Canon PhotoMarathon 2015 Hong Kong
2,600 enthusiastic contestants challenge themselves by participating in “Shoot for Hong Kong” missions

(Hong Kong, 22nd November 2015) Canon Hongkong Company Limited (Canon) held today the Canon PhotoMarathon 2015 Hong Kong (CPMHK) at Hall 1A of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC). In the seventh running of the event, around 2,600 contestants completed various photography missions as they spread out across the city to capture unique images of Hong Kong inspired by the event slogan of “Shoot for Hong Kong”.

Contestants of two categories completed photo mission with time limit
This year’s Canon PhotoMarathon welcomed 1,300 contestants of the Challenge category and 1,300 for the Open category. In this challenge of photographic technique, creativity and endurance, three photo themes were announced for the Challenge category – “Decisive Moment”, “Perspective / Transparent” and “City”, which contestants had to complete within 8 hours. Contestants of the Open category created photos of the two themes – “Collective Memory” and “Balance / Equilibrium” within their 6.5-hour time limit. Contestants had to use an interchangeable-lens type digital camera, and upload their works at HKCEC within the specified time.

Experience Hong Kong heritage at competition checkpoints
Two checkpoints were set up at Youth Square in Chai Wan and St. James Settlement’s Kowloon Kindness Centre at Prince Edward. Contestants of the Challenge category must visit both checkpoints within the time limit, while their counterparts of the Open category only visit the former. St. James Settlement, the beneficiary of CPMHK 2015, brought key elements of their Viva Blue House Revitalization Scheme to the checkpoints. At Youth Square, contestants and the public participated in community concerts and upcycling workshops often held at Blue House in Wan Chai. Green Shop, a social corporation under St. James Settlement, introduced locally-grown organic vegetables and home-made food produced by the local community to contestants at the checkpoint at Kowloon Kindness Centre. Besides sharing the joy of photography, Canon Hongkong wished that contestants could enhance their understanding on local culture and preservation.

This year’s competition raised HK$541,440 in enrollment fees, all of which with no deductions will be donated to the beneficiary, St. James' Settlement. The donation will be used for their Viva Blue House Revitalization Scheme, a project for cultural preservation and community development of the Blue House Cluster in Wan Chai. Mrs Cynthia Luk, Chief Executive Officer of St James’ Settlement said, “We are delighted to receive the support from contestants of the Canon PhotoMarathon on our work on cultural preservation in the community. The Viva Blue House Revitalization Scheme is Hong Kong’s first project that embraces the mission on “retention of both residents and the building”, with the first batch of the revitalization scheme expected to be completed early next year. We hope that the project could preserve the colorful way of living at the tenement building community, acting as the platform for residents and community members to share, support and learn from each other. It could be a good reference for future revitalization projects.”

Enhancing photography exchange through new shooting experience
After the completion of their photo missions, contestants participated in a series of photo shooting activities. Brian Ching, Canon Pro Ambassador and professional photographer, shared the secret in high speed photography to contestants at the “Freeze the Motion” live demonstration, using Canon Speedlite 600EX-RT Flash to capture dancers’ active moments. Contestants were encouraged to put what they learned from the live demonstration to test at the trial shooting area. Photographer Terrence Pang also shared tips on color management at the Color Management Seminar session.

This year, Canon partnered with premium electric vehicles brand Tesla on the surprise Tesla Photo Shooting Ride Service, providing chauffeur service to two contestants respectively from the Challenge and Open categories, on the brand’s Model S electric vehicles, throughout their shooting on the day. Contestants also had first-hand experience of professional vehicle shooting at the Tesla display and shooting area, where two Tesla vehicles were paired with professional lighting set up by Canon.

Mr. Vincent Cheung, Senior Director and General Manager of Consumer Imaging & Information Group and Corporate Communications Division of Canon Hongkong said, “Canon PhotoMarathon is a very unique photographic event, which not only serves as a platform for photography lovers to gather and exchange their knowledge on photography, but also a chance to enhance themselves by participating in an exciting challenge. This year, we created a series of new game elements and photography demonstration, hoping to provide a more comprehensive shooting experience for contestants, and let them further immerse themselves in the joy of photography.”

Canon Taiwan representative joining HK competition
Renowned among photography lovers across Asia, CPM had been held in 12 regions in Asia since its commencement. To foster exchanges between cities and photographic communities, Canon Hongkong invited Mr. Chen Wei Sen, a representative of Canon PhotoMarathon Taiwan, to take part in the Challenge category today. Winners of today’s competition will be announced in mid-December. Among them, the professional judging panel of will select one Grand Award winner each from the Challenge and Open category. Grand Award winner of the Challenge category will attend the Canon Photo Clinic in Japan, while winner of the Open Category will represent Hong Kong at the Canon PhotoMarathon 2016 Taipei.

To find out more information about the competition, please visit www.canon.com.hk/photomarathon or join the Canon PhotoMarathon Facebook page www.facebook.com/CPM.HongKong for all the latest competition news.

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Reference Photos:

Photo 1, 2, 3, 4: Canon PhotoMarathon 2015 Hong Kong contestants (Left: Challenge category, Right: Open category) gather at the venue full of spirit.
Photo 5, 6: Contestants are excited and confident to complete their missions with a photo theme.
Photo 7: Total enrollment fees of HK$541,440 raised by CPMHK will be donated to St. James’ Settlement without any deductions. (Left: Mrs. Cynthia Luk, Chief Executive Officer of St James' Settlement; Right: Mr. Hisahiro Minokawa, President & CEO of Canon Hongkong)
Photo 8: Representatives from Canon Hongkong officiated the opening of Canon PhotoMarathon 2015 with judges, emcee and beneficiary representative of this year’s event. (From left to right: Mr. Vincent Cheung, Senior Director and General Manager of Consumer Imaging & Information Group and Corporate Communications Divisions of Canon Hong Kong/ Mr. Hisahiro Minokawa, President & CEO of Canon Hongkong/ Mrs. Cynthia Luk, Chief Executive Officer of St James' Settlement/ Mr. Lawrence Cheng, emcee for Canon PhotoMarathon 2015; and judges - Mr. Eric Poon, Veteran Documentary Director/ Associate Professor of Practice, School of Journalism & Communication, the Chinese University of Hong Kong/ Mr. Raymond Ng, Co-found of Hong Kong Professional Photographers Network; and Mr. Ming Chan, Professional Wedding Photographer
Photo 9 & 10: Contestants arrive at checkpoints at Youth Square, Chai Wan (Left) and St. James’ Settlement’s Kowloon Kindness Centre at Prince Edward (Right) to get the stamps needed to complete their mission.
Photo 11 & 12: Contestants from the Challenge and Open category won the free chauffeur service to complete their photo mission on Tesla’s Model S electric vehicle.
Photo 13 & 14: Mr. Brian Ching, Canon Pro Ambassador and professional photographer, shared the secret in high speed photography to contestants at the “Freeze the Motion” live demonstration, using Canon Speedlite 600EX-RT Flash to capture dancers’ active moments.
Photo 15: Mr. Chen Wei Sen (Left) represented Taiwan in our CPMHK today, and Mr. Hui Hing Wah Charles (Right), the Grand Award winner of CPMHK 2014 represented Hong Kong in Canon PhotoMarathon Taiwan earlier this year.