I try not to do research before going to a new place. I do this not out of an egocentric need to see it, “my way.”
That comes later.
I simply do not want to “read the reviews” before I see the movie.
I want all the disorienting kaleidoscopic impressions that you get when you are faced with something new.
I remember the quote, but I don’t know from where that “You can’t get a first impression a second time.”
I really didn’t know much about Hong Kong before I got there. Once there I was exposed to what makes Hong Kong unique.
There was the density of people, the shrines, the thousands of shop keepers haggling, the lovers, the old rickshaws, the mirror finished marble driveways of luxury hotels, the graffiti, and the constantly changing ships, boats, junks and ferries of the harbor and the giant skyscrapers that used bamboo scaffolding in their construction.
So many surprises. Possibly the best was the ease of working due to the sophisticated indifference and acceptance of me as a photographer.
