Common virtues associated with firefighters- bravery and selflessness can easily be found in press images, but less is known about the everyday life of firemen in their territory- fire station. Capturing daily scenes at Chai Wan fire station with a fresh perspective, photographer Chan Dick presents his engaging photography series Chai Wan Fire Station in a box set of 40 prints. Combining the play of forms, real “props” and a calm, muted tone, the box set is a highly collectible one for lovers of photography and admirers of firefighters.

“It all began with serendipity and curiosity. I spent six or seven years in that workshop and the ventilation shaft of the bathroom had always been shut. The scenery outside had never caught my attention until one day there was this howl out of the blue, so I went over to the window for a look. 

And there they were – firefighters enjoying a game of volleyball. It so happened that the bathroom window of my workshop looked right over Chai Wan Fire Station, and offered a vantage point for an omniscient view of whatever was going on down there: assemblies, washing up fire engines, pupils’ visits, volleyball games. That tiny window opened up a brand new chapter of a curious journey. At first I only peered down out of curiosity, and spent a month just prying, but the more I looked the more I was intrigued. Those frames just popped up in my head even with my eyes closed, and no longer could I bear to leave them untaken. The itch acted up, and once started, I just couldn’t bring myself to stop.” - Chan Dick

「柴灣消防局 : 一切從巧遇和好奇開始。我在工作室六、七年了，本來廁所氣窗一直關閉，沒留意街外風景。直至一天，突然聽到有人叫囂，忍不住到窗邊看看。原來有消防員在打排球！工作室的窗正對著柴灣消防局，操場上的一舉一動如集隊、抹車、小學生參觀、打排球等，通通一目了然，揭開了我好奇窺探的一章。那天的初遇，我只拍了一張隨興的照片，其後的一個月，一張照片也沒拍。開始只出於好奇地看，但越看得多，那些畫面越靚，後來那些畫面連閉眼也會想起，我就不捨得不拍。一開始了，便停不了。」- 陳的

About Chan Dick:

Both a commercial and fine-art photographer, Chan Dick is best known locally and internationally for the award-winning series “Chai Wan Fire Station”, which records the daily occurrences within the fire station courtyard from above. This series earned him first prize at the Hong Kong Photo Book Awards in 2015, and the Tokyo International Foto Awards in 2016. In 2017, two solo exhibitions were held in Japan and Netherlands respectively for this series. This series has also been selected by Invisible Photographer Asia for showcasing at the 2015 Angkor Photo Festival, and presented at Japan’s 2016 Mount Rokko International Festival. His other works have also been shown at the international photography exhibitions of Hong Kong as well as Pingyao of China. Chan Dick held 5 solo exhibitions to date. His major projects explored socio-political issues within Hong Kong, most notably the 2014 series “No Compromise” that featured documented student activists. The series won him third place in the International Photography Awards (IPA) in the professional editorial/political category. His other series “Dismayland” won in the fine art category of the 2015 International Photography Awards (IPA).

關於陳的

陳的，自幼喜愛繪畫，曾修讀平面設計，因為一項畢業功課而開始接觸攝影。他是一位靜物及建築攝影師，同時投入個人創作，項目涉獵不同社會議題，並持續發掘生活日常所見所聞，先後九度舉行個人攝影展覽。

陳的著迷簡潔的構圖，作品總是表現出介乎真實與虛幻之間曖昧不明的吸引力，其《柴灣消防局》系列是代表作，分別獲得東京國際攝影大賽的藝術攝影集首獎，及香港攝影集比賽冠軍。其後分別在日本、荷蘭及香港展出，亦收藏於香港文化博物館和日本奈良美術館。

最近陳的與香港大學醫學院合作，以美學角度拍攝人體標本，並出版藝術攝影集《探 The Trek》擴闊一般人對此題材的想像。作品得到國際攝影大獎 (IPA) 的書籍類全場第三獎，及東京國際攝影大賽 (TIFA) 的金獎。