a manual film camera to help preserve the charm of Kowloon City. In conjunction with the book release, 20 images are on view in Stone Houses. The images selected for the exhibition are processed with a technique known as "Digital Monochromatic Printing with Piezography"; "Piezography inks contain carbon-based pigments and when printed on archival paper achieve historical image longevity," as Jeff Gaydash described it. And, the result is just stunning!
Coming soon ... my new book and solo exhibition! It's happening!
Holiday Shopping
It has been a year since this photograph in my photojournal book was taken. Holiday shoppers seem to have increased, so as the homeless and unlicensed street vendors.
Han Is Not China
I am generally interested in new M-mount lenses. But, this new company, HandeVision did not get it right ...
And for my friends in Japan, the error in Handevision.jp is also obvious:
"HandeVisionの由来は、中国を意味する漢（Han）とドイツを意味するDEを掛け合わせたものです"
Let's get it straight ... putting an equal sign between "Han" and "China" is like calling the United States of America "White" or "Caucasian." With proper combination of words with "Han" (漢), the phase can be referred to the Han people (漢族人), its language (漢語) or the Han dynasty (漢朝) (202 BC – 220 AD). Besides Han, there are officially 55 ethnic minority groups living in the Mainland China speaking different languages. To make things worse, a number of these minority groups are being marginalized by the totalitarian regime. Some of the notable ones being oppressed include the 6 millions Tibetans (Buddhist) and 10 million Uyghurs (Muslim, mostly reside in Xinjiang).
To look at this from a different perspective, I am an American with a heritage of Han, culturally and ethnically. Similar to this example, there are over 50 million overseas Chinese not living in the Mainland China.
That said, I do not see it as a small mistake, isolated incident or unintentional. Between 50 million overseas Chinese and 120 million non-Han minority groups people living in the Mainland China, HandeVision made an error that mischaracterized over 170 million people globally, which is about the same number of people in Pakistan, the sixth most populated country of the world. Sadly, this error by HandeVision is only one of the many that I have seen lately in different places. With many people knowingly or unknowingly influenced by all kinds of "soft power" these days on: 1) diplomtic relationships; 2) election campaign financing; 3) university level educational programs; 4) media and theater, etc., HandeVision's error is a tiny drop in the bucket. I wish I could give HandeVision the benefit of the doubt and call its error a "lost in translation," so my initial enthusiasm towards these lenses would not need to be suppressed by my conscience.
As a Leica M shooter, I was ecstatic to learn about the new M glasses. Especially at first glance, the joint venture looks like it has someone in Germany (who seems to know what they are doing) takes care of the design (hopefully original designs). So long the workers who produce the lens are not being exploited, the joint venture and its parent companies are ethical on its business practices and environmentally conscious/ socially responsible, I see no reason to dislike the new products at this point, particularly they offer cheaper alternatives to the market. We will have to wait and see the quality of its products, though.
I did not see anything wrong about the joint venture's name on itself. It's the intent (official explanation) behind it complicated by the recent human rights records of the Mainland China. The English version of its press release could have said it's about the Han people or its language, or the Han dynasty. However, that wasn't what HandeVision chose to use. There is a Confucius saying literally: "legitimate name, smooth wording" roughly means "once one gets the right name (legitimacy), their actions/ claims are generally justifiable." Marketing folks in Shanghai Transvision Photographic Equipment Co., Ltd. known for its Kipon lens adapters and is one of the parent companies of the joint venture HandeVision should know better.
Corruption Culture
Standard practice?
Ex-New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver convicted on all corruption charges yesterday. Hong Kong's former leader Donald Tsang charged over corruption allegations earlier this year. And, Tsang's former deputy Rafael Hui, was jailed for 7.5 years for taking bribes from a property tycoon last year. And, these are only what we know.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/sheldon-silver-conviction-shakes-albany-1448936770
Tsang's former deputy Rafael Hui, was jailed for 7.5 years for taking bribes from a property tycoon last year.
From Animal Rights to Easing Traffic
I tried to understand the issue that Mayor de Blasio and certain animal rights activists are so passionate about. So, I spent hours observing and photographing how these working horses are treated in Central Park. Nothing came to my attention that I would consider inhumane. Instead, I saw the coachmen cared for their horses, fixed their shoes, fed them, etc. during down time. I read somewhere that there are strict guidelines for them to follow, including working hours of the horses.
One of the key points of the new proposal by the Mayor yesterday is to MOVE the horses' current home owned by the coachmen from the West Side of Manhattan to a stable inside Central Park to ease traffic. Additionally, over a hundred of licensed coachmen would lose their job, as a result of the cut.
Let's follow the money. The potential move will leave three West Side building lots open for the possibility of yet another highrise building projects.
$$$ >> animal rights activities >> the well orchestrated Anybody But Quinn political campaign >> Bill de Blasio won the NYC mayoral election
Didn't Mayor de Blasio say before that he "had bigger fish to fry than the banning horse carriages"? Ah, he is also up for re-election soon and perhaps, money talks again! Over 60% of New Yorkers did not like his previous plan of banning horse-drawn-carriages in NYC. Despite the tweak, Mayor de Blasio's new proposal just leaves a bad taste in the mouth -- animal rights appears to be not relevant to Mayor de Blasio any more as he now wants to keep the carriages but to reduce the number from 200ish to 70. The "easing traffic" reason this time for the move and cut feel a lot like his plan to curb the growth of Uber that threaten the yellow cab companies and city revenue from the grossly overpriced taxi medallion earlier this year.
The people of Hong Kong have spoken
The first election (for the District Councils of Hong Kong) since the Umbrella Movement took place over this weekend. While, activist Raphael Wong in the following image did not win on his bid for entering the District Councils as an elected member, a few other did in various districts.
"‘Umbrella soldiers’ win eight seats as veteran politicians suffer surprise defeat"
Trying to get by
"Half of New Yorkers say they are barely or not getting by, poll shows." We don't need polls to tell us. Just take a walk in the City, you will see scenes like this image in my book every other corner. Somehow, our policymakers fail to see the obvious. They also fail to see the correlation between inequality and civil unrest in recent history.
A Lesson in Racism & Journalism at the University of Missouri
A lot have been going on at the University of Missouri lately. While I would like the students in Hong Kong who are fighting for academic freedom to take note, this "Letter to the Editor" of the Times by a veteran journalist is a good read by all everywhere. Photographers have been harassed repeatedly in the name of "privacy" by many, including the police, parents, etc. Student journalist Tim Tai got it right, "the First Amendment protects your right to be here and mine."
A Lesson in Journalism at the University of Missouri
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/12/opinion/a-lesson-in-journalism-at-the-university-of-missouri.html
Gentrified Neighborhoods
After I took this image of the massive site where three buildings collapsed in East Village on March 26 of this year for my recent photojournal book, a building collapsed in Brooklyn in July and another one in midtown last week. City transformation continues, but at what cost?
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/31/nyregion/midtown-building-collapse-leaves-one-dead.html?_r=0
The "developing story" version of this New York Times article described how the deluxe hotel developer of the site sued Havana NY (a small popular local restaurant) located at the ground floor of where the midtown building collapsed. The small restaurant won the first case that the developer tried to get them out, while the second one claiming Havana NY $10 million for delaying the building demolition is ongoing. However, the reference to these cases was removed in the final version of the Times. Regardless of who's right or wrong, we can catch a glimpse of what mom-and-pop shops are facing through these cases.
Generalization, Discrimination, and Stimulus Control
Protesters were against "police brutality" not the "police" as shown in this image of my new photojournal book. For those who intentionally or unintentionally mix the two, take a quick read of the story about a boy and seal hunting (p. 300) in Chapter 10 Generalization, Discrimination, and Stimulus Control, of Learning and Behavior by Paul Chance.
It isn't just a test!
In this image from my new photojournal book, a girl was protesting for her teachers! There seems to have way too many problems in the U.S. education system: too much tests, teachers' performance, failing schools, charter schools, U.S. students falling behind, Common Core Standard, high tuition, student loans, etc. It isn't easy to be students these days, so as the U.S. Presidential candidates (Democrats and Republican) and New York City Mayoral candidates.
Homelessness
Figures show that homelessness has been up THREE times in five years in one of the Manhattan residential neighborhoods.
The Great North East of Hong Kong
After taking me to understand the issues that Hong Kong farmers are facing earlier this year, my sister returned to the North East of Hong Kong and captured a beautiful sunset last week. If the farmland turns to shopping malls and high-rises as planned by the government, many birds will lose one of their last bit of natural habitats. So do the humans.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153703038242002&set=pcb.10153703040757002&type=3&theater
Every 1 out of 3 elderly in Hong Kong lives in poverty
Similar to the data point that half of New York City is living near poverty, Hong Kong elderly poor is on the rise. Not a surprise to me given what I saw in Hong Kong when I was working on my new book, the Beyond the Pale of Two Cities. The new statistic about one out of three senior citizens in Hong Kong falls under the poverty line has just quantified an obvious problem. The governments can choose to either deny these facts or do something about it before the term "middle class" can only be found in history books.
Book: "Beyond the Pale of Two Cities" is on Amazon
Click here to order your copy of my new photojournal: Beyond the Pale of Two Cities about Black Lives Matter in New York and the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong.
