When Night Comes to Hong Kong

Mong Kok nights

Living in Hong Kong taught me to see the city in layers, literally and figuratively. Nightfall transforms it: neon signs bouncing off wet streets, skyscrapers lit like constellations, and people flowing through roads and alleys like living brushstrokes. The city at night is overwhelming, chaotic, and strangely addictive, being the perfect playground to unleash your creativity as photographer.

Rain and neon

I really think Hong Kong changes its appearance when it gets dark and even more when it rains…which, unfortunately (…or fortunately if we’re talking about experimenting with photography), wasn’t a rare event. The streets shine with neon reflections in every puddle, wet umbrellas fighting in the narrow alleys, people running even more than usual to reach a somewhere dry: the city’s chaos turns into a living, breathing mosaic of color, motion, and light.

Memories of the Unknown

Fa Yuen Street adventures

One of my first night sessions, that I still remember very vividly, happened in Mong Kok, on Fa Yuen Street and other small roads nearby. Fa Yuen street is where minibuses, one of the city’s icons, start their journeys through the city. I stayed in this road maybe for hours, with the rain falling constantly (thankfully not pouring) under whatever shelter I could find to stay just dry enough.

The wet streets reflected every light, the puddles multiplied every neon glow…all those corners that in the daytime were gray and dull turned into kaleidoscopes of color that seemed to pulse with the city’s energy: in particular, the red and blue tones stood out in the reflections, covering the streets in a moody, cinematic light that made the city feel alive and surreal. Every shot became an experiment, with some carefully planned, others pure chance and each frame taught me something new about light, motion, and this strange fascination I started having of the city after dark.

Chaos as inspiration

It wasn’t exactly a pleasant experience, since I had to constantly fight with cockroaches racing nearby my shoes, water dripping from air conditioners on my bald head, the air thick with sweat, the occasional stink of sewage (or worse, things best left unidentified)…yes, but playing with these colors, layering lights, reflections and movement in these alleyways created images that pulsed with the city’s heartbeat: vibrant, anarchic and yet poetic. In few words, I discovered another side of the night.

That single session didn’t just fill one of my memory cards, it pushed me to keep exploring, to move through the city with curiosity and to see opportunities for creative shots even where I originally thought there were none.

From that rainy night onward, I realized that nightfall had become one of my favorite times for shooting in Hong Kong. The streets, reflections and neon lights come to life and when it rains, everything becomes richer, sharper, more vivid and inspiring.

If I think about those photo sessions, with honking cars and minibuses, rain dripping, cockroaches racing, umbrellas hitting your head and the general madness of the night, I find myself blaming every saint and innocent pedestrian for my suffering.

…but hours later, as I review the images on my computer, I can’t help but marvel at what that chaos gave me. The discomfort, the noise, the mess, it all translated into shots full of life, color and energy: in the end, surviving the city’s madness with a camera in hand turns out to be its own strange kind of gift.

Last ride