Ways of Seeing in Hong Kong Salon

Conflicts between the Salon and the Postmodernist Photographic Styles

Assignment Essay

Post Graduate Diploma in Contemporary Photography

HKUSPACE, Hong Kong

Peter Lam, 21 January 2021

What is the Salon?

“Salon” nowadays generally refers to a store for hairstyling or clothings. It used to mean regular meetings of writers, artists or politicians. The capital-lettered “The Salon”, originally referred to the semi-public art exhibition held by a royally sanctioned French institution at the Salon Carré in 1667, then in the Palace of the Louvre in 1725 when it became known as Salon or Salon de Paris . Later it moved to the Grand Salon of the Louvre in 1737 when the Salon became public. It showcased artwork in France and later from other foreign countries. Ths Salon, with its jury of awarded artists, emanates some degrees of authority on approval of art styles and artwork, enabling an elite organisation to dictate the definition of art [Richman-Abdou K. 2020].

A Western Narrative Backdrop

The development of fine art photography often has a western narrative. Historically, photographic technology, techniques and talents were an all-in-one subject since Niépce’s first heliograph lasting into the subsequent decades. Early-year photographers were virtually all Europeans and Americans. Some travelled to the Orient as adventurists, or service men, few as merchants, but they brought along their cameras as a novelty to capture landscapes and portraits of the Far East, which then mostly became their memorabilia and some as merchandise after returning to their homeland, These mid-19th century photographers spent their sojourn in Hong Kong, the then newly established crown colony, and continued their journey to the hinterland of Qing or Japan. When first introduced to photography, Chinese at the time found its traditional ink wash painting 1 unmatchable with the photographic prints in both realism or levels of detail. As reflected in the early translation of photography, Han Chinese is “脫影”, literally meaning shedding or casting off the shadow 2 ; Japanese, “写真” (しゃしん) or a copy of the truth.

The “realism” encapsulated in the translation is synonymous with capturing details, but lacks the idea of situating oneself in the real 3 . Photography in the Orient trod on a different path than the West - realism, modernism, Dada, Bauhaus - none but pictorialism caught the attention, well into the next century.

The Hong Kong Salon after WWII

Fast forward to the 1950s, these were the heyday of black and white film photography. Mastering mechanical cameras and film-based photography were high hurdles for amateurs. Darkroom processes were skills demanding if not space- or cost-forbidding. Despite a fairly affordable printing cost, photography remained as a luxurious hobby in this relatively peaceful city having a lack of multiple cultural and entertainment facilities. It was under this backdrop when the Salon movement in Hong Kong flourished. The Salon was not entirely gatherings sponsored by an inspirational host, but a promotion of lifestyle of the emerging middle class, leading an intellectual life, in this case through photography. Photoart 4 magazine held a wealth of essays and photos illustrating the aesthetic of the Salon of the era. Fine art photography was almost synonymous to well-composed landscape or heavily-directed studio portraits.

Left . “Dimples” (漣漪) by Cheung Yu-Chiu (張汝釗), 1952 Middle. “Serenity” (水天一色) by Lau Cho Chak (劉祖澤), 1945. Right . “Still Life” (靜物) by Sit Tsze-Kong (薛子江), c1940. (Source: Photoart 1962)

Cheung’s top-down composure of swimming goldfish bears a strong resemblance to a theme commonplace in ink wash painting, excelled by master painter Wu Zuoren (吳作人) 5 living at the time. Original comments praised his use of high-key to express the nobility of the goldfish. A black-and-white photo can better portray the “spiritual life” of the goldfish. The composition is careful and complete, with the seemingly moving ripples breathtaking.

Rustic nature of the then countryside Shatin was a favourite spot for landscape photographers due to its proximity to the urban area and its ease of train access. Misty morning along the inlet seashore, punctuated by paddy field farmers was an oft-photographed scene. Lau’s photo was published in a yearbook 6 in Britain in 1961. The comment on the Photoart reprint praises his decisive moment in having the motor boat and its passenger at the right spot of the photo, not a moment early or late.

Still life of off-white porcelain could be skills demanding, both in lighting and darkroom printing, as the subtleties in very light shades 7 are fairly difficult to register on prints bringing forth any visual difference. Sit was a master photographer in pre-war China. This award-winning photo was his early artwork. The original comment praises his mastery of skills in printing. Composition is outstanding, but not showing-off. It naturally exhibits a rigorous, solemn and graceful style. Nonetheless, in today’s standpoint, the work is a photo equivalent to charcoal drawing, novice level.

Left . “Morning Dew” (朝露) by Ngann Chen-Tung (顏震東), c1960s. Right . “Orchid” (蘭花) by Tchan Fou-Li (陳復禮), c1960. (Source: Photoart 1963)

Ngaan 8 and Tchan 9 are highly-acclaimed masters. These floral photos are pictorialism at apex. The artistic arrangement of the petals and stems is vividly displayed on the black and white print. It would not have been possible without tedious planning on preproduction and highly skilful production. Their control of variables on film choices, lighting directions, filters application, paper choices, enlargement skillfulness, chemical process, could not be more apt to register appealing grey shades to achieve the botanical art.

Back- or rim-lighting was adopted in these two textbook classics. Such practice was more commonplace in Hong Kong Salon in the 1960s. Photo images on the Salon changed tune and transitioned to street photography. More hobbyists turned professional as well.

Prominent photographers Chung 10 , Yau 11 and Ho 12 infused Salon photos with a scent of Hong Kong. The trio were all commercial photographers. Chung came from the grassroot, started his career as a movie poster painter. Yau photographed celebrities in a movie studio and later became editor of two photography magazines. Ho, having a more affluent family background, was a movie actor, director and producer. Their street-level photographs were dramatic and narrative. Employing straight photography, they transitioned away from pictorialism into a documentary-like classic noir, capturing street life and everyday scenes from 1960s onwards.

Left . “Drinking Water Shortage” (食水難) by Chung Man Lurk, 1959. Middle . “Approaching Shadow” (陰影) by Fan Ho, 1954. Right . “Cheongsams” (Gloucester Road) by Yau Leung, 1961.

Chung won a silver award with this photo in 1959 when water rationing was commonplace during droughts. The photo has the woman in bokeh, accentuating the slow-running faucet, thus keeping the subject matter on water ration rather than the identity of the woman.

Among Ho’s long list of awarded photos, the most recognized is “Approaching Shadow” having his cousin posing in front of a white wall, with a shadow imposed through darkroom manipulation. Vintage and modern, stark contrast of forms and shapes, full of symbolism, Ho was considered as a natural descendant of Bauhaus made in Hong Kong (Di Marzo 2006).

Yu’s portrait of two young women sporting cheongsam captivated the audience near and far. The elegant figures pronounced by the body-hugging long dress attracts the male-gaze on Oritental feminism. The fashion became a Hong Kong icon in many salon photos.

The Salon as a Social Club

Photography clubs started to appear in Britain in the 18th century. The first photography club, Edinburgh Calotype Club, was established in 1843 by a group of experimentalists, just two years after Talbot’s discovery of the Calotype. The first properly organised society was formed in Leeds in 1852 and in the same year, Photography Society was born in London to contest Talbot’s control in the exclusive usage of Calotype. This London society was the predecessor of the Royal Photography Society (RPS), a non-profit making charity, that is still running today. Apart from its ordinary membership, the Society offers three levels of distinction – Licentiate, Associate and Fellow – recognising their standards and achievements in photography.

Salons in Hong Kong are mostly organised by photography clubs. Many model RPS structure and administration and no less than 20 are active in Hong Kong in 2020. 13 A merit of these photography clubs is their attempt to promote photography through disciplined activities. They organise monthly competition, talks, workshops, field trips and symposiums. During the age when photography was either self-taught or through apprenticeship, such gatherings did attract lots of amateurs to take interests in photography. Public display did help a lot of amateur photographers to polish their skills and techniques so as to achieve pleasing and presentable outcomes.

Though these photography clubs and salons are open to all, a sense of elitism and seniority emanates through its hierarchy of memberships and recognition of distinctions. Appreciation was not the sole intention of the Salon, rather, through critiques and its academism, it attempted to define a yardstick of fine photography art.

Tam, a chairman of Hong Kong Salon 14 , once consolidated a list of suggested improvements to the adjudication process in 1963. He acknowledged the difficulties in screening loads of contesting photos of diverse themes and formats. The selection criteria often drew criticism as the taste and preferences varied among adjudicators. Yet, without any screening, he asserted that inferior or inept photos would be put on an exhibition, thereby disgusting the audience.

Left . “Outdoor Study” (讀書樂), Tam Kwok-Kwan ( 譚國鋆 ), 1952. Right . “歡笑” (Mirth) by Luoy Kai-Ki (雷啟基). c1962.

What drives amateurs to excel apart from pure fun, recognition and honour? Prize. In some cases pretty handsome. Chung won his Rolleiflex with his faucet photo. Considering the difficult times in the 1950s to 60s, the prize was very attractive.

Flipside of such recognition could be purely vanity. Accomplished photographers need no such recognition through competitions rather being the adjudicators, or building up their own prestige through running social clubs much like other sports associations, recreational clubs. Sponsorship and patronage from the elites put a halo around photography as a noble hobby. Excelling through the Salon has a sense of acceptance in the high-class society.

The Aesthetic of Salon Photography

The pre-WWII Hong Kong saloniste artwork was by no means groundbreaking nor aesthetically differentiable as a genre in its own rights. Pictorialism was the norm. Akin to the contemporary concept of cross-media hybridisation, photographers of this age attempted a photo rendition of existing art forms. Yet such an approach can date back all the way to the infancy of photography, Talbot’s years in the Pencil of Nature. From the 1960s onwards, the Salon practitioners collectively came up with their own values on aesthetics: Theme, Composition, Posing, Symbolism, Presentation, Captioning.

Theme

Hong Kong Salons is open to all, allowing submission of all themes, except the small prints “an entry may be rejected when the sponsoring organization or its agent, in its reasonable discretion, believes the entry does not conform to the exhibition rules and conditions.” (PSHK 2020)

Perhaps due to its competitive nature, themes shown on the images are often mild, conservative, non-critical, pure and innocent sometimes. No photos show violence, indecency, horrors, cults, crime, politics, and a long list of items not suitable for public display.

But one cannot simply ignore the atrocious historical context of the early 1960s. The turmoil in China and the great famine forced 100,000 refugees to flee to Hong Kong in 1962. The serenity and peace expressed in the Salon was a counter reality, a projection of a blissful utopia, superiority in respecting dignity and humanity, a refuge for those unrestful hearts.

Composition

In nearly all salon photos, the subject matter is “strikingly pronounced”, if not, “occupies the interest points”. This translates into golden-ratio, Rule of Thirds, diagonal method 15 . Such conservative compositure, once again, stemmed from the competitive nature of the Salon. Abiding to proven formats or textbook rule-of-thumb would and should secure a better chance to be shortlisted. Luoy’s 16 portrait of a joyful lad exemplified a typical salon approach: his beaming smile dead-centred, his gleeful right eye on the two-third grid. The busk as the only subject matter projects a simple theme - mirth - registering nothing else on the picture. Such compositions adhere to formalism 17 practiced by the modernists. By employing straight photography, Luoy ensures a straightforward yet impressive message for the audience, having their free interpretation sacrificed.

Posing

On the aged-old debate on posing in portraiture, Luoy once manifested his view against preliminary posing 18 . His stance reflected to a high degree how salon practitioners at the time blended aesthetics into straight photography in depicting the real. He emphasized composition and best timing to press the shutter.

Except in some purely pictorial works, I scarcely pay any heed to lighting and environment and particularly abhor that sort of movie-like directing or posing. Once when I consider it's the right moment, l immediately press the shutter. But, still at that very brief split of a second prior to the actual pressing, I have to make a swift estimate, otherwise in between the pressing and the clicking of the shutter a good chance may be suddenly missed. ... The essential actually bases on each individual's own cultivation and artistic taste.

The photographer exerts various degrees of posing directives onto the sitter in traditional and lifestyle portraiture. What Luoy prefers probably is closer to candid portraits. The photographer gives no posing direction to the sitter to take the spontaneous shot. Luoy’s thoughts rhyme with Cartier-Bresson’s viewpoint on the “Decisive Moment” (1952) or “the creative fraction of a second'' (1957). In shooting candid portraiture, salon practitioners who transitioned into street photography often displayed their wit in freezing the optimal moment to show the reality.

Decades later street photographers seem to prefer the in-between. In environmental portraits, sitters act comfortably in their own familiar environment doing their everyday routines. Posing directives are minimal, but the photographer may set up favourable conditions for the sitters to pose naturally, an assisted reality perhaps. Such collaborative approach demands trust and tacitness between the photographer and sitter, and becomes trendy when postmodernism prevails.

Symbolism

Chen (1963) recounted his experience in Hong Kong Salon and suggested practitioners to suit, though not overly, the taste of adjudicators of international salons. During the days when mainland China closed its doors to the foriegn world, Hong Kong was a window to the ancient Middle Kingdom. It is understandable, therefore, Oriental symbols and Chineseness were appealing to international audiences. Hong Kong Salon contestants in its early years attracted attention by displaying motifs and symbols like fishing junks, paddie farmers, cheongsam, temples and the like.

Symbolism is also a trait exhibited by modernists. Chung’s slow-running standpipe was a trivial symbol of the drought. Yau’s cheongsam looking from the back symbolised a mystic oriential feminism. Ho’s shadow symbolised a diminishing youth 19 .

Even salon photos in the pictorialism era also exhibited symbolism, which can be traced to ancient Chinese literature and Buddhist scripture 20 . Flowers often have poetically linked messages. Lotus flower symbolizes purity, eternity and rebirth. Goldenfish has a secular meaning of wealth and auspiciousness; in Buddhism, happiness and freedom, as it swims freely in a pond. A pair of goldenfish represent the union of husband and wife.

Symbolism may run really deep, but most audiences in the 1960s should be able to comprehend those adopted in the Salons. A rare presentation in diptych by Yau shows two fishing junks sailing slowly in Victoria Harbour with a modern cityscape of Hong Kong Island as the backdrop. The contrast between backwardness and modernity, East versus West, was frequently depicted.

Hong Kong Island under the Peak in the 1960s by Yau Leung, c1960s, diptych, silver halide print, 12x18 inch each.

Presentation

The presentation of Salon photos as gallery art pieces dictates the visual experience. Prints have a maximum size of 16x20 inch, frameless, unmounted, with a small tag of photographer and title pinned together on panels which serve general purposes. Ambient lighting, no matter natural, fluorescent or flood light, does not enhance the viewing pleasure, nor provides any extra layer to the image or the significance of the artistic expression. The overall curation is weak.

Not much has changed ever since the 1962 exhibition at the City Hall. Digital viewing is practiced fairly recently but crossmedia presentation is still out, not even printing on fabric other than photographic papers.

Another tradition of having a set of four per submission restricts presenting photos in series. Similar themes are screened out as the Salon considers photos individually. This also bars any presentation in polyptychs.

Left . Hong Kong Salon on show at the newly opened second-generation Hong Kong City Hall in 1962. Some 600 photos were exhibited. (Source: Photoart) Right . International Photography Salon 2018 (國際攝影藝術沙龍 2018) held at Hong Kong Central Library (Source: people.cn )

Captioning

A side issue is on the captioning. While salons in Hong Kong often allow contestants to freely choose their themes, these captions seemingly serve a more functional than inspirational purpose. They are closer to textual indexes than artist statements.

In the digital-era, Hong Kong salons request contestants to submit photos with filenames embedding the caption, plus the group contesting and print numbers. It is understandable a caption helps identify a photo in cataloguing, equivalent to call numbers or tags on 21st century social media platforms. As a filename, the caption becomes short and often trivial.

Yet this phenomenon can be observed in decades old salon captions as well. Ngan (2003) suggested a caption “曾經滄海” (“Sailed the Seven Seas” meaning being accomplished or seasoned) to replace a cliche “爛船都有三斤釘” (“A wreckage has three catties of nails” meaning there is always some residual worth) for a photo of an old broken boat wreck on the beach. Ngan’s new caption more poetically suggested an imagery for the audience to ponder on the rough seas the boat could have traversed, rather than fixated on the descriptive cliche about the wreckage waiting for scrapping.

Trivial captions forbid the audience to interpret more; cliches, might even ruin it. Poor captioning sometimes distracts, obscures, or preoccupies them in interpreting the image. Postmodernists, decades later, adopt captions which free up the audience’s mind, unleashing possibilities to infer other notions that transcends from the trivials. The literatural worth of the caption should better reflect the artistic expression of the photographer, not necessarily the photo image.

The Hong Kong Salon in the 2020s

Locally by the 1980s, more and more photographers received proper training from overseas academies. The Polytechnic and VTC vocational schools started offering photography courses. Camera gears became more affordable as the economy soared.

Globally in the 1990s, conflicts in art values and directions were budding as postmodernism flourished. Another generation later, the fault line became tectonic scale.

Fast forward again to the present, camera-equipped smart devices are ubiquitously available, anybody can lay claim to being a photographer. Digital photography has such a gentle learning curve that those gruelling darkroom skills and techniques once cherished by the Salon seem all obsolete.

Hong Kong salon photos are now in the digital era.

Yiu-Lee and Kwok attained fellowship of PSHK in June 2020, having their photos taken in Bangladesh, one in black and white, the other in colour. Many of the classic approaches are still obvious.

Left. “排隊工作” (Work in line) by Yiu-Lee Mei Ling (姚李美玲), 2020. Right . “日出而作” (Going to work at sunrise) by Kwok Chi-wan (郭子雲), 2020. (Source: PSHK)

For both photos, the subject matters are as straightforward as ever. Lines of labours head-carrying loads in sync form an interesting image. Repetition and reflection too. Backlighting or rim-lighting is adopted, so that all elements are discrete, non-overlapping. Individual elements aggregate into a unified whole.

Yiu-Lee’s black and white image has a complete tonal coverage. Vignetting draws the gazing to the centre, with the sunspot to break the dullness. Kwok has an overly warm image displaying labours donning tee-shirts in saturated colours. His composition conforms to the classic two-third rule.

Layering is well-defined - front, middle (the subject matter), the backgrounds (single or multiple layers), defining the spatial dimensions on the image. Both images are crispy clear, which could be a result of digital enhancement like HDR, or frozen by a very sharp prime lens.

A closer examination reveals these layers were not achieved by lens based depths of view. The background layers though misty are full of details. Digital enhancement is likely by partially lowering the saturation and dimming the luminance, analogous to dodging techniques frequently used in black and white print development.

Realism and Modernism nature

1960s Salon photos exhibited some traits of modernism 21 , 22 , 23 when it departed pictorialism. It was clear as they manifested a new way of seeing different from Chinese ink wash paintings. Individualism is often observed in candid portraitures in their attempt to depict the sitter’s character as a distinct focal subject. Their willingness to experiment on their gears and darkroom processes was also a merit despite their financial hardship. Instead of breaking away from, formalism in both skills and discipline were observed. The emphasis on composition and lighting became signatures of Salon photos, though not to the extent like Bauhaus which can be purely forms and shapes. Institutionalising an amateur hobby into photography societies takes effort and courage. Symbolism had been an underlying chord changed tune hidden in street photography. Absurdity was missing without a clear answer. Perhaps in an effort to define photography as a high-class art, or the conservative attitude of Salon contestants, there is rarely any noticeable surrealism displayed in Hong Kong Salons.

Their way of seeing is equivalent to realism - gazing at candid normalities. The rest of the images are all subject to the photographer’s painterly creativity. They do not quite break away from the traditions. There is always some Chineseness in the images.

How about 2020? Salon practitioners do not reject photoshopping but confine themselves in manipulating exposure, vibrancy, resizing and cropping, burning and dodging much like darkroom old-schoolers. Accentuated their images may be but falling short projecting any extra sense of realism than what they perceived. They never quite created an alternative realism as postmodernists, nor rebelled against traditions as other modernists did.

Toiling sunrise till sunset is the realism portrayed in Yiu-Lee and Kwok’s 2020 artwork. Being gazed from a distance, none of these nameless labours have any countergaze, nor any facial expression hinting their responses. The humanity on these National Geographic-esque photos is hardly more than travel photos. By no means are the photos part of an ethnographic study of the Bangladeshi. The artist's statements assert that “the labours are optimistic to life” despite its poor economy and backward development, and “their smiles to foreigners has shown their compromise to their poor life.” However, with the silhouettes of Yiu-Lee, and creamy colours of Kwok, realism here seems to have been glamorised.

Where are the symbolism, individualism, experimentation as seen in modernism? Hong Kong salon photos have reached its ceiling in its pursuit of realism, even having those attributes of modernism reverted, stepping backwards to pictorialism when photography moved on to other ways of seeing.

Salon versus Postmodernism

If the Salon does not conform with modernist photography, how about the postmodernists’?

The simple answer is no. On the six allegorical linkages with postmodernist art (Owen 1980), the Salon exhibited hardly any.

Accumulation as a natural progression of the artistic creative process is frequent in postmodernism. Not quite the case in the Salon as the organiser screens out submissions which are similar in theme and nature. The image gets accumulated, notwithstanding, through multiple photographers shooting a fairly similar theme.

Appropriating or following the footsteps of successful masters? Even though ideas cannot be appropriated, the competition nature of the Salon invites conservative contestants to present artwork resembling previous well-received ones. Worse are those ghostwriters (or ghost-photographers) who corrupt the fairness of the Salon.

Site specificity is unachievable as all photos are exhibited in a gallery setting. Further, gallery pieces are supposed to be immortal. Banksy’s way of seeing is counterintuitive to the Salon. Worth is granted by the temporal presence. The time of being out-values the permanence.

Hybridisation is probably an exception, unintentionally even, when another generation of photographers mature.

Comparison on the ways of seeing between Hong Kong Salon and Postmodernism

Aspects	Hong Kong Salon	Postmodernist
Captioning	Functional, descriptive and often trivial.	Refrain from any descriptive narration. Sometimes inspirational.
Presentation	Individual prints intended for gallery display, although not a must.	Multimedia and cross-media presentations are common. Prints as individual photos or polyptychs.
Texture	Often accentuated, e.g., wrinkles in high contrast, or the exact opposite, ultra smooth and low contrast.	No fixed styles.
Monochrome / Black-and-white	There exists a strict definition of monochrome / black-and-white photographs. Black-and-white prints often show full tonal coverage in fine gradation. High contrast prints sometimes. Multiple tonal range sometimes observed in enhancing the main subject by brightening its exposure and/or flattening / blurring the background.	No fixed pattern, often according to the style and taste of the photographer.
Lighting	Backlighting and rim-lighting are often seen in natural light photos. Studio Portrait Lighting often front lit and flat.	From natural lighting to classic studio lighting to light painting.
Composition	Textbook classics: Golden-ratio, Two-thirds Rule, Diagonal Alignment	No fixed rules.
Visual Focus	Often having a trivial focus, a visual element being the centre of mass	More open, no fixed focus.
Theme	Conservative, mild, unprovocative, no indecency.	Open, including experimental approaches, no red-tape
Style	Pictorialism transitioned into street photography. Exhibited some traits of Modernist photography, but not breaking away from traditions completely.	Postmodernist.
Expression	Single, dictated by the photographer	Open, subject to viewer interpretation
Expression Means	Symbolism is often observed. No absurdity. Surrealism images unseen. Experimentation is confined to darkroom development. Individualism in focusing on the sitter’s personality, emotion, facial expression often observed. Few formalistic photos having forms and shapes as the purely visual aspects.	Accumulation, Appropriation, Discursivity, Site Specificity, Impermanence, Hybridisation

Criticism on Lung-yau

Salonistes were once high-class art-lovers and critiques who regularly participated in Salon meetings. Such obsolete reference is more colloquially known as Lung-yau (龍友), or Salon-pal, practitioner or enthusiast.

Until the 1990s, Lung-yau was a metonym of a serious amateur of fine art photography. At the turn of the century, unfortunately, this affectionate name often invites derogatory reception, as it is closely associated with the subculture of Leng-mol-gazing. The downturn might start around mid-2000 when a troupe of Leng-mol’s (𡃁􀀀模), or teenage models or showgirls, who attracted armies of Lung-yau’s , virtually all young male adults, feverishly taking them photos in all public events. This also coincided with the timing when consumer grade digital SLR cameras became widely affordable, attracting another generation of amateur photographers manifesting their ways of seeing.

The millennials have redefined the once noble-esque fine art into a backward, rigid, photographic style. Worse is the stereotyping to these predominantly male photographers - their one-upmanship on camera gears (the so-called “equipment priority mode”), criticalness towards peers, and sometimes their gender discrimination - all encompassed in their hedonistic consumerism on photography.

Salon photography, unintentionally and irrelevantly, hybridised into glamorous portraiture of cosplayers posing as their beloved animation characters.

Conclusion

The way of seeing is an attitude. The Salon in Hong Kong, 75 years and counting, has gone into a cul-de-sac.

Competition is not at all the problem. There are photography competitions all round the world. Even when the rules and regulations of international salons are fairly similar, the images shown in British salons are different from the ones in Hong Kong, or in Japan - the Englishness, Chineseness and Japaneseness emanated from the images reflect a different way of seeing even on the same theme and subject matter.

With all its well-defined rules for a fair competition, it also bound itself in its way of seeing. Although there has never been a red-tape or censorship system, the natural progression is self-cleansing. Ended up the Salon photos in Hong Kong are purists depicting sheer beauties.

It is the secular values of so-called “beauty” that are reflected on the image by contestants, their conservative approaches mimicking success and often the aesthetics of the sub-culture of those at the inner circle of the Salon. If these amateur photographers have no previous exposure to fine art, their ways of seeing are unlikely to deviate much from the norms of vernacular photography of the local culture. Such norms, in turn, may be shaped by traditions, popular culture, commercial promotions and any combinations.

Perhaps it is a false dichotomy to argue which between the Salon and the postmodernist style is superior to the other. It is no better than to argue classical music is superior to world music - Is there a merit to compare Baroque versus Techno Punk? Traditionally, the classification of genres in photography mimics that of painting. Until today portraits, landscapes, still life are widely accepted genres. It is the subject matter, instead of the approach, not even the technique, underlies the nomenclature.

Unlike a pianist who may choose to play Bach, Mozart, Weber, Peterson, Hisaishi or Yanni’s music at will; a photographer seldom (also technologically unable to) shoots like Daguerre, Atget, Man-Ray, Bresson, Moriyamam or Gursky at the same time.

In the postmodernist-era, serious amateurs may turn pro-artists and would achieve the same excellence of artwork, given the same resources and dedication. The fine line is the means but not the end. It is how more than what.

Footnotes

1 Ink wash painting or East Asian brush painting (水墨畫) typically uses soot ink and brushes to draw in grey shades. Similar to water painting, the soot ink diffuses in water to achieve a continuous grey tone.
2 <脫影奇觀> was the first in-depth reference about photography written in Han Chinese. It was translated by a British medical doctor Dak-ching (英國德貞醫士) in 1872 and published the year after in Qing. The text covers physics of optics, camera structure, chemical process of wet plate development.
3 The invention of photography coincided with the realism movement in the West. During the 1850s, the world was rapidly changing under industrialisation and colonisation. Paintings failed to expose flaws of governments as accurately and astoundingly as photographs.
4 Photoart 《攝影藝術》was a monthly magazine published in Hong Kong during 1960-63, and reissued later during 1980-97 by another group of editors. Its editors and many of its contributors were prominent Salon photographers in Hong Kong.
5 Wu Zuoren (吳作人) (1908-1997), a professor of China Central Academy of Fine Arts (1949-53) and later the principal of China Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1958. He studied fine art at Shanghai Art University and was recognized by Xu Beihong (Ju Péon) (徐悲鴻), and later further studied in France during 1930-35. He contributed much in both art theory and practice in ink wash painting. Goldfish painting was one of his signatures.
6 The exact name of the publication is not cited on Photoart. It may refer to the yearbook of the Royal Photographic Society.
7 Equivalent to Zone VIII to X in Ansel Adams’ Zone Theory.
8 Ngan Chun-Tung (顏震東) (1926-). He settled in Hong Kong in 1947 when he was 21 years old working as an apprentice in a drug store. A year later, inspired by an introduction to the British salons on the news, he started learning photography and darkroom processing, with an Agfa camera borrowed from a friend. He joined the Photographic Society of Hong Kong in 1952. He won numerous awards in his life. He kept teaching photography after retirement. (Source: self introduction in 黑白攝影集 by Ngan Chun Tung)
9 Tchan Fou-Li (陳復禮) (1916-2018). He was a Hong Kong photographer who worked to develop distinctive Chinese forms of photography and to establish photography as a serious art form in Hong Kong. He is known for his photographs, described as evoking the artistic values and composition of Chinese landscape paintings. A New York Times reviewer called him "one of the great visual artists of his time" because of his "carefully crafted images that celebrate the beauty of the human condition and the majesty of nature." He settled in Hong Kong in 1955. in his 70 years of career, won 200 plus awards. He was the founder of two photography magazines in Hong Kong, Photoart《攝影藝術》 1960-63, 1980-97 and Photo Pictorial《攝影畫報》1964-2005. He was also the founder of the 香港中華攝影學會. (Source: wikipedia)
10 James Chung Man-lurk’s (鍾文略) (1925-2018) settled in Hong Kong when he was 22 years old. He learnt oil painting from Chan Hak-Shun (陳克純), a student of the renowned painter Xu Beihong (Ju Péon) (徐悲鴻). He started his career as a movie poster painter. With limited earnings, he co-owned his first camera with a friend. He often had to finance his photo development by having his camera as collateral and use his prize money to repay his debts. In 1963 he became a full-time commercial photographer for movie studios, and as an editor of ( 攝影新潮). He ran his own commercial studio from 1968 until retirement. (Source: Ming Pao News Weekly) https://www.mpweekly.com/culture/%e6%94%9d%e5%bd%b1-%e9%8d%be%e6%96%87%e7%95% a5-60%e5%b9%b4%e4%bb%a3-167348
11 Yau Leung (邱良) (1941–1997) was a well regarded photographer in Hong Kong. Professionally a unit still photographer for Shaw Brothers Studio, he is also known for his photographs of Hong Kong street life. He has been called the "Bresson of Hong Kong", referencing the famous pioneer of street photography, Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908–2004). He founded the monthly magazine Photography Life in 1973. In 1980, he became editor-in-chief of the magazine Photo Art. (Source: wikipedia)
12 Fan Ho (何藩) (1931–2016) was a Chinese photographer, film director, and actor. From 1956, he won over 280 awards from international exhibitions and competitions worldwide for his photography. (Source: wikipedia)
13 The Photographic Society of Hong Kong (香港攝影學會), founded in 1937, is the longest running among all photography clubs in Hong Kong, http://www.pshk-photo.org.hk/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=58&lang=en
14 Tam Kwok-Kwan (譚國鋆) (living years unknown) was the chairman of the 17th Hong Kong International Salon in 1962. The first Salon, presuming no interruption, should be held in post-war 1946. Tam is a Fellow (1962) and Honourable Member (1963) of the Photographic Society of Hong Kong. He actively hosted talks and workshops in public libraries in his senior years as late as the 1990s.
15 The diagonal method (DM) is a rule of thumb in photography, painting and drawing. A photograph is usually a rectangular shape with a ratio of 4:3 or 3:2, from which the diagonals of the photograph are placed at the bisection of each corner. (Source: Wikipedia)
16 Luoy Kai-Ki (雷啟基) (living years unknown) was a self-taught photographer. A-grade member of the RPS. He enjoyed shooting photos of his kids documenting family life and travelling. He preferred candid snapshots to directive posing. Luoy contested the sheer beauty of the picture should not be everything it takes for pictorialist artwork. He once photographed a bloody accident of a boy crushed over under a wheel. The shock and sorrow disheartened his pressing of the shutter.
17 In painting, formalism emphasizes compositional elements such as color, line, shape, texture, and other perceptual aspects rather than content, meaning, or the historical and social context. (Source: Wikipedia)
18 There is no definition of “preliminary posing”. Essentially it should mean posing of the sitter as directed by the photographer. The phrase is taken verbatim from the English translation, appeared in the same issue of Photoart magazine, which Luoy’s original essay in Chinese was published.
19 Ho expressed “her youth will fade away” since “everyone has the same destiny’. (Source: Ho, Fan (November 2012). "Ho Fan: In Memory of Hong Kong's Iconic Photographer". HK Magazine. South China Morning Post, cited by Wikipedia, Accessed 18 January 2021).
20 Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhist art frequently makes use of a particular set of "eight auspicious symbols" in domestic and public art. These symbols have spread with Buddhism to the art of many cultures, including Indian, Tibetan, Nepalese, and Chinese art. These symbols are: lotus flower, endless knot, goldenfish, victory banner, Wheel of the Dharma, treasure vase, parasol and conch shell. (Source: Wikipedia)
21 In the 1920s, photographers began to embrace its social, political and aesthetic potential, experimenting with light, perspective and developing, as well as new subjects and abstraction. Coupled with movements in painting, sculpture and architecture, these works became known as 'modernist photography'. (Source: Tate)
22 Modern Photography is a general term used to encompass trends in photography from roughly 1910-50 when photographers began to produce works with a sharp focus and an emphasis on formal qualities, exploiting, rather than obscuring, the camera as an essentially mechanical and technological tool. Also referred to as Modernist Photography, this approach abandoned the Pictorialist mode that had dominated the medium for over 50 years. (Source: Artsy) 23 There are five features of modernism in literature: individualism, experimentation, absurdity, symbolism and formalism. The analogy is applicable to photography. (Source: Patrick 2017)