Unseen in Apliu

This week, we disappear into the crowd.

Apliu Market in Sham Shui Po is one of Hong Kong’s most active street markets — overflowing with tools, electronics, cables, devices, new and secondhand goods, and scenes that change by the minute. It’s a place of rhythm, small negotiations, browsers and sharp shoppers. There's also markets on Pei Ho Street, perpendicular to Apliu Street.

This assignment is about street photography without being seen. No posing. No eye contact. No acknowledgment. Let the market move as it does — your job is to move through it without disturbing it. We're not after portraits, but the vibe of the market, in close-up pieces of the whole.

### What to Look For:

• People-jams as potential customers elbow their way through
• Hands searching through boxes, drawers, bins
• Vendors arranging goods, counting money, eating lunch
• Buyers and browsers deep in focus, in motion, or in negotiation
• Candid groupings — people clustered around a single table or item
• Contrasts between old tech and modern life
• Tangles of wires and tools — the texture of the market
• Expressions caught sideways — not looking at the camera
• Scenes layered in depth — foreground, middle, background action

### Tips:

• Shoot from the hip — literally. Hold your camera low, wide, and discreet
• Use a wide lens — to capture more of the scene without needing to aim. Somewhere between 21 and 35mm would be perfect. A phone could be tough here, but not impossible.
• If you really want details, a longer lens might work, but you might have better luck just getting in even closer
• Set your camera at around ƒ8 to get more in focus. This is not the project for shallow depth-of-field.
• Try zone focusing. Autofocus may hit the wrong subjects. On a 28mm lens, ƒ8 and a preset distance setting of 8' gets everything from 4.5' to infinity in focus. If you're interested in closer ranges, a 5' preset gets everything from 3.5'-10' in focus. The hyperfocal scale on most lenses will show this. Wider lenses get more range; longer lenses much less, with less room for error. Here's a video explaining zone focus techniques: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBsdRjST9sw*
• Shoot at a fast shutter speed. Everything is moving so this will help freeze the action.
• Expect a lot of misses in this guerrilla style. It's probably not a project for film.
• Keep moving — don’t linger too long in one spot
• Blend in — look like you’re shopping, waiting, or passing through
• Shoot through gaps — between people, around carts, through stalls
• Don't be afraid to have out-of-focus objects or people in the foreground or edges of your frame—they help to contain your subject
• Avoid having your presence acknowledged. A good street photo here doesn’t interrupt the market — it comes from inside it, as an unnoticed observer.

Let's meet at 4pm at Sham Shui Po Station on the Tsuen Wan Line, Exit C2, Street Level. This exit provides direct access to the market, putting us directly onto Apliu Street.

We are allocating only 1 hour to shoot, but it should be a good amount of time to shoot this relatively small area with this technique. Please be early as we will scatter at 4pm sharp.

Regroup at Minimal Cafe at 5pm. 121-123 Apliu Street. A little shorter shooting time than our usual, but given the size of the venue and task, it should be plenty of time.

Move slow.
Shoot fast.
Don’t be seen.