0043PC2SK. Al Dente: Chewable Images
(POSTCARD, 4x6 inch, 4-colour offset printing, 1986)
This was one of my early free-style commercial photography projects. In 1986, the client was Cathay Pacific. The assignments I took on between 1985 and 1986—including the Mandarin Oriental calendar and this project for Cathay Pacific—helped me develop my photographic style. These projects offered a degree of creative freedom, though freedom is never absolute. While there were no rigid constraints on how to express an image, I still had to establish a distinct visual language and deeply understand the client’s needs.
This particular project was part of Cathay Pacific’s in-flight Club des Chefs des Chefs menu series, which featured eight themed menus. I was commissioned to photograph three—Italian, French, and American—while two other foreign photographers handled the remaining five. The client must have been highly satisfied with my work, as I was subsequently entrusted with photographing these menu series multiple times in those following years. Each edition had a unique theme, and I was given full creative control, setting the visual direction in alignment with my style. These projects also brought international design awards to the agencies involved.
During that decade, the in-flight menu projects I photographed for Cathay Pacific became a form of promotion—turning the aircraft cabin into a gallery. Friends would often tell me they had seen my work while flying. Hong Kong people have always loved to travel, and my connection with Cathay Pacific began early, shortly after we launched our photography business. In 1980, I started working on Cathay’s advertisements, which were then handled by Fortune Advertising. Later, when the account moved to Ling-McCann-Erickson, it caused a major industry shake-up. We continued working with them on various projects.
One notable memory was the campaign for the first direct flight between Hong Kong and Toronto. The ad agency’s concept featured two iconic landmarks—the tallest buildings in each city—angled toward each other. I photographed Central Plaza, then Hong Kong’s tallest building, while an image of Toronto’s CN Tower was supplied from Canada. After the ad was published, the Canadian side sued Cathay for infringing the building’s copyright.
Other Cathay Pacific design projects, such as the in-flight menus and Discovery magazine, were handled by different design firms. We collaborated with these firms on various photography assignments, and some of these high-creative-freedom projects also won awards.
Al Dente 適口耐嚼的影像
這張是我較早期的商業攝影作品。1986年，客戶是國泰航空公司。85和86年間，文華酒店月曆，國泰航空公司等工作個案，也促使，也鼓勵我去發展出自己的影像風格。這些個案，都是自由度較大。但所謂自由，也不是絕對，你不被規定說一種語言，你也一定要有自己的語言，以及深知對方的需要。這個作品，是國泰航空，飛機上的餐牌名廚系列，共有八款，我被委託拍攝其中三款，其他五款由另外兩外藉攝影師拍攝。我被分配拍攝意大利，法國，美國。相信客戶非常滿意我的照片，及後幾年，我多次被委託拍攝這些餐牌系列，每一回有一個特定的主題，照片都是全套由我一人負責。而且由我主導，依我的風格向客戶提供影像視覺方向。這些個案也令設計公司獲了一些國際獎項。那十年間所拍攝的航班上名廚系列餐牌，對我在工作上的宣傳也有點幫助，飛機艙恰似成了我的畫廊，常常聽到有朋友說，在飛機上又看到了我的作品。 香港人也非常地喜歡外遊。我們和國泰航空公司也有點淵源，開展攝影業務不久，於1980年便斷續地替廣告公司拍攝這個客戶的照片，當時國泰的廣告由幸運（Fortune）代理。後來客戶轉去了華美 (Ling-McCann-Erickson)，行內一大震盪。我們也為華美拍過一點。有一回，香港多倫多首度直航的廣告，廣告公司的意念是兩個地標建築物，以尖相向。我負責拍攝當時香港最高的建築物中環廣場，多倫多的CN Tower照片由多倫多那邊提供。廣告刊出後，加方控告國泰侵範建築物版權。國泰航空的其他設計物，也交由其他不同的設計公司負責，例如餐牌系列，或航班雜誌Discovery。我們也分別替這些設計公司拍攝國泰航空這個客戶，這些自由度較高的個案，也令我們獲了不少獎項。