Photo book of Hong Kong Daily scenes through the unique lens of Austin Tang.

Interview with SCMP:

Walking along a busy Causeway Bay street, Austin Tang Shao-yu suddenly veers off into an alleyway. “They are still there,” he says, pointing to three mops standing to attention against a wall.

Tang photographed the exact scene, one of hundreds to be found on his quirky Instagram page Stuff I Saw Yesterday, which has been turn­ed into a book of the same name.

While some might find the photographs mundane, Tang says that is the point: capturing the extraordinary in the ordinary is the trademark of this urban explorer, who prefers to “head backstage”, as he calls it, to photograph back alleys, lanes and stairwells.

Born in the United States, Tang, 56, was living in California when Asia called. He arrived in Hong Kong in 2008 to work as an architect on projects such as the Tang dynasty-style Tsz Shan Monastery, in Tai Po, and the Lyric Theatre, in the West Kowloon Cultural District. Taking photos gave him reason to pause for a few seconds in the fast-paced city.

“Amid the onrush of all the moments of a day, I found there were upsides to this strategy of lingering, as it takes a moment to register reality in motion.”

A father of two boys, aged 16 and 10, Tang says the book will be a reminder of the vibrant city his children grew up in. 

攝影集將透過Austin Tang的鏡頭帶領你走過香港的日常。

節錄於《南華早報》訪問：

沿著繁忙的銅鑼灣街道走過去，Austin Tang突然轉身進入一條小巷。他說：「它們仍然在那裡。」然後指著三枝靠牆站著的地拖。Austin捕捉了這個確實的場景，這是在他光影陸離的Instagram帳戶「昨天我看到的東西」中數百個場景之一，而這帳戶已被輯錄成同名攝影集。

儘管有些人可能會覺得這些照片很平平無奇，但Austin認為在平凡中捕捉非凡之處，才是作為城市探險者的賣點，而且他更喜歡「直奔後台」，正如他喜歡拍攝後巷、小巷和樓梯間。56歲的Austin生於美國，曾居於加利福尼亞州，並於2008年來港擔任建築師工作，作品包括大埔的慈山寺及西九文化區的抒情劇院。拍攝讓他在明快節奏的城市生活中抽空停留數秒鐘。

作為兩個分別16歲和10歲男孩們的父親，Austin希望這本攝影集會令人想起，他的孩子們在這座充滿活力的城市中長大。