One (long and very interesting) year after I completed this photo project, I have completed the book of the photos. It is for sale via the Blurb website for the cost of the book – a total non-profit enterprise, as I imagine all feats of the ego should be!

I hope you take a moment to look, and thank you for following the blog, the photos, the process.

xoxo
a

June Twentieth Two Thousand Ten.

Tomorrow is the Northern Summer Solstice; at exactly 7:28 a.m. in Hong Kong the Earth’s axial tilt will be at its closest to the sun at the Tropic of Cancer, 23° 26′. This is effectively the longest day of the year for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere in terms of hours of daylight, though it is less obvious to those of us hovering closer to the equator. I began this project on the Summer Solstice of last year, and to look at the year now, with a single photo to represent each day (not necessarily always a representative photo) the scope of the year is somehow as it should be: highs and lows in subject matter, technical merit, composition, experience and emotion are all evident.

In the end, I suppose that is what each passing year offers us, and I am thankful to have had one more.

June 19th, ’10

We had a tram party tonight, which means we ride around the city on a modified ding-ding and hang out the windows and stuff. It was great fun and a really fantastic way to see the city… especially through the eyes of someone who is getting ready to say goodbye.

This was shot on the fly looking striaght up at I.M. Pei’s Bank of China tower as we went by. It is unedited.

I ♥ this building.

June 18th (incidentally, the day I graduated from high school… in what year? Yeah, that one.)

World Cup fever at the lai see shop in Theater Lane. Lucky money and lucky flags = good combo.
Too bad the refs stole one from Team America tonight.

June 17

Busy day:
Cleared my Hong Kong taxes and MPF.
Bought 20 feather boas.
Yoga and massage.
Dinner with F.B.
Sweated.

This shot of the westbound lanes of Queen’s Road was taken from the pedestrian overpass heading to the Inland Revenue Department where I spent approximately 18 minutes, including wait time and exit interview, clearing my Hong Kong taxes and learning I would be getting a refund. And that was with out my documentation, completed returns or a pen.

That shit is E-fficient.

16-06-10

Tuen Ng is a public holiday in Hong Kong more contemporarily known as the Dragon Boat Festival. This annual holiday falls on the fifth day of the fifth moon in the lunar calendar. The boat races are really cool to watch; usually 20 paddlers, a drummer in front facing the crew who functions sort of like a coxswain and a helmsman to the rear. The drumming is what really makes it an event, in my opinion, but the color is pretty flash, too. There are races all over Hong Kong, from Discovery Bay to Stanley to Cheung Chau to Aberdeen. I like the Aberdeen races the best because it is where all the local fisherman’s teams go and they are awesome (the ex-pat teams seem to prefer to compete amongst themselves…) The harbor fills up and the teams are all on the big fishing boats until they race.

Today the weather was not super cooperative with occasional cloudbursts and humidity that caused all of the internal glass in my camera lens to fog up. It gave the photos an eerie, hazy (basically sucky) appearance, so this is not actually a focus issue but a weather issue. Ahhh, Hong Kong in summer.

June 15

Would you? I am not sure I would.
But you never know.

06/14/10

The #72 was a brand new new bus today. It even had new car bus smell.
Apparently buses are trying to convince us we are on airplanes now… and the curvy bars are weird.
It kinda felt like a fake bus.
I guess as soon as it gets funky, it will seem more real.

Or something.

June 13, 2010.

Statue Square, Central Hong Kong.
11:00 a.m.
85° F, 93% RH.

It is a special kind of June Gloom over here: The sticky kind.

(Told you I got out of the house <– victory!)

Saturday the 12th of June.

A breakfast of papaya.

Good and good for you.

This papaya was not only delicious, it came from a tree in our garden that we planted. That is extremely satisfying, even for someone who it turns out is not such a fan of gardening (me.) As Eric always says, “We seem to be in a pretty good biome for growing things.” Yup, everything we have planted has pretty much produced. A good argument for the tropics, though tempered by bugs (see yesterday) vermin and 98% humidity.