New darkroom member Andrew Sharpe had no idea of the adventure that lay ahead when his grandfather died and bequeathed him his treasured Leica kit. He also received a spectacular panoramic photograph taken with the camera during his time spent living in Hong Kong. Andrew framed the multi-print cityscape which now takes up pride of place and an entire wall in his home and set about working out how to use the camera.
1960’s Hong Kong panorama, photographed by Andrew’s grandfather
Recently, a business trip provided the opportunity to visit the home of his grandfather and a plan was hatched. Andrew negotiated access to the very balcony that the panorama was taken from and took the trusty Leica back to the Chinese city. "The view had changed somewhat, and there were a number of buildings obscuring parts of the harbour, which meant that in the end I had to shoot from a different vantage point." Undeterred, he set-up his tripod and painstakingly set about replicating what his grandfather had done in the 1960s.
Andrew’s Leica kit that he inherited from his grandfather
Returning to London, Andrew decided that he'd like to create the new panorama himself and looked around for somewhere to make that possible. He enrolled on our Introduction to Darkroom workshop and learned how to process his own film and start printing. Becoming a member, he has been able to use the darkroom to produce his own magnificent series of photographs to sit side-by-side with their 70 year-old ancestor.
Andrew’s panorama of a very different Hong Kong