Michael Wolf offers a new perspective on Hong Kong&#39;s high-rises

Many have been critical of the criticism myself and others had leveled against these pictures. To put what I am saying into perspective I want to make the point of repeatability. Lets take Ansel Adams' Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico and any one of the 4 images used in this article here on DPR. Now, who can name a professional photographer in the world today, using any kind of equipment, new or old, who could effectively reproduce Ansel's classic image, of course as the scene looks today. Anyone? Ansel himself could only capture a single negative of it, so any takers? Consider that the exact date, time and place from where this classic picture was taken is know. Now lets look at the 4 Wolf pictures. Given the exact time, date and location from where they were taken, is there a top flight professional commercial photographer in the world today who could NOT recreate these 4 pictures, as these scenes looks today?

Aug 28, 2013permalink

You simply fail to get the point. Mr Wolf's photographs stand out because these are byproducts of his personal quest. Given the exact time, date and location of the photographs, both you and i will be able to recreate these photos but those will lack the personal quest of Mr. Wolf and hence will not be art.

Aug 28, 2013permalink

Dazzer8888

indeed he fails to get the point.......mr Wolf thought of it and did it. It's ludicrous to say after the fact "i could have done that if i'd thought of it, if i'd made the effort to actually go there and do it". I also think these picture exhibit a high level of skill and it ain't as easy as people think it is to make them...........JMHO of course.

Aug 28, 2013permalink

Yeah...i agree.

Aug 29, 2013permalink

Mr Wolf was not the originator of this idea. Photographing the flat side of a building for the sake of showing off its repeating patterns has been done many times before, especially in Hong Hong if we can believe the eye witness accounts of some of the posters on this thread. So what this is then is Mr Wolf's take of a common idea, commonly done in Hong Kong. Its worth noting that the idea in the first place is to make a photograph of someone else's creation; that of the architect. In a way, this idea is akin to photographing an area of a painting and then claiming the results as your own unique 'vision'. Of course there are unique and creative ways of photographing architecture, but this is the least challenging and lowest form of conceptualization, if it can indeed even be called that.

Aug 29, 2013permalink

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilt%E2%80%93shift_photography

Will you please go to his website and see all of the photographs of the series. These photographs makes me face a question - What's our future? What will be the world for our children and grandchildren?
Some of the photographs scare me ( not of course those posted here).
I have seen many hundreds of photographs of highrises and city skylines, none have evoked this reaction in me ( and i believe many others). Those photographs just give the feeling of viewing post cards.
THESE ARE NOT POSTCARDS.

Aug 29, 2013permalink

Dazzer8888

I'm curious about the technique used to make these pictures.

Some of them seem so flat it makes me wonder if they were taken from multiple vantage points and later stitched together. Like all parts of the shot have the same perspective, with no lens distortion. I've been thining about trying something like this but can find nothing on the interwebs about it.

If this is how it's done, i like the unreal effect it creates.

I guess the other possibility is that the shots are taken from very far away with a zoom lens, and only the centre of the image is cropped and used.

Anyone?

Aug 27, 2013permalink

Philip Goh

What you're looking for is a tilt-shift lens. They're not only used for producing "minature" effects ;)

Aug 27, 2013permalink

Just a long lens in the building opposite. Perspective distortion (if any) fixed in Photoshop.

Aug 28, 2013permalink

IMO I don't think a tilt and shift would have a long enough focal range..

Aug 28, 2013permalink

The easiest approach would be to get up high along side the building, (midway up would be ideal) set the camera up parallel to the building and level to the ground. Its the same camera technique one would use for copy work of paintings etc.

Aug 29, 2013permalink

HA,HA,HA.... I have just finished editing similar images from our Hong kong trip for my website and my girlfriend commented that they look naf and know one would be interested in them :-) I stood my ground on this one and it looks like I may have been right :-D

Aug 27, 2013permalink

How similar? Please show some. If they are as good as the ones above, you are skilled IMHO.

Aug 27, 2013permalink

http://www.salavon.com/work/EveryPlayboyCenterfoldDecades/grid/11/

I said similar but not Identical. I do have that same building that is number 3, but taken from the ground and perspective corrected in PS. I shot from viewpoints in the hills with a 300mm with 1.4xtc on a full frame camera. If I would have thought to actually go inside the opposite building I could have had larger files, rather than the corrected crops I have ;-/. Oh well maybe next time. Regarding seeing the pic's, My website should be up and running in two weeks, I will post a link then..

Aug 27, 2013permalink

budi0251

instead of arts, what comes to mind would be a very uncomfortable hamster cage or an overcrowded chicken coop.

Anyway, the photos really convey the story :)

Aug 27, 2013permalink

Mike Sandman

Quintessential Hong Kong.

Aug 27, 2013permalink

b craw

Absentaneous, you make a good comparison of Wolf to Gursky. And an excellent observation of the further lineage back to Bernd and Hilla Becher; they are the real originators of concepts so important to latter visual motifs used by Gursky and others, often using spacial subversions, often using flattening and patterning, to remove the specific identity of subject. Of course, this is only one body of experimental method employed by many Postmodern-leaning photographers in rethinking landscape, etc. So, within this context, Wolf's approach does seem a little late to the party, and lacking in the conceptual relavence of some of the others. It is more of a form of stylistic mannerism. But, I do find many of his images interesting, visually - if I am to see them primarily focused upon transfiguring space into pattern.

As an aside, I suggest DPR feature at least some artists whose work is specific to the potentials of digital imaging - methods which really can't be in film. One example is the work of Jason Salavon and his composite of visual images. Here is a link to his compositing of all the Playboy Bunnies by decade.

Aug 26, 2013permalink

joe6pack

Got to read the original article about the trouble he went through to take the photo:

"Fortunately, Hong Kong is a hilly place, so it’s easy for Wolf to walk up an incline to get parallel to the middle of a building. Occasionally, he’ll climb up on rooftops, parking garages or even schools. “Sometimes I’ll go into the building opposite,” he says. “I’ll try to find someone who will let me into his apartment so I can photograph out of the window.”

Aug 26, 2013permalink

He could use a quadrocopter with a small high quality camera.

Aug 26, 2013permalink

Number 1 is very nice and so is also number 4, IMHO. No 2 and 3 I can live without.

Lots of people here are very fast to call photos cr@p. I think they shall reconsider, and at least agree on that they think it is cr@p. Its not the same thing as saying it is cr@p.

Aug 26, 2013permalink

madeinlisboa

At least (unlike photoshop lovers) he tried to get his photos straight from the camera. I bet most here would shoot from ground and perspective correct them later.

Aug 27, 2013permalink

acidic

#3 is perspective corrected (either that or he shot really wide and cropped the bottom). He shot from a level equal to that near the bottom of the photo.

Aug 27, 2013permalink

http://www.dpreview.com/galleries/8898702377/photos/1899842/img_8653-2

Madeinlisboa. If your anti photoshop im afraid your going to go the way of the dinosaur. Photoshop is just one of many tools to make you vision a reality. ..Just the same as the camera is.
Its not about how you slaughter the animal but how good the meat tastes :-)

Aug 28, 2013permalink

AbrasiveReducer

These do look like Popular Photography covers from long ago but so what....

If you are a photography expert or "pro" (and who isn't) living here would be fabulous. Totally serious. Just think how quickly you could test a lens for barrel and pincushion distortion and soft corners.

Aug 26, 2013permalink

inframan

DPR used to draw people who were into the craft of photography. Now, based on comments like the majority posted here, all that seems to count is to be able to take a picture of something, regardless of context or composition.
These images are outstanding, but wasted on this site.

Aug 26, 2013permalink

Jan Grijs

Not wasted, I hope. I like to believe that the “silent majority” of visitors of this site appreciate pictures like these very much. At least I do!

Aug 26, 2013permalink

Nguyen Anh

I like them too, and wish that dpreview continues in the same direction.

Aug 26, 2013permalink

M Jesper

Sure they're great, just don't agree with the headline.

Aug 26, 2013permalink

EvokeEmotion

Where have I seen something like this before?

Aug 26, 2013permalink

inframan

Sorry. Not even close.

Aug 26, 2013permalink

EvokeEmotion

Look who's talking.

Aug 26, 2013permalink

I repeat what inframan said. Its not even close. Look at it again, you might see it also.

Aug 26, 2013permalink

audijam

this is NEW to him.....so be nice

Aug 26, 2013permalink

Hugo808

I hope the lift doesn't break down in these places!

It's like that sci-fi novel where the whole earth is divided between farmland and living space and the buildings just get bigger and bigger. An inevitable future...

Aug 26, 2013permalink

Seagull TLR

Never mind the elevator breaks down. In a high-rise, worry about the fire first.

Aug 27, 2013permalink

edm78

Damn, a lot of haters on this site. LOL. It reminds me of all the wannabe film makers who criticize films but who have never filmed a homemade birthday party.

Aug 26, 2013*permalink

I suspect that the commenters here have take a picture or two and a lot are not fools at all. To criticize is not to hate. What the criticism is here is that these pictures are predominately technical and have very little artistic merit. They require al the skill of photographing a brick wall or a test target in a lab. The lighting is stable and flat, the subject is not moving and the work is entirely repeatable. As avotius says in the comment below, Hong Kong is full of pictures just like these. Yes people like them. No they are not new or special or difficult to do. The truth is cats are more challenging to shoot than these images. Cat anyone?

Aug 27, 2013permalink

avotius

Sorry but this is nothing new. Go to Hong Kong and look in the art galleries and they are full of pictures like this.

Aug 26, 2013permalink

Polariser

This doesn't do it for me I'm afraid. I live in HK and.there are far more interesting buildings than these.

Aug 26, 2013permalink

sdribetahi

I don't think the goal is to find the most interesting hi-rise in HK and take it's photo. You can get that in a postcard shop.

Aug 26, 2013permalink

Seagull TLR

@Polariser Do you mean IFC, aka the d*g? ;-)

Aug 27, 2013permalink

arndsan

yes - we can buy such facade pattern on pillows and bed sheds at GOD in Hong Kong.
love his 100X100 set !

Aug 26, 2013permalink

Joe Ogiba

Skyscraper Cities Ranking List :
http://tudl0867.home.xs4all.nl/skylines.html

Buildings over 90m tall :
Hong Kong 3,124
New York City 897

Aug 26, 2013permalink

Rod McD

Human filing cabinets. Not a leaf to be seen. Sad that it's probably the future in many places.

Aug 26, 2013permalink

shigzeo

Even fewer leaves in Tokyo. Asia really isn't happy with its nature. Where there is nature, put a fence around it and make people pay to enter. That, or advertise the hell out of it so that a nice nature hike trail entertains as many people as a small city.

I'm sick of living here for the reason that people and walls and concrete are really all that exists. Yes, there are aberrations: Hokkaido, Northern China, etc., and so on, but overall, Asia is simply nasty... unless you just love millions upon millions upon millions of people, and noise and cars and pollution and the dominance of human over its environment.

I live in Tokyo, a city with more population (in its metro area) than Canada, than Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Denmark put together. Japan has a high enough population that if its density was spread across Canada, Canada would tip the scales at over 4 billion people.

Aug 26, 2013permalink

happypoppeye

Life is as how you see it. There are plenty of green spaces in Tokyo, and Hong Kong for that matter.

You get a little wider on these and you would be able to a lot more than just buidlings...

Aug 26, 2013*permalink

PicPocket

You probably have never been to Hong Kong. More than 70% of the land is preserved country parks which are open to public (popular for hiking). I am an expat living in Hong Kong and I am quite impressed with how the locals have preserved the limited resourced that have (mainly land and reservoirs)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation_in_Hong_Kong

Aug 26, 2013permalink

shigzeo

Yes, Hong Kong is far better at preserving their space than is Tokyo. Seen from above, Hong Kong is city with some green and then green around it. Seen from above, Tokyo is all grey with a few fingers of green.

It is awful. Of course, it is a matter of perspective. I came from Canada, a country that still keeps vast tracts of almost untouched land even in the middle of its cities, and before that came from Sweden where tall buildings and urban sprawl are frowned upon.

But when I travelled to Hong Kong, I was very impressed. It is far too crowded where there are people but at least those people take care to keep nature in the city.

Aug 26, 2013permalink

Peter Kwok

I would rather have tightly packed, efficient living space so as to leave more empty lands as wilderness, than boring suburban sprawl where everyone has to have a front lawn, a back yard, a 3-car garage, and a 3-car driveway.
Given the same number of people and same area of land, what would you do with your land?

Aug 27, 2013permalink

Mario G

You don't really know Hong Kong - from the windows of many of those high-rise buildings you can actually see plenty of green space and mountains with relatively few constructions around, like these:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jetow/6190738281/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tiascapes/5116491792/

And even when you are right in the centre, the wilderness is always less than half an hour away - that's way better than most of the cities in the world.

Aug 27, 2013permalink

photogeek

Nice use of Adobe Lightroom "Upright" feature. :-)

Aug 26, 2013permalink

shigzeo

How ridiculously tough this crowd of enthusiasts, gear heads, and a few professionals is toward real, payable photographers.

Aug 26, 2013permalink

sdribetahi

This place is like senior housing when the soup guy runs late.

Aug 26, 2013permalink

(unknown member)

omg sdribetahi .. that's gold !

Aug 26, 2013permalink

photoramone

Honey-combed litters..

Aug 26, 2013permalink

Paul Storm

it's interesting how everyone is focussed on the technical or uniqueness of the photos. i think as a series they are quite powerful. for me this makes me think how we are dealing with overpopulation and as a bigger picture suggests the relationship and implications of the volumes of people inhabiting this planet.

Aug 26, 2013permalink

Artistico

Nice photos in their genre, I suppose, but "new perspective"? Hardly an original concept. The originality in this - and many other works of both photographic and other kinds of art - is more a question of marketing than artistry.

The finest art, arguably, is of course to make people notice your photography and think it is original and interesting, regardless of whether that is true or not or whether it has any technical or artistic merit. Some artists master this and can make big money from stuff that other artists would bin in a heartbeat. A recent record selling price photo of the Rhein comes to mind.

At least this is more interesting than that.

Aug 26, 2013permalink

alatchin

Not everything has to be an original concept. As out time changes, applying concepts of old to the current today can be just as interesting, as in 50 years we may look back and make comparisons.

Aug 26, 2013permalink

Artistico

Well, Alatchin, I don't think concepts have to be original. In fact, when someone desperately tries to be original rather than doing what they like, that can show and often be worse. But the heading did say "new perspective" implying some sort of originality, and hence my comment.

Aug 26, 2013permalink

I think "new perspective" refers to new perspective to the usual one you see - in photos or when looking at it in real life.

Aug 26, 2013permalink

Model Mike

I've nothing against artists who are able to market their art. It's another skill. Better to have the two skills rather than have one and moan sour grapes. Or none at all.

Aug 26, 2013*permalink

This kind of work is not new and even when it was it was technical and not creative. Its neither clever nor insightful nor interesting. Its stupidly simple to do if you have the right equipment and know how to set it up, focus and expose. In brief, this kind of work is what students get asked to do as a training exercise when learning how to operate technical cameras. Its high time praise for obvious and easy ended. Next we will have a series of images taken of the empty blue sky being heralded as 'revolutionary' and 'breakthrough'.

Aug 26, 2013permalink

Nigel Wilkins

"Its stupidly simple to do if you have the right equipment and know how to set it up, focus and expose"

erm, can't you say that about all photography?

Aug 26, 2013permalink

Nigle: No, only with static subjects with flat lighting and no compositional challenge at all except to have the camera straight and level. No moment to capture, no action or timing, no dramatic light or point of interest. Just a flat wall and hours and hours to align the camera in parallel to it.

Aug 26, 2013*permalink

sadwitch

Photography happens in the mind and eye first. Equipment and setup are just functions that follow.

Aug 26, 2013permalink

tabloid

I agree 100% there.

Aug 26, 2013permalink

Peter - please tell me how you align the camera.

Aug 26, 2013permalink

Model Mike

Yawn

Aug 26, 2013permalink

Your comment proves this kind of a sight does not invoke any reaction in you....while for the photographer and many of us, it does. That makes the photographer and us 'human', and you a robo.
Be happy with your tricks and techniques.

Aug 27, 2013permalink

Ronald Karlsson: Certainly. You need a tripod, preferably one without a center column. If you are not using a camera with a movable front an back such as a 4x5, you could use a leveling base, like the Manfrotto 338 QTVR Leveling Base. The use of a spirit level will have your camera vertical and parallel in minuets. If however you are using a technical camera like a 4x5, you can do without the leveling base and simply straighten the from and back of the camera to be level and parallel with each other and the building/wall in front of you. On a technical camera with a grid viewing screen you can check visually if the lines are all straight and make the necessary adjustments to get them straight if the don't appear to be so. If you have neither a leveling base nor a technical camera or even a tripod, then you can simply take the best picture you can aligning the lines with your eye and then straighten it using software in post processing. Its not no skill to do this, but it is elementary.

Aug 27, 2013permalink

nikonuser72: Soap operas evoke much emotion in manny, but fine works of cinema they are not. My point about these pictures is that they are entirely technical exercises and not art. Reading the comments posted here from those that live in Hong Kong it is also clear that wolf saw such pictures everywhere in Hong Kong and without being able to think of something creative he copied the millions of pictures the locals had already taken. If you are moved by these pictures as art how does that make me a 'robo'? Who does move me? Try Michael Kenna for one.

Aug 27, 2013*permalink

Peterfree: I have used the word reaction, not emotion. I think there's some difference.
I'd be happy to see photographs of this standard from locals, unfortunately i don't find any on the net.Please provide some examples.
Seen Michael Kenna's photographs. Perfect examples of soap opera. I now understand why Michael Wolf is not your cup of tea.

Aug 27, 2013permalink

Peterfree: As i mentioned I have similar pictures. I didn't see any local images for sale (not saying they are not any, just I didn't see them).
Knowing we were going up high that day (as a tourist) I chose to take my 300mm and 1.4 teleconverter with me. I saw the buildings, saw 'Repeating pattern's' And fired away.. So Im saying you can't assume that mr woolf was 'inspired' by gift shop images.

Aug 28, 2013*permalink

nikonuser72: So photographing a flat wall is 'fine art' but Michael Kenna's work is 'a soap opera'?

What words could possibly be said in reply to this....

Aug 28, 2013*permalink

Peterfree: Nothing could be said.....those are works of craft, no art in them.

Aug 28, 2013permalink

peterstuckings

Hey DPreview, this guy's HK pictures have been shown here before. Not new or news!
Whereas I tried to bring some newsworthy content to your attention but no reply. Did I not offer enough of an incentive or something?
Read about Michael Freeman's comments on the state of the digital photo business here: http://peterstuckings.tumblr.com/post/54383845665/michael-freeman-on-the-business-of-photography

Aug 26, 2013permalink

Thanks for the link, interesting article.

Aug 26, 2013permalink

BeReal

Here is my humble opinion. Is a great set of photographs, However with all my respects to Mr. Wolf who I know personally and I have/had attend his exhibitions in Shanghai,and I do buy his books, I don't believe this is unique or a different way to appreciate architecture or tell a history about the urban life in crowd cities and of course not original that all. Many photographers we live in Asia and visit several places several times during the years and we all have set of pictures like this. Perhaps the difference is that his team of marketing and/or the gallery/PR that represent him is fast enough to promote his work. Go into stock photography sites and you will have plenty of the same work with the same look, feel and sometimes perhaps more interesting. However, good for him and good luck in future his exhibition.

Aug 26, 2013permalink

mckracken88

makes me glad i live next to trees and grass.

i could never live in a city. these pictures are just sad.

Aug 26, 2013permalink

deleted-13120401

Nobody chooses to live in a tiny box in a concrete jungle for their whole life purely for aesthetic reasons. Cities are economic necessities for most.

Aug 26, 2013permalink

barry reid

This is a great series, not just in it's own right but also in context of his wider body of work around urbanisation. It's also well worth looking at his "Tokyo Compression" series.

Aug 26, 2013permalink

Kodachrome200

for once dpr posts something and kinda like the approach. like to see these in ultra high res so you could look closely at them

Aug 26, 2013permalink

Johannes Zander

Better idea than shooting brick walls for lens testing.

Aug 26, 2013permalink

dash2k8

Very good stuff!

Aug 26, 2013permalink

absentaneous

he's obviously a fan of andreas gursky.

Aug 26, 2013permalink

Paul_B Midlands UK

Obviously!

Aug 26, 2013permalink

Mikhail Tal

You mean the scam artist who sells amateur snapshots for millions of dollars?

Aug 26, 2013permalink

barry reid

Tell you what mikhail tal, go make prints a couple of metres across that are viewable with detail from half a metre away then tell me how 'amateurish' the process is.

Aug 26, 2013permalink

peterstuckings

Ha, Barry. Good argument. You're right to an extent. With a decent pro DSLR today, and some stitching software, it ain't that hard. Certainly not multi-million-dollar hard! ;-)

Aug 26, 2013permalink

absentaneous

@Mikhail Tal,

not everything one can't value or understand is scam. the greatness of gursky is not just in what he does, but the influence he had on the whole art photography movement. even if he was also pretty much influenced by Bernd and Hilla Becher who were even his photography teachers at the university.

Aug 26, 2013permalink