Within the bustling streets of Hong Kong, individuals stroll all over the place, and every kind of individuals are shut to one another; however they at all times have an unconscious facade and infrequently open their hearts to strangers. “After I was taking photographs of individuals interacting with cats, I noticed that folks can drop their facades and get together with cats displaying their true temperament. For instance, once I just lately photographed a person enjoying with cats, I might see him smiling fortunately even along with his masks on, which was heartwarming!”
Road cat photographer Jonas Chan has visited the streets of Hong Kong for six years and photographed many heat and amusing avenue cat scenes, which are actually assembled into the photograph album “CATisfy.” Jonas noticed the remaining kindness and innocence in human nature from the attitude of cats.
Jonas launched himself jokingly to be a “boring one that stepped into the shut circle of cats: I shuttle between people and cats, exploring the lifetime of cats, which lets me observe the honest aspect of this metropolis, Hong Kong.” Six years in the past, he began to do “avenue pictures.” In the course of the filming course of, he found many locations that he had by no means seen when dwelling in Hong Kong prior to now, and plenty of small retailers within the outdated district had a “retailer supervisor cat,” he started to note the lovable aspect of those store cats, and in addition opened up conversations with the shopkeepers by discussing the store’s cats, which gave him quite a lot of enjoyable. Steadily, “avenue cat pictures” grew to become a significant curiosity of Jonas, which even modified his persona. Following the cat’s footsteps, he had a deeper understanding of a unique Hong Kong.
On Trying Again, I Realized I Was a Hongkonger Not Conversant in Hong Kong
Born and bred in Hong Kong, Jonas’s actions have been largely restricted to a “two factors and one line” way of life; that’s, he solely traveled between his dwelling and his office daily. The concept of ”exploring Hong Kong” first got here to Jonas when he ended his second full-time job. In the course of the hole between jobs: “I all of the sudden realized that though I used to be born and raised in Hong Kong, I used to be not very aware of town. There have been many locations in Hong Kong I had by no means visited, I had some free time between jobs, so I might discover a place to stroll round to seek out out extra in regards to the place the place I grew up.”
It appeared somewhat boring to easily buy groceries, so Jonas purchased a digital camera and commenced to take “avenue pictures.” He began with documentary portraits and panorama pictures and commenced to go to some outdated districts that he had not visited prior to now.
Steadily, he discovered that there have been many cats in some outdated retailers and parks. Generally he walked into grocery shops or Chinese language drugs retailers and interacted with the “retailer supervisor cat,” and after shopping for one thing, he would chat with the shopkeeper, often the subject would revolve across the store cat. Jonas obtained nearer to new individuals. He says that Hong Kong individuals are comparatively detached and barely take the initiative to carry deep conversations with strangers, and cats grew to become a medium for him to additional perceive the shopkeepers and other people of the neighborhood.
“Some shopkeepers could inform increasingly more tales of themselves when they aren’t busy in order that I can study quite a bit in regards to the tales of the district or the retailers. I assumed that if I might document these tales by way of pictures, it might be very significant.” Jonas described the “retailer supervisor cat” as a navigator who led him to discover Hong Kong, giving him the chance to grasp Hong Kong from one other perspective and uncover the lives and tales of Hong Kong individuals.
Completely different from basic skilled cat photographers, Jonas thinks that he enjoys the interplay between individuals and cats throughout the capturing course of, somewhat than merely photographing the cats themselves: “Some Japanese photographers go to Cat Island to easily take pictures of cats, however I don’t get pleasure from that very a lot. I’d like to seek out the image of each individuals and cats, to seek out the tales between Hong Kong individuals and Hong Kong cats.”
The Human Contact of ‘Retailer Supervisor Cats’
With regards to the old style tradition of Hong Kong shops, I have to point out the “retailer supervisor cat.” The unique motive for conserving cats was that some outdated districts have been infested with rats. Many retailers stored cats to keep away from the “invasion” by rats of the merchandise, medicinal supplies, and meals within the store, so some cats have been adopted into the retailers. Jonas noticed that there are lots of outdated retailers in Tai Po, Sai Ying Pun, Sham Shui Po, Jordan, and Yau Ma Tei with a “retailer supervisor cat,” and Jonas has taken many nice photographs in these locations over time.
Jonas has a social media web page, “Road CATography,” which has collected 150,000 followers prior to now few years. He typically shares many attention-grabbing interactive photos of individuals and cats with netizens. He talks about his expertise in capturing cats: “Usually, the stray cats within the city areas are extra afraid of individuals, and largely I’ve to go to the “store cat” to movie the interplay between individuals and cats. They’re nicely cared for and usually tend to belief strangers.”
In the course of the capturing of the store cat, Jonas felt a robust friendship between the store proprietor and the neighbors. He shared his expertise as a “wedding ceremony photographer” when he was invited to be the “cat store supervisor” final 12 months. The proprietor of a well-recognized medicinal herb store invited him to the shop for a photograph shoot. Brother Wen, had just lately adopted somewhat feminine cat and named it “Little Dragon Woman.”
After the proprietor adopted the kitten, “Cocky child,” a cat already raised by the proprietor that’s often humble, would come ahead to guard “Little Dragon Woman” when she was bullied by a giant canine. Seeing this, Brother Wen felt that the 2 cats complemented one another, they usually occurred to be a male and a feminine, so he considered holding a “wedding ceremony” for them and invited the individuals from the neighborhood to come back and rejoice collectively.
The so-called “wedding ceremony” was quite simple. The boss posted the “wedding ceremony photographs” and notices of “Cocky child” and “Little Dragon Woman” exterior the shop and ready two massive plates of roast pork for the visiting visitors. Jonas stated with a smile: “After all, the 2 cats could not know what occurred; I personally assume this can be a very attention-grabbing factor; the boss primarily used this chance to ask the neighbors to assemble collectively and have a very good time with roast pork.”
In recent times, outdated retailers in Hong Kong have had issue surviving as a result of epidemic and the affect of the migration wave of Hong Kong individuals; there have been retailers closing one after one other.
Trying again on the photographs taken prior to now six years, Jonas may be very grateful to have visited totally different areas in these years and used the lens to document many great moments of the outdated store “Retailer Supervisor Cats: A few of them have gone away, and a few outdated retailers have additionally left us. After they have been closed, the buddies you can at all times discover within the retailers can now not be discovered, so I’ll cherish each alternative to take photographs and seize extra moments!”
Meet The “Catwoman” in Tai O
In 2017, Jonas participated in a neighborhood animal exhibition in Tai O Fishing Village and obtained to know a German girl, Cheung Mun-fong , the founding father of “Tai O Stray Cat Residence.” She used her financial savings to deal with sick stray cats and carried out the Cat Area Care Program (CCCP), a pilot program referred to as Entice, Neuter, and Return Scheme (TNR), within the district. She did quite a lot of neighborhood work over time and was named “Catwoman.” Jonas obtained to know her and commenced to grasp the stray cats within the Tai O neighborhood. He discovered that the stray cats in Tai O are extra laid-back and never afraid of individuals just like the stray cats within the city metropolis areas, they usually can act as fashions for capturing.
Evaluating the stray cats in Tai O and the stray cats within the city areas who cover from individuals, Jonas displays, “really, I consider that if somebody is sweet to cats, cats will naturally be good to them as nicely. That is what makes me replicate. I simply merely {photograph} the cats in the neighborhood, and now I wish to categorical a message that folks and cats can dwell in concord, an idea of concord between individuals and animals in the neighborhood.”
He felt that getting together with cats additionally mirrored the issues of human beings. When individuals present their kindness, the cat may also really feel that individuals are good to it, somewhat than hurting it, so the cat may even let down its guard.
Cooperating with the “Tai O Residence for Stray Cats” to publish a charity calendar, in addition to the upcoming guide “Collectively” (Picture Album), Jonas hopes by way of his photographic works to convey the message that people and animals can coexist in concord.
Jonas put his avenue cat pictures from 2016 to 2022 into a photograph album, “CATisfy,” revealed by native writer EastPro. For with the ability to fulfill his dream of publishing a guide, Jonas is most grateful to his pictures mentor, Mr. Leo Kwok. Leo for volunteering to help within the design and photograph enhancing of the guide. Through the years, Leo additionally taught him the right way to be daring, talk with strangers, and take courageous steps to beat his “concern of being embarrassed.” The guide is known as “CATisfy,” which is a rewrite of the English phrase “fulfill.”
He hopes this collection of photographs can carry satisfaction to many individuals on this tense life, let go of the pretend masks, and expertise innocence and happiness from the center.
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