Photos of Hong Kong Rugby Sevens fans have circulated around the media for decades now, and they’ve largely looked the same: sloppy, costumed rugby watchers hamming it up for a camera held by a photographer getting jostled by the crowd.
Hong Kong-based commercial photographer Gary Tyson decided to do something a little different and set up a little studio on the streets near the stadium.
The results are pretty spectacular:
With professional lighting and the help of a four-person crew from his company F8 Photography, Tyson captured Sevens-goers in a different light, literally.
“My inspiration here was just to capture the fun characters that were attending but with a different twist hence using the lights,” Tyson told us via email.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, it wasn’t that hard to convince people to have their photos taken by a stranger.
“It was not difficult at all to convince people to join in,” Tyson recalled. “It was more the other way round – we were getting loads of volunteers. Most people were a little bit tipsy and everyone just having fun with it.”
“One of my favourite subjects was the guy in the pink panther outfit with his beard and his cigarette. He was acting so cool and somehow pulled off the cool sophisticated portrait looking down and smoking whilst dressed head to toe in pink! LOL!”
Yeah, he looks pretty damn awesome. Maybe one day we too can pull off the smooth-sunglasses-and-pink-bunny look.
Got a tip? Send it to us at hongkong@coconuts.co.
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