Rino and KeYing wanted something Wong Kar-wai. Not the heavy, introspective and brooding kind, but still poetic, candidly free and just the right amount of moody. Something cinematic that still allowed for their quirks to surface, like how KeYing insisted on her favorite vending machine drink and Rino kept laughing even during seemingly mundane stair shots. Not performed, just… them.
I didn’t tell them at the time, but I was running on a fever that night. A stiff neck had quietly morphed into full-body pain — not from a virus, just pain that reminds you how little you can control. And maybe that’s why this shoot unfolded the way it did. My best work tends to surface when I’m physically incapable — when I stop relying entirely on myself and start looking Heavenward for the help I need.
We shot outside the iconic Lin Heung Tea House, the signage humming like a stage light. Switch to full-on hipster in Craftissimo for craft beer, rummaging through vintage Bruce Lee posters, and a walk down Peel Street. Then the unexpected: Halloween in Mid-Levels. Pharaohs, bears, strangers slipping into frame mid-step — all folding in like the city was helping direct the shoot. And Hong Kong — as always — lit the scene just right.
I met Rino & KeYing again for dinner less than a week later, this time in Singapore. I was feeling much better by then — in body, in rhythm, in everything. But Hong Kong was where the magic began.
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A cinematic destination pre-wedding photo shoot with Rino & KeYing, filmed on location in Central and Sheung Wan, Hong Kong, October 2023. Captured by redsheepphotocinema and @_elsewherelse using the Leica SL2 and Leica Q3.