Living Memories

I've just come back from having a spectacular swiss christmas dinner (so.much.cheese) at my parent's friends house. The couple I've known for a while had just moved house, and I suppose during that move Hannes rediscovered his old photos, and put them out on show in their new abode. I've seen a couple of old pictures of Hong Kong, the country I come from and grew up in as a child- but none as intimate and as beautiful as these. I just wanted to put them up to celebrate his love of photography, and the importance of holding on to the memories of the past- keeping that in mind with the new year coming up the future is important but, the past is what makes it and makes us...I've definitely had too much cheese!
Another thing I just wanted to point out was the difference with photography today and photography in the yesteryears. Apparently Hannes had to lug around 20kg worth of equipment when he wanted to take photos, and as LCD screens and all that hadn't been made yet, photography then was more organic, spontaneous and truly an essence of the moment. Today we can re-try pictures, check them out, delete, and get so much help with one shot. In a way photography then and now is a reflection of the change in our society- everything today is sped up, made too easy and thus has lost feeling and realness. These pictures are like gold dust: Hong Kong doesn't look anything like this today but being able to see into the past is something I consider really special. Hope you liked them!

Hannes was born in 1935, and grew up in Switzerland. In Hannes's adolescent years his parents really wanted him to become a postman because having survived two world wars, economic depressions and much hardship, a job in the public service sector was considered stable. Hannes however was destined for greater things and as destiny played out, he failed his public service exams and discovered he was partially colour-blind: a serious issue considering you had to sort out colour-coded stamps. So he left home and went to work in Japan in1960, staying there for 8 years. It wasn't until one day, whilst using the urinals at his office building, was he offered a job in Hong Kong by the CEO of another company right there on the spot! Hannes took the chance and has been here ever since, marrying his wife Cecilia and living a very happy life!

Photography: Hannes Lanz
Camera used: Bronica and 6x6 Film