The Most Difficult Shot

This is the Tsing Ma Bridge and this is the hardest shot I have ever worked for…so far.

This sunday I packed all my gear and was pumped to check out the observation tower located in Tsing Yi. Upon arriving there at around 4pm there were about 20 other photographers sitting in the shade waiting for the sun to set. The view wasn’t even that great so I decided not to fight for the spot and try some a little ‘creative’.

I wanted to get to another hill but there was a major highway in the way. I was stopped by security for wandering in government property (trying to get across). When I asked him about the hill told me how to get near it but as far as he knows there is no official path.

So I had to switch buses a few times and by the time I got to the described stop the sun was starting to set. I started running up the hill carrying all my gear. There was a faint trace of a trail so I followed it. I had to hike through some bushes, climb through a cut fence, and leap from tree to tree to get down a hill to get to the clearing. The worst part were the hairy spiders in between trees.

When I was finally done taking photos it was completely dark, memories of hiking in the dark came back . Luckily I had brought a little hand powered LED flashlight along. Since there was no defined path coming I was literally running through wild grass and heading back in the general direction. Thoughts like blair witch, ghosts, snakes came up but I was more worried about those giant spiders…

I had to shine the flashlight to see if check for reflections from spiderwebs and had to probe around to find the opening in the fence. I fell a few times from stepping on loose rocks but otherwise I escaped with no more than a few scratches and mosquito bites.
It was such a relief to see streetlights and civilization again! I probably won’t be going back there anytime soon….at least not alone!