Hong Kong has thousands of bus fans, who are enthralled by the city's some 6,000 buses.
Updated Jan. 3, 2014 10:34 p.m. ET
Hong Kong's double-decker buses have a dedicated
following. Bus fan Dennis Law takes WSJ's Te-Ping Chen on some of his
favorite routes. Photo: Philip Chan
Hong Kong's paparazzi stalk the city's tycoons, movie actors and pop singers. Philip Chan is after something bigger.
On
a sunny day in the Kowloon City neighborhood, he watches his
14-foot-tall prey round a corner, far more nimbly than its size would
suggest. Checking traffic, he steps off the curb and clicks—but the
glare off the side is too bright and the shot is ruined.
The
27-year-old Mr. Chan gets back into position and waits. He knows the
schedule: another double-decker bus should be along shortly.
"Buses
are like different movie stars," he says, flipping through a seemingly
identical montage of bus photos on his digital camera. "Everyone has
their favorite."
Mr. Chan, an
accountant, is one of Hong Kong's thousands of bus fans, ranging from
young students to retirees, who are enthralled by the city's some 6,000
buses. They linger by bus depots and lurk near highway ramps, angling
for the best shots. They form fan clubs, eagerly swap the latest gossip
about changes in bus models and film their own rides, which they share
online with anyone who wants to follow along (spoiler alert: they aren't
always scintillating).
The Bus Stops Here
In a city where owning a car can be
prohibitively expensive, fans say buses are a linchpin in Hong Kong's
identity, one of the first forms of mass transport established after an
era of rickshaws and carriages. The city still boasts double-decker
vehicles—a legacy of its British colonial past—which are trimmed in
bright colors and often dressed up as rolling billboards touting
everything from jewelry to tutoring services.
Too
wide to pass side-by-side on the city's narrowest roads, the buses
careen around cliff-top streets eliciting gasps from tourists, who grab
the upper deck front seats for the most dramatic views. There are enough
bus fans to support more than half-a-dozen shops selling miniature bus
models (in a city of seven million), though others have taken the more
extreme step of buying retired buses and storing them in suburban lots.
"I
get a very special feeling when riding a bus," says Dennis Law, 35, a
photographer and local bus aficionado. "It's a kind of freedom, a
leisure feeling."
His favorite is a new
model of the red and yellow Enviro500 MMC, built by U.K. bus builder
Alexander Dennis Limited, launched last year. "It's quite luxurious,"
says Mr. Law. "It feels like you're in a race car."
Others
are puzzled by bus groupies, given that Hong Kong boasts what is often
ranked among the world's best subway systems. "I think they're crazy.
The bus is very slow. I hate it," says homemaker Yu Kaman, 27.
When
the city's last non-air-conditioned bus was retired in 2012, the bus
fans, who call them "hot dogs," gathered for the final ride, waving
farewell signs and popping flashes. Few others lamented the end of the
sticky commutes in the city's subtropical climate.
While
bus fans express their love of a good ride in different ways, for many,
the real purpose is to show off their artwork—thousands of pictures of
buses, head on, turning, in profile and occasionally from above. The
problem is there are a limited number of models roaming the city's
streets and only so many ways to shoot a bus.
To
make their portraits stand out, the bus fans plan their shots with the
precision of wildlife photographers shooting a lion hunt. They seek out
the ideal location and wait for the light to be just right, occasionally
bolting into traffic to capture the perfect moment.
One
of Mr. Law's favorite spots is in front of the Hong Kong Space Museum
in Kowloon, just steps from Victoria Harbour, because he likes the way
buses turn in front of the domed building.
To avoid deep shadows, he shoots from
8 a.m. to 10 a.m. and from noon to 2 p.m. In the late afternoon, he
will cross the harbor to Victoria Park to capture westbound buses.
Some
bus photographers try to capture striking backdrops behind buses—the
city's hallmark mix of decrepit high-rises and neon signs, for example.
Others, like Mr. Chan, focus on the ever-changing advertisements
plastered on the buses.
The subject matter, though, can be limited. "There are too many jewelry ads," says Mr. Chan.
Just
before Halloween, a friend excitedly text-messaged Mr. Chan saying that
he had spotted a bus in a gritty working-class neighborhood with an ad
featuring a pair of M&M characters running uphill toward a haunted
house.
Mr. Chan set off and snapped the
bus, a particularly coveted target, he says, because it bore a
wraparound version of that ad, a rarity in town. "It would be better if
there was more sunshine out—it would make it even prettier—but the photo
is still OK," he says
The perfect bus
portrait, according to Mr. Law, has the subject positioned at a
45-degree angle showing the full length of the vehicle as well as its
front. But like any artist, he says, rules are made to be broken. "While
the 45-degree rule normally applies, I myself look for variations," he
says. In one photograph that he especially prizes, he was able to
capture a bus with a Nikon ad featuring pop star Joey Yung juxtaposed
against a billboard at a bus stop featuring the same advertisement.
The
photographers can put bus drivers in an awkward position, especially
regarding issues of safety, as fans dart into the street to get their
shot. Drivers don't want to get snapped with their eyes off the road. "I
try not to look at the camera though, it might look a bit weird," said
Gary Leung, a driver for Kowloon Motor Bus, the city's largest bus
company.
Mr. Leung, 27, has sympathy
for the bus fans—after all, he's one himself, having recently quit his
job at a Big Four accounting firm to fulfill his dream of sitting behind
the wheel. At a bright, outdoor bus terminal, Mr. Leung said he is
pleased with his new career. "Of course the salary cannot compare," he
says. "But I love it. Every day feels like being on holiday."
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