One of Hong Kong’s first exhibitions of images captured and edited entirely on iPhone will take place when Liam Fitzpatrick unveils Kinky Vicious at Culture Club on September 19.
 
In a series of lavishly panoramic photographs that belie the limitations of the iPhone 3GS camera, the Hong Kong-born Fitzpatrick combines impressionistic whirls of light and arresting perspectives to offer unexpected images of his native city. Many of the views are depopulated. This is partly in homage to one of Fitzpatrick’s chief inspirations: the 19th century “Queen’s Road photographers,” whose early cameras were not able to capture the speed of human movement and consequently produced unintentionally eerie images of deserted streets and empty foreshores. At the same time, Fitzpatrick’s un-peopled images suggest an unconcious striving for the still point at the heart of a frenetic city. Stripped of ephemera and crowds, Hong Kong’s chief topographical elements – featureless corporate towers, sea and bare hillside – become timeless totems of a place that lives so intensely in the present.
 
Reflecting Hong Kong’s history as a port, many of Fitzpatrick’s images are taken on the water. “We’re used to seeing Hong Kong from the island’s perspective, looking out at a famous harbor,” Fitzpatrick says. “But the sea is the heart of what Hong Kong is, and many of our early boat dwellers would have seen Hong Kong the other way—from out on the harbor looking at the island. That’s the point of view I’ve tried to capture in many of the photos. It's a subtle link to the past that appeals to me as a Hong Konger.”

About the photographer
Liam Fitzpatrick was born in Hong Kong and educated at Christ Church, Oxford. He is married with two daughters and lives in the New Territories.