BY SHEUNG YIU
Chan Dick (陳的) is a commercial photographer whose personal work has caught as much as, if not more, public attention as his commercial work . His photo series ‘No compromise’ portray student activists aspired to make social progress in Hong Kong political scene. It is his photo book of picturesque bird eyed view of Chai Wan Fire Station that won him his Hong Kong Photo Book Awards. I talked to him about his production and curatorial process.
© Chan Dick from ‘Chai Wan Fire Station’, 2014
1. How does your latest award winning series ‘Chai Wan Fire Station’ turn into a complete photo story?
About one year ago, I heard a commotion from the toilet of my workshop, curious, I opened the ventilation window, peered down and saw firemen playing volleyball. After that, I spent about a month, just observing. I discovered that there is a routine of events that happened in this small volleyball court - training in the morning, volleyball match in the evening. There were occasional kindergarteners field trips, fire trainings and high officials inspections.
The scene is surreally picturesque for a coincidental discovery. I decided to pick up my camera and captured the scenes of the fire station, rare to the public eye, through the tiny window.
15 months later, I have taken over 1,500 photographs. The thought of turning these images into a photo book has always been on my mind, but it is not until the launch of Hong Kong Photo Book Awards that I put my thought into action.
© Chan Dick from ‘Chai Wan Fire Station’, 2014
2. You have worked on many projects, from commercial campaign to social documentary, how do you decide to make Chai Wan Fire Station a photo book? What aspects of a photo project do you consider a photo-book-worthy one?
The work I put out in the past, no matter commercial or personal, are conceptual. I spent a lot of time finding venues and subjects. Each photo story is meticulously planned. I spent substantial time and resources on each image and thus each story is composed of few photos only. The last few series of my work, including the photographs I took of Scholarism (a student activist group in Hong Kong) for universal suffrage in Hong Kong titled ‘No compromise’, ‘Escapers’ for a Freshwave (a Hong Kong short film competition for young local filmmakers) movie short and ‘War’, a photo story taken for kart racing aficionado to support the construction of racing circuit in Hong Kong. Each story has about a dozen of images, it was a fair amount to hold a photo exhibition, but too few for a photo book.
© Chan Dick from ‘No compromise’, 2014
© Chan Dick from ‘No compromise’, 2014
I do not mean that the amount of work produced should be the only consideration when it comes to making a photo book. For ‘Chai Wan Fire Station’, since all the images are taken in the same place and has similar visual elements, I was worried that my viewer may feel bored of the repetitive images, I spent much effort choosing the right photos. I tried different things to build a complete narrative.
Generally speaking, when deciding which photo story is to be made a photo book, I will consider four aspects: (1) the amount of work and quality. Take this book as an example, I picked around 30 photos out of the thousand I took to make sure every page fulfil viewer’s expectation. (2) photographic visual diversity of the story. Each photograph should be a surprise. (3) For photo book which has a loose theme, such as collages of snapshots, since the photos lack connection, each photo needs to be impactful. (4) Ideally, every photo should stand alone as well as fit in with a narrative.
© Chan Dick from ‘Chai Wan Fire Station’, 2014
© Chan Dick from ‘Chai Wan Fire Station’, 2014
© Chan Dick from ‘Chai Wan Fire Station’, 2014
3. How does Hong Kong inspire you artistically? Living in a city with such dense visual elements, does it influence your aesthetic and artistic thinking?
Born and raised in this city, I am in a love-hate relationship with Hong Kong. Frankly, I do not find this city visually pleasing. I wander through the crowded city every day. In the years of commercial photography and location scouting, I have witnessed unique Hong Kong landscapes being replaced by identical new buildings. The newer the place and building, the harder it is to find beautiful ‘lines’.
‘Time has chosen us’ (a popular phrase used by student protestors during the Umbrella Movement).The shrinking freedom of art expression motivates me to create more personal work. My task is to turn dull and flatness into beauty in photographs.
4. Any interesting photo project/ photo exhibition?
‘Yangtze, the Long River’ by Nadav Kander is a must-watch. It was currently exhibited in Hong Kong and I am lucky enough to talk to the photographer himself. He made me understand that commercial photography and personal photography are not mutually exclusive. He achieved excellence in both categories, which is my true inspiration.
One of the must-watch photo exhibition is Hiroshi Sugimoto’s in Taiwan. The photographs were spectacular, the atmosphere and the installation worked perfectly together. It was simple yet powerful.
Your favourite photo book of all time.
Fujii Tamotsu’s “A KA RI” is definitely my all time favourite. I am fortunate to own a signed copy of the book.