location and time 地點與時間

對於我來說，街頭攝影就是地點跟時間的記錄。

To me, street photography is the documentary of location and time.

但可能大家比較先注意到或好奇的是地點，因為那可能就是照片的軸心了。或許地方對了，照片就對了。這也說明，為什麼大家都很喜歡去旅行，因為地點的變換可以帶來不一樣的衝擊。以前有一位攝影同好告訴我，街頭攝影，一定要到香港或日本去拍，才能拍出味道。聽起來來好像蠻有道理，然而我不以為然。雖然香港那凌亂的後巷，跟日本文化讓我著迷，不過我覺得，在哪裡都可以拍出珍品。為了證實我的想法，我開始拍攝自己的家鄉，檳城。最後把兩三年所拍到的感動，集成攝影誌「Home Town」。我覺得它並不會輸給任何一個城市的街頭攝影。

At first, we probably curious about where does the picture take from, because that is the most important information that we can ask about. Maybe, as long as the location is right, the photograph will turn out great too. That is why we all love to travel, it may inspire us somehow. A few years back, a friend of mine told me this, street photography has to be shooting in the cities like Hong Kong and Tokyo. It may sound convincing but I don't think so. No doubt I love the back alley of the Hong Kong street and wonderful culture of Japan, but I truly believe that a great street photograph can be taken from any place. To prove myself right, I started to photograph my hometown, Penang Island. And finally, after a couple of years, I produced a photo-zine "Home Town". In my opinion, it looks as great as street photographs that taken from any other cities.

在籌備「Home Town」的當下，讓我發現了街頭攝影的另一個重要元素。那就是時間了。以我個人的觀點來看時間，它可以分為「醒著的時間」和「睡著了的時間」。當然「睡著了的時間」是無法拍照的，所以我且看看「醒著的時間」。「醒著的時間」又可以分成「晝」與「夜」。「Home Town」就是把時間區分成「晝」與「夜」的雙誌。第一本記錄檳城的白天，第二本記錄檳城的黑夜。我發現這樣分開來看某個地方是非常浪漫的。地點會因為時間的變換，變得非常不一樣。如果你剛好擁有「Home Town」，而且並沒發現這個秘密的話，可以再次拿出來看看。或者看看攝影誌影片記錄 。

我回顧我這幾年來的街頭攝影行為，其實就是在拍攝「晝」與「夜」。通過旅行，把地點更換了，不過攝影行為並沒有多大的改變，記錄的就是當下的「晝」與「夜」。街頭攝影不該只是拍攝反差強烈的「晝」，或是充滿神秘感的「夜」。「晝」與「夜」的記錄必須要同時附上才算完整。所以我的第二個街頭攝影誌依然是雙誌，「晝」與「夜」分冊獻上。名字來得更為明顯些，叫做「日常、夜常」。第一本是「日常」，而第二本就是「夜常」了。記錄的地點是日本的關西與中部地區。「日常、夜常」的製作已經接近尾聲了，很快就可以跟大家見面了。

When I was editing "Home Town" dual zine, I discovered another important element of street photography. Time! My perspective is, time can be categories into "Awake's time" and "Sleep's time". We can't take photographs at "Sleep's time", therefore let us look at the "Awake's time". It can be further categories as "Day" and "Night". "Home Town" was designed to categories photographs into "Day" and "Night". The first book is "Day" book, recorded the days of Penang Island; where the second book is "Night" book that records the nights of Penang Island. I realized it is romantic to look at them separately like this. The place may look entirely different at the different time. If you actually owned "Home Town" zine, and didn't discover my secret, I'll suggest you take out them again and have a closer look. Or look at it on youtube.

I recalled how I did on my street photography, in fact, I was always shooting "Day" and "Night". I travel to many places, even though the location has changed, but the way I take photographs doesn't. I always react to what I have perceived, walking the streets days and nights, taking a lot of photographs. In my opinion, Street photography must cover both "Day" and "Night" photographs, in order to say it is completed. My second photo-zine project continues to appear as dual zines. And this time, the zine title is even obvious, it is called "Day by day, Night by night". This coming zine documented my days and nights in Kansai and Chubu region of Japan. This dual zine has completed, and it will be published very soon.

地點會隨著時間的流逝而變得不一樣，人也會因為歲月的蹉跎，而變老。只有時間是永不改變的。今天的夜晚過去了，它明晚依然會回來。擬定了我對街頭攝影的方向，現在的心情踏實了很多。很多年前我一直在尋找如何能拍攝街頭拍到老，森山大道是如何做到的？拍了那麼多年的街頭攝影，我好像終於找到了。

最近有機會跟Elliot Koon在檳城見面，他正忙於Obscura攝影節與攝影展。他問我最近拍照拍得怎樣？我突然很感慨的說了這樣的話。

「我的攝影項目是沒有完結的，除非我死了，或者說我放棄了，那才會結束。」

The sceneries of the places may have changed while time passes by, and we human will grow old too. What doesn't change is time itself. Tonight has passed, but it comes back as tomorrow night. I am glad that I finally settle down with my "days and nights" street photography. A few years back, I find myself always searching for reasons to keep shooting street photographs, I was curious that why Daido Moriyama able to keep shooting streets until now, how does he do that? After couple years of photographing and searching, I finally found what I look for.

Recently I met Elliot Koon in Penang, he was busy working on his "Obscura Festival" photography show. He asked how is my photography's work going. And I told him.

"My documentary never ends, unless I died, or I gave up."