Hong Kong Photo Travel Diary Vol.3
Shenzhen City edition
Instagramer Johnny ( @johnny777 ), who is active both in Japan and overseas, traveled from Hong Kong to Shenzhen for a week.
He showed me the photos he took along with the trip around two areas of Hong Kong and Shenzhen, China. The third and last installment is for Shenzhen, China.
Please take a look at the scenery of Shenzhen, China, taken by Johnny, who usually uses his iPhone to shoot various city scenery, using the tokyo grapher attachment lens.
Shenzhen
Finally, I would like to visit Shenzhen, a city in China north of Hong Kong.
You can go from Hong Kong to Shenzhen by train, and Japanese people don't need a visa if they stay for less than 15 days , so they can go without hesitation.
There are several ways to get to Shenzhen, but I chose the route recommended by a Hong Kong friend to take the train to Lo Wu station and enter through the immigration office directly connected to the station .
Many people head to Shenzhen on this route, so if you ride the crowd, you can go to Shenzhen without hesitation.
Architecture you want
● Shenzhen Wan Sports Center Gymnasium (Shenzhen Wan Sports Center)
The first place I went to was Shenzhen Wan Sports Center Gymnasium (Shenzhen Wan Sports Center) .
The structure is reminiscent of the main stadium (Bird's Nest) of the Beijing Olympics, and the size of the scale is perfect.
The ultra-wide angle captures everything from the ground to the ceiling.
If it was sunny, the shadow of this mesh would be reflected on the ground and it would have been beautiful. . .
By looking up at the space in the center of the building from my feet, I emphasized the height and took a powerful shot.
I used the FISH-EYE 220 to capture all of the central space.
The building has many curves, so if you shoot with FISH-EYE, the structure will be emphasized and it will look more interesting.
I took a picture using the reflection of the glass.
The iPhone and the small attachment lens, which allow you to bring the lens as close to the glass as possible, allow you to take photos that are close to line objects like this!
Even if I take pictures with a digital camera while traveling, I usually edit them after returning to my country.
It's troublesome to put the data in the PC and edit it during the trip.
But photos taken with my iPhone can be quickly edited while traveling by train, and I can post them to Instagram stories as they are, so I take as many photos with my iPhone as I do with my digital camera.
The iPhone is perfect for real-time sharing.
After returning to Japan, I sometimes talk to my friends while showing them photos of what Shenzhen is like.
● Shenzhen Museum of Contemporary Art & Planning Exhibition
Next came the Museum of Contemporary Art & Planning Exhibition in Shenzhen, designed by the Austrian architectural firm Koop Himmel Blau, which looks like something out of a sci-fi movie.
It is a museum with such strict security that you cannot bring in bags, and you have to pass through a metal detector and show your passport.
I thought there would be an exhibition of contemporary art, but it was an exhibition commemorating the 40th anniversary of the start of the "reform and liberation" policy, so there was no contemporary art lol
I was able to enter with my camera, but with the angle of view of the 35mm lens I had, it was difficult to capture the large interior space satisfactorily. .
We will use the wide angle of the Wide Lens to beautifully capture the monument and the entire space in the center!
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iPhone XR + Wide Lens -
iPhone XR + Wide Lens -
iPhone XR + Wide Lens
A metal plate is affixed to the surface of the central monument, which distorts and reflects the regular ceiling grid and triangular glass walls.
The organic shape of the monument in the inorganic regularity of the building gave me a strange feeling.
Outside the museum, there was a water basin that made me want to take a reflection photo. I tried to shoot with a wide lens to show the scale of the building, but I happened to take a picture of a child holding an umbrella.
The wide lens makes the subject too small, so I used a standard camera here.
I couldn't see the blue sky during my stay in Shenzhen, but I can take pictures like this on rainy days, so it's a pleasure to look for and find things that can only be taken in that environment .
● Nanzan Literature Center (Nanzan Cultural Sports Center)
This building, which features a diamond-shaped opening, is a complex facility called Nanzan Buntai Center (Nanzan Cultural Sports Center) that houses a theater, swimming pool, and gymnasium.
I wanted to capture the wall as wide as possible, so I attached a Wide Lens to shoot.
And here is also a jump photo!
Good jumps as usual in Shenzhen! LOL This time, I had Karen ( @k_a_r_e_n_g ), a friend I met on Instagram who guided me around Shenzhen, take pictures.
If you compare it to mine, you can see how huge the wall is!
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iPhone XR + Wide Lens -
iPhone XR + Wide Lens
Photos taken with Live Photo can be edited with Live, Loop, Bounce, and Long Exposure effects that match the scene, and effects can be changed any number of times.
During my trip to Shenzhen, I found out that when posting to Instagram stories, you can switch between photos and Live Photos by pressing and holding the photo you took with Live Photo!
walk around town
I was able to see the architecture I was looking for, so after that I strolled around the city.
I asked Karen ( @k_a_r_e_n_g ) to stand by the wall and take a picture.
Thanks to Instagram, I've been able to meet and take pictures with people I never would have met.
They tell me about shooting spots and delicious restaurants that I can't get from the internet , and when they come to Tokyo, I act as a guide and shoot with them.
In Shenzhen, I often see karaoke boxes in places where many people gather, such as shopping malls.
Unlike Japanese karaoke boxes, it's literally a box with a size that only about two people can enter.
In Shenzhen, waiting times at restaurants often exceed 2 hours, and some people make reservations through We Chat and play karaoke to pass the time while waiting.
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iPhone XR + Wide Lens -
iPhone XR + Wide Lens -
iPhone XR + Wide Lens
The streets of Shenzhen are wide and the scale of the buildings is large, so the standard iPhone camera was unable to capture the overall atmosphere of the city and buildings, so the Wide Lens was very useful.
I emphasized the height by shooting the building from below with an ultra-wide angle. Wide Lens is used here as well.
It was cloudy, so the impression was a little scary.
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iPhone XR + Wide Lens -
iPhone XS + Tele Lens
Every time you take the subway in Shenzhen, there is an X-ray check of your baggage and a check of plastic bottled drinks, just like at the airport.
I also left a plastic bottle in the side pocket of my bag, so I had to be stopped and checked. .
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iPhone XS -
iPhone XS
I was tired from walking around the city, so I decided to take a break at a shopping mall, and found a shop with a cute logo.
It was a shop that served cheese tea called HEY TEA, which is very popular in China.
Cheese tea...? I don't think it tastes good... The waiting time is 40 minutes! ! But since it's been a while, let's have a drink!
So I ordered a peach cheese tea (Shibashibomo peach).
As for the taste...
Surprisingly delicious!
It's layered with cream cheese, peach juice with pulp, and black tea. Cheese tea may be popular in Japan next to tapioca milk tea?
It is an LED light show that I happened to come across while wandering around Shenzhen Civic Center .
I was curious about the crowds in the plaza, so when I went there, the lights suddenly went out and the buildings around the plaza began to be lit up with LED lights.
iPhone XR + Wide Lens
I learned later that May 1st, when I visited Shenzhen, was the day when an LED light show was held during the Labor Day holiday in China.
I was surprised and moved by the technical capabilities and scale of the LED lights that were attached to the skyscrapers surrounding the plaza, and the light and sound production of the entire city.
Until now, this LED light show has been held irregularly, but recently it seems to be held on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.
I didn't have much time, so I walked around Shenzhen in a hurry, but I was able to take pictures while enjoying the large scale of the city. There are still places I want to visit, so if I have a chance to visit again, I want to take my time.
I hope it will be sunny next time! smile
This is the end of my Hong Kong photo travelogue!
When I go abroad from now on, I would like to write a photographic travel journal of the city.
See you soon!
Johnny
Instagram: @johnny777
Born in 1988 Born in Saga Prefecture Lives in Tokyo Graduated from Waseda University Art School, Department of Architecture and Urban Design
Fascinated by shooting with an iPhone, he entered the world of photography.
The main theme is a minimal urban landscape that is conscious of space and scale, light and shadow.
In 2017, it was adopted for Apple's “shot on iPhone” campaign and was posted as billboard advertisements in 25 countries around the world.
2018 Unsplash Awards street photography category winner
