Andy Yeung flies a drone over Hong Kong for dizzying cityscapes. Romain Jacquet-Lagreze photographs the magical blue hour over the soaring buildings. Michael Wolf discovers moments of breathtaking urban density. Here, we explore a place unlike any other, as seen through the lens of five very different artists capturing some of the best in Hong Kong cityscape photography.
“Yeung has lived in Hong Kong for his entire life, but it wasn’t until he gazed out his window on a recent flight that he realized the extent and implications of the metropolis’s population density.”
“The first time Jacquet-Lagreze saw the color blue drench the city was not unlike falling in love. It was a warm day in summer, and as the sun set, the sky cast an azure shroud over the metropolis below.”
“I have noticed that even though Hong Kong is filled with buildings and living space is very cramped, people manage to find a way to live in harmony with each other and make the best use of the land,” Yeung says.
“The structures are mesmerizing, and the monolithic facades play tricks on your eyes until you eventually realize that all those tiny little windows are the markers of people’s homes.”
“In his two Cocoons series, Steinhauer, who lived in Asia for nearly twenty years, beautifully captured the style of construction that is unique to Hong Kong in which the building is wrapped in silk fabric to prevent debris from falling onto the street and pedestrians below.”
Yeung knows his city by heart; he’s walked the streets of Quarry Bay, explored the crevices of public housing in the Ping Shek and Choi Wan Estates. But nothing could have prepared him for this nightly scene: when the sun descends and a blanket of murky mist covers the urban sprawl.