I set the alarm for 5am and headed out early. I was planning to do a couple of things – photograph the temple at night and check the sunrise.
I was surprised that the temple was already open. I wasn’t very happy with my images but here is a sampler.
Tin Hau Temple, Sai Kung
I moved rapidly on to the sea front and started to work out where I would get the best compositions. I should have done this is advance. There were two spots. One close by the piers, which I really liked. Then further down I could see more of the actual sunrise and use some dragon boats in the comp. Long exposures and rising blue light. Here are a couple of ok shots.
Although sunrise was officially 06.02 there was no afterburn and I simply wandered back through the town. It was busier than I expected and lots and lots of people were out exercising. Long exercise-congas to music looked a lot of fun. I tried a deliberate motion blur.
I think I may have to try again tomorrow 🙂
All downhill from here 
The blue is so intense, it reads as unreal (but that may be bacause I have been looking at too many book cover designs). I love the exercise conga – I wonder if my neighbouring villagers would be up for such a thing… perhaps not.
I have not seen the conga before and it was lots of fun. I was minded to join in.
Love the dragon boat shot. Makes me think of the calm before the hustle of the day begins. Beautiful colors also!
The second and third images alone make the early rise well worth the effort… Great!
the pier shots are nice. I wonder if the light balance is throwing the colours off in the first image, it kind of looks artificial.
I spent ages tweaking this Ben and yes it does look odd still. I did a B&W version which sorted out the colour problem. 🙂
I like your pier shot very much, Andrew. The light control and rich color is most pleasing. I definitely think you should make more visits in different lighting and positioning for the dragon boats. I don’t mean that as a critique but just as variety. 🙂
Steve the challenge is the sheer activity in the area. Harsh light aside there are always boats coming and going to disrupt the image. Only really early is good. But that said I think different times of the year could create quite a nice portfolio.
Judging by your handling of that conga line, I think you could do something nice with the boat motion too. 😉 You know I favor early morning anyway.
Molto belle le foto, le due centrali sono splendide.
Ciao, Patrizia
Your shots often bring out the contrast between the people world of Hong Kong and the natural. The boats, the piers and the early morning make connections between the two worlds in this set of pictures. To your usual inspiring standard.
I really love that shot of the dragon-boats, Andrew – there seems to be much meaning in it … of what, I have no idea. Perhaps promise …
Excellent color and composition for the first 3 pics. And blurring the people in the exercise line made the photo more interesting.
The pier shot is excellent. I like the colours of and around the temple too. Beautiful morning