Recurring themes in his work are the state of Hong Kong; namely, the rich-poor divide in the city and, in more recent years, the departure of Hong Kong residents — for whatever the reason. Sung shares that he feels he is witnessing a transition in the spirit of the city as people leave — which he has felt compelled to capture with his lenses, in soulful photographs depicting abandoned cars, desolate public housing estates, and so forth. He scrolls his Instagram feed to show me the moving black and whites, richly informed by his long history here. “I, too, think about leaving Hong Kong,” he confides.

Of all genres, Sung says that he most enjoys the solace and wonder of landscape nature photography — and he has, in fact, just returned from a trip to the Dolomites (the mountain range in northeastern Italy), where he feasted his lens on the craggy peaks of the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Dolomites is the latest trip in a list that includes such far flung places as: the UK, US, Canada, Australia, Italy, Norway, the Faroe Islands, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia. But, of these places, he says his work has mostly taken him to the Mainland.

This year, two of Sung’s photos were selected by National Geographic and ranked in their ‘Top 5’ and ‘Top 50’ lists of photographs, respectively — out of a phenomenal 10,000 nominations. One was a black and white of the cenotaph in front of The Hong Kong Club Building in Central, while the other was a colour shot depicting the life of fishermen in Yuen Long.

Sung says that instrumental to his success has been his seeking out of other photographers’ work — a tip from which, he says, every photographer or would-be photographer can benefit from.

Being Neighbourly welcomes Peter Sung’s participation in our inaugural art exhibition, Transitions, November 21-25 at the Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre.