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Protesters switched on their phone
lights during a peaceful protest.
(Photo courtesy of Ma)
The Authenticity of a Photo how to take a decent photo but how to com-
The art skill gained from drawing portraits strengthens promise between his judgment and comments
Ma’s foundation of taking a powerful portrait photo. He is from clients. Instead of blindly following or-
sensitive to light and knows how to highlight facial features. ders, he still expresses his disagreement when
Even though he has learned photo editing from YouTube, he he encounters inappropriate comments.
hates relying too much on image-editing which he thinks
would weaken a photo’s authenticity. Apart from commercial Remain True to the Original Aspiration
photo, he does not edit photos shot for personal interest. Ma sees no difference in viewing the world
Ma likes interacting with strangers and is interested in with his eyes or his camera. Whenever he
their stories. Every time before he takes a portrait photo, he looks at a photo, he can reminisce the moment
chats with the model and introduces himself professionally. he captured the image. Being a photographer
He says when models become comfortable being with him, in this social movement, he feels going back
their facial expression will be more relaxed. to the early stage when he first had an inter-
He thinks the hardest task as a photographer is not about est in photography. “It is just like when I first
arrived in Beijing, I brought along a camera to
“Hong Kong freedom fighter” urges the protesters to be well-pre- take street photos. It is very similar to the situ-
pared. (Photo courtesy of Ma) ation now. And I realise I love taking this kind
of photos,” Ma says.
While commercial photos limit Ma’s crea-
tivity, taking photos in demonstrations al-
lows him to take full control of images. This
inspired him to create an online photo gallery
in October. It features dozens of people who
played different roles including frontlines,
journalists, protesters, and so on during the
social movement. He hopes to deliver the mes-
sage that people from different sectors have
fought along with the youth.
Edited by Civi Yap
