[Interview] Local photographer Kelvin travels around the world to look back at the scenery of Hong Kong

The local photographer Kelvin won the global championship of the 2020 International Landscape Photographer of the Year Contest last year. This young man in his twenties has traveled across the five continents of the world and has seen and photographed the most weird and weird scenery. But talk When I went to the place I wanted to shoot next, the answer was to stay in Hong Kong.

"Very few photographers in Hong Kong go to explore remote and deserted islands and find the undiscovered side of nature. So I think I can show the unknown side of Hong Kong through my photography."

©Kelvin Yuen (provided by interviewee)

Rediscover yourself in communication with nature

Kelvin has only been in contact with photography for only 7 years, but he has reached the peak of international competitions.

"I find that I am the most focused and selfless when I am photographing landscapes." I rediscovered myself in wind and shadow photography. "It turns out that I can live in the wild for a long time. It turns out that I can overcome extreme environments and deal with all kinds of problems. Landscape photography is also Take me to many places I never imagined I would have the opportunity to go, such as deserts, glaciers, volcanoes, etc. This is a very new thing." Kelvin had no interest in sports at first, and never camped in the mountains. Now he has become a full-time job. Landscape photographers spend almost 80% of their time in the mountains.

Once, Kelvin went to the Hong Kong Geopark to take pictures of the Ninepin Islands, and wanted to take pictures of the Ninepin Islands from North Ninepin Islands during sunrise.

Since the Ninepin Islands are uninhabited, there is no public transportation, and the boat owner will not sail after nightfall, so he had to go to the island before sunset and wait for more than ten hours until the early morning of the next day.

At night, the weather suddenly turned bad, and a strong thunderstorm belt approached, and it was inevitable to avoid being on an empty desert island.

In danger but also organic, the thunder and lightning in the sky and dense clouds have provided Nanguozhou with excellent light and background, allowing Kelvin to photograph satisfactory works.

"I think no matter what the weather is, such as blizzards, falling rain, thunder and lightning, they are actually communicating with nature." Kelvin may spend the entire night in the mountains every time he shoots, visiting under different conditions every time. The feelings are different, and there are new discoveries.

"A lot of things can only be inspired by personal experience. This is my experience in shooting landscapes."

Landscape photos need to be planned carefully and always wait for the opportunity

Kelvin said that to take a landscape photo can be roughly divided into four steps.

The photographer must be very familiar with the picture, first imagine the picture he wants to take in his mind, decide what elements the picture should contain, and what kind of atmosphere the weather should create; the next step is a field trip. Kelvin usually has good traffic in summer. This behavior is to understand the four seasons of the area, when the sunrise and sunset, and when the shooting conditions are the best. One or two drafts will be taken, and the angle, composition, camera configuration, etc. of the formal shooting will be drawn up; Based on the information obtained from the investigation, we plan in detail the season, time, route, etc. of the official shooting; in the end, we will go up the mountain day after day, waiting for every condition and element to appear in the viewing window.

Kelvin admits that he will fail many times, but thinks that since he has an ideal picture in his mind, he must try his best to capture it.

There is a photo of the starry sky in Namibia, taken in a local national park.

Kelvin found an excellent location during a field trip during the day, but then ran into a problem: There will be beasts in the area, and the national park prohibits tourists from staying at night.

Kelvin wanted to take that picture very much, and finally decided to keep the camera.

He set up the camera before sunset and started shooting and left the national park, and returned to receive the next morning.

"There is a great chance of losing the camera, but I really wanted to take this picture, so I took the risk."

©Kelvin Yuen (provided by interviewee)

Summary of the stage of publishing a photo collection

It turned out that about 2 years ago, Kelvin once deleted all the photos he had posted, denying nearly 5 years of hard work!

"I have been struggling for half a year. There are a lot of ratings on Facebook and Instagram, and many people say they like my photos. But I feel that my photos have no style. I want to change my course and want to start again." It is easy. To get rid of past habits and make new attempts is like walking in the dark, trembling and not knowing whether the result of the change is good or bad.

Kelvin was inspired when he was shooting in foreign countries. It turns out that landscape photography is not necessarily shot in good weather with blue sky and white clouds. Sometimes shooting in bad conditions is more special and can show natural momentum and power.

He recalled a trip to a foreign country and climbed the same mountain 4 times in 5 days in order to wait for a beautiful sunrise.

The sunrise did not wait, but a dramatic light appeared in the sky after the rain on the last day, and Kelvin took a picture of the moment.

He developed in this direction, changing from site selection to target weather to post-production method one by one, using new angles and techniques to photograph the scenery again.

When I felt my style was stable, I took the photos to participate in the photography competition and won the honor of "2020 International Landscape Photographer of the Year".

"This is a great affirmation of my style. It turned out that I was recognized, but at the same time I felt that I was starting to make more breakthroughs."

Kelvin recently published the photo collection "KELVINISM", and there will be a photography exhibition of the same name.

He said that he wanted to use this to make a stage summary for himself.

If you make a new breakthrough in the next few years, you may publish another book, and you can see the changes in each book.

Hong Kong's scenery is not inferior to foreign countries

The book "KELVINISM" contains landscape photos taken by Kelvin after changing his style in recent years. About one-fifth of them are landscapes of Hong Kong.

"I have seen so many places, and you will find that the landscape of Hong Kong will not be compared with that of foreign countries." Whether it is photos of Hong Kong or foreign countries, they are recorded using Kelvin's technique and placed in the same book.

Kelvin hopes that in the future, he will continue to focus on Hong Kong, looking for remote mountains and deserted islands, and photographing the undiscovered side of nature.

"I think the scenery of Hong Kong is unique." He then cited basalt as an example. This kind of igneous rock is commonly seen in gray and black all over the world, but the basalt in Hong Kong is lighter and yellowish.

In addition, he pointed out that although Hong Kong is small, the scenery is very diverse. If you take a ten-minute boat ride, you can see red and yellow rocks from the West Pages District to the Northeast District. If you are in a foreign country, you may have to drive ten hours to another destination. Only one national park can see different kinds of rocks.

"Hong Kong has the essence of taking good photos," Kelvin explained: "The photographer's job is to observe the best aspects of a place, but if the place is not magnificent in nature, it is actually difficult to shoot powerful images. I am choosing the subject matter myself. At that time, I like to look for sharper peaks, and the pictures are more imposing. If there are relatively few rural areas in Macau, or the Netherlands only has a large plain, you can’t take such photos.” In addition, Kelvin also pointed out that Hong Kong has four distinct seasons and summer. Sometimes you can take pictures of the emerald green scenery, but you can take pictures of the sea of ​​clouds in the spring, making the scenery more varied.

"In the past two years, I was unable to travel because of the epidemic. I spent a lot of time staying in Hong Kong. I realized that I didn't have to go to a foreign country to shoot. Hong Kong can also take pictures of the same magnificent scenery, just need to pay more attention and discover."

"KELVINISM" Photographic Exhibition Details:

Date: November 3 to December 20, 2021

Time: 2 pm to 10 pm

Location: 1881 Ground Floor Exhibition Hall｜2A Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

(Photo by Su Weiran)

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