All aboard the ‘ding ding’! A wild ride through Hong Kong – in pictures

When Mikko Takkunen relocated to Hong Kong from New York he felt the urge to capture its vanishing essence

Main image: Love letter to Hong Kong. Photograph: Mikko Takkunen

  • In his debut photobook Hong Kong, Finnish photographer Mikko Takkunen captures one of the world’s great metropolises in the aftermath of political protests and on the brink of a pandemic. Inspired by New York School masters such as Saul Leiter, Louis Faurer and Ernst Haas, he presents Hong Kong in a new light, exploring hidden perspectives and moods. Hong Kong by Mikko Takkunen is published by Kehrer Verlag
    Inspired by New York School masters like Louis Faurer and Saul Leiter, he presents Hong Kong in a new light, exploring hidden perspectives and moods.Hong Kong by Mikko Takkunenpublished Kehrer Verlag, April 2024

  • Takkunen’s photos create a narrative of the city that’s as captivating as it is beautiful. From the vibrant colours to the stunning tonalities, each photograph is carefully curated to take you on an offbeat journey through the magnificent city. He says: ‘For years I had made my living as a photo editor. Now I felt an urgent need to pick up the camera myself, something I hadn’t done seriously in some time’
    His photographs, balancing between documentary and subjective,

  • ‘When I landed in Hong Kong in the spring of 2016, accompanied by my wife, Verónica, it was the first time either of us had set foot anywhere in Asia. Now we were going to live there, as I had taken a job as Asia photo editor for the New York Times’s international desk’
    “When I landed in Hong Kong in the spring of 2016 , accompanied by my wife, Verónica, it was the first time either of us had set foot anywhere in Asia. Now we were going to live there.(We had moved to Hong Kong for me to take a job as Asia photo editor for The New York Times’s International Desk, )

  • Amid the city’s uncertainties in 2020 and facing the impending relocation of his family back overseas, Takkunen felt an urgent need to document the city while he still could. ‘There was a sense that Hong Kong as we knew it might cease to exist, at least in the way that had long seduced people from around the world’
    Amidst the city’s uncertainties in 2020 and facing the impending relocation of his family back overseas, Takkunen felt an urgent need to document the city while he still could.”There was a sense that Hong Kong as we knew it might cease to exist, at least in the way that had long seduced people from around the world. People like me, a gweilo – foreigner – who had grown to love the city, the place where my daughters were born.

  • Causeway Bay, one of the busiest areas of Hong Kong. ‘Hong Kong felt like an attack on the senses: the dense crowds, the skyscrapers, even all the neon’
    Causeway Bay, one of the busiest areas of Hong KongFor years I had made my living as a photo editor. Now I felt an urgent need to pick up the camera myself, something I hadn’t done seriously in some time, and take pictures of the city while I still could

  • A man in an ‘I ♥️ HK’ shirt descends stairs in Wan Chai. Geoff Dyer writes in his essay for the book about how Hong Kong and Manhattan have ‘a similar sense of intensely concentrated and vertiginous energy’
    “A man in ‘I ♥️ HK’ shirt descends stairs in Wan Chai, Hong Kong. Geoff Dyer writes in his essay for the book how Hong Kong has a special affinity to Manhattan and how the cities have “a similar sense of intensely concentrated and vertiginous energy.”

  • A woman makes a phone call on the rooftop in the Tai Hang neighbourhood. ‘This is one of the many photographs I made from our 19th-floor apartment overlooking a mostly lower rise area. I settled for taking pictures of the rooftops and streets below our bedroom window, feeling a bit like Jimmy Stewart in Rear Window. But eventually I began roaming the city at night, seeking whatever relief I could in a world that felt like it was coming to an end’
    A woman makes a phone call on the roof top in the Tai Hang neighborhood. One of the many photographs I made from our 19th floor apartment overlooking a mostly lower rise area.//I settled for taking pictures of the rooftops and streets below our bedroom window, feeling a bit like Jimmy Stewart in Rear Window. But eventually I began roaming the city at night, seeking whatever relief I could in a world that felt like it was comingto an end.

  • ‘One of my colleagues commented that this looked as if it was from In the Mood for Love, which unbeknown to her, I had rewatched a couple of nights before making this picture. Whether my colleague was right or not, it’s probably difficult not to be influenced by Wong Kar-wai’s movies if your subject matter is Hong Kong’
    Causeway Bay. One of my colleagues commented this looked like it was from In The Mood for Love which unbeknownst to her, I had had just re-watched a couple of nights before making this picture. Whether my colleague was right or not, it’s probably difficult not to be influenced Wong Kar-wai’s movies if your subject matter is Hong Kong.

  • Workers on bamboo scaffolding in North Point. ‘I was desperate to capture Hong Kong anew: its lights, its colours, its contours. On my days off I would ride trams and ferries for hours on end, obsessing about possible scenes I had in mind. And yet the more I photographed, the more I worried about what might still go unseen before the city changed irrevocably – or I had to leave’
    Workers on bamboo scaffolding in North Point, Hong Kong.“I was desperate to capture Hong Kong anew: its lights, its colours, its contours. On my days off I would ride trams and ferries for hours on end, obsessing about possible scenes I had in mind. And yet the more I photographed, the more I worried about what might still go unseen before the city changed irrevocably — or I had to leave.

  • ‘A man doing chores on a rooftop in the Tai Hang neighbourhood where I lived. Nearly one in five people live in poverty in the city, which is one of the world’s most unequal places to live’
    A man doing chores on a rooftop in Tai Hang neighborhood where I lived. Nearly one in five people live in poverty in the city, which is one of the world’s most unequal places to live.

  • On the ‘ding-ding’, as Hong Kong’s double decker trams are known. Hong Kong is in constant motion and nearly 10m trips are made daily on the public transport system in a city of just over seven million people
    On the ‘ding-ding,’ Hong Kong’s double decker trams. Hong Kong is in constant motion and nearly 10 million trips are made daily in the public transport system in a nation of just over 7 million people.

  • Lanterns on the Peninsula Hotel, a Hong Kong icon. ‘These photographs are my last embrace of Hong Kong. They are also my farewell’
    Lanterns on the Peninsula Hotel, a Hong Kong iconThere was a sense that Hong Kong as we knew it might cease to exist, at least in the way that had long seduced people from around the world. People like me, a gweilo – foreigner – who had grown to love the city, the place where my daughters were born. These photographs are my last embrace of Hong Kong. They are also my farewell.”— Mikko Takkunen‘Hong Kong’ is a poignant farewell, encapsulating his love for the city and concerns about what might be lost as it undergoes irreversible changes.
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