One of the things Hong Kong is known for is its high-density, high rise apartment buildings. They are, quite frankly, something you almost have to see in person to believe. I ran into a string of articles before visiting Hong Kong the first time (like this one – Hong Kong’s Shocking 40-Square-Foot Apartments) that inspired me to want to document them somehow myself. However, after breaking my foot, I was only able to capture the city outside my window. This last visit though, I finally got to go out and explore!
The picture above are the famous Quarry Bay apartments. A popular spot for photographers, these older apartments aren’t as tall as the newer ones being built now, but they have a TON of character to them from an artistic standpoint (these particular apartments even appear in the trailer for the Ghost in the Shell, and will presumably be a back drop for at least part of the film). This particular shot is looking straight up, and I used the neighboring building to close off the C shaped courtyard where I was standing. Super interesting to take in, and we were definitely the only Westerners in the neighborhood! (By the way, if you’d like to photograph the Quarry Bay apartments yourself, the building is actually known as the Yick Cheong Building; easily to locate on Google maps).
The second picture, located just below the text, is of a modern apartment building. These are the ones that are absolutely jaw dropping. Home to, in some cases thousands of people, these buildings rise anywhere from 40 to 60 stories tall – insane – with some of the apartments being as small as 100 square feet (this particular building looked to have bigger ones, but it’s kinda hard to tell where one stops and a new one begins!). Crazy stuff!
–Dan Thompson
Yick Cheong Building
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