THE CITY OF DREAMS Images by Ben Simmons Text by Nury Vittachi
This is kind of fun. It's an absolutely gorgeous book of souvenir photographs of Hong Kong. Ben is not just your usual photographer. He has a great eye for humanity, for color, for movement, for character -- and that means the character of a place and the character of its people.
And the essays and captions by Nury which go with the photographs are also fun. Instead of the usual tourist-board type gushing text, Nury manages to be complimentary about Hong Kong while retaining a funny, caustic edge to his writing. For example, the photo of people eating outdoors has a caption extolling the delights of pavement cafes which serve great food "sometimes without bugs".
It'll appear in most shops in 2007, but you may be able to get one before Christmas 2006 if you look carefully. (Or drop us a note.)
