Greg Girard

HONG KONG WEEKEND. If you’re in HK this weekend, stop by my show at WKM Gallery: “HKG-TYO 1974-2023”. Photographs of life in, and in between, Hong Kong and Tokyo over the last five decades. WMK GALLERY. Saturday, March 21st, 4-8pm. 20/F Coda Design Centre. 62 Wong Chuk Hang Road. HONG KONG. @wkmgallery 1. Peking Road, Tsimshatsui, 1987. 2. Two Dragons Bar. TST. 1985. 3. Club Deluxe. 1987. 4. Hankow Road neon. 1974. greggirardpictures.com

If you’re in Hong Kong this weekend I invite you to my opening “HKG-TYO 1974-2023”, Saturday, March 21, 4-8pm. WKM GALLERY. 20/F, Coda Design Centre. 62 Wong Chuk Hang Rd. Come and say hello! @wkmgallery 1. CX jet, Lion Rock and Kowloon Walled City. 1989. 2. Bar interior, Hong Kong. 1985. 3. Snack Sakura, Shikoku. 2023 4. Blue velvet chairs. Okayama. 2023. greggirardpictures.com

@ololpijj No. Sorry if I made it sound like he is!!

@gregforaday Is he dead?

I had the pleasure to photograph the legendary Hong Kong actor Chow Yun Fat three or four times in the late 1980s. I was living in Hong Kong and had just started working for Asiaweek magazine. For a story about the HK film industry I’d get access to a film set and make pictures of whatever was going on. Later, for a story about Chow Yun Fat himself, he agreed to meet me so I could make a portrait. I asked to meet on the rooftop parking lot at Ocean Terminal. He arrived by himself in a sports car with its top down. No publicist or assistant. And for 30 minutes or we chatted and made pictures. Very courteous and generous. He asked “Did you get everything you need”? And then jumped back in his sports car, waving goodbye as he sped off. Thank you Sir! 1. Chow Yun Fat and Cherie Chung. During filming of“The Eighth Happiness”, 1987. 2. Chow Yun Fat and Conan Lee, during filming of “Tiger on the Beat”. 1987. 3. Chow Yun Fat, rooftop of Ocean Terminal. 1988. 4. Chow Yun Fat and Cherie Chung, between takes. 1987. greggirardbooks.com

It’s coming. About to burst out in some trees near you. I never noticed the annual blossoms when I lived in Japan in my early 20s. But decades later I happened to find myself in Japan in March and April, and there they were. Opening first in the southwest and moving north as the weather warmed. Coincidentally while I was doing the same, looking for a bar named “Sakura” (cherry blossom). Nights in small and large towns all over the country. 1. Yamagata, 2023. 2. Hakodate, 2018. 3. Yokohama, 2008. 4. Vancouver, 2020. “Snack Sakura”. Available via link in bio. greggirardpictures.com

@0xfrazer_ If I was travelling and using Kodachrome, in those days it came with pre-paid processing, and you would mail it to a Kodachrome lab and they would send the processed film to whatever address you put on the envelope. So after a 6 month trip you’d come home and finally see the film

@gregforaday stunning work. curious how you would go about traveling with negatives and storing them back then

Somehow I managed to save $700. And I had to leave the country anyway. So just before Christmas 1976 I used the rest of my one-way ticket to continue on from Tokyo to Bangkok via Taipei and Hong Kong. God knows how that $700 lasted as long as did. After 3 months I had just enough left for a one-way ticket back to Tokyo on Pakistan International Airlines via Manila. I arrived back in Tokyo with $10 to my name, crashed at a friend’s place, found some work and eventually saved enough to rent a room and process my film from the last three months. In a previous life without credit cards. 1. Tokyo, Marunouchi Line. 1976 2. Taipei scene, January 1977 3. Koh Samui, Thailand, 1977 4. Manila (Quezon City), Oklahoma Bar. 1977 Link to books in bio. greggirardpictures.com

@DavidKootenay Thank you for that. 70s and 80s I used Canon F-1 and FTb, and also TLb 🥂🙏

@gregforaday Glad I was recommended your post. Ended up ordering SNACK SAKURA. What camera and film did you primarily use for your photos in the 70s and 80s?

@hkrob Some titles will be available later this month from WKM Gallery in HK 🥂

@gregforaday Looks great. I see they are printed in HK, any local delivery/purchase options? Seems silly to send form HK to Canada and back to HK..

@KarazazuN I developed it back then, but a lot of it went into boxes and I didn’t see it again for years…🥂

@gregforaday Amazing. Did you have any trouble developing the films after all this time?

Swallowed whole by Tokyo in the spring of 1976, and wandering through its digestive tract over the next couple of years. Back when English language schools would hire anyone who claimed to speak English. I worked minimal hours, enough to rent a room and pay for film and processing. Wandered the streets day and night. Photographed strangers and friends. The resulting pile of film goes into boxes for decades until the internet arrives. 1. Keiko, Yoyogi Park. 1979. 2. Judy Ong, PARCO tv commercial. 3. Keiko, Koenji. 1979. 4. Film posters, Shinjuku. Books available via link in bio. Back in print: “JAL 76-88”! Pre-order now, shipping in June. (Thank you to the many supporters who have pre-ordered so far!). greggirardpictures.com

@Maolain3 Thanks for that.

@gregforaday Very cinematic and atmospheric. A story in each shot. Feels like 'Taxi Driver', Early Tom Waits,Warhol (soup cans), Raymond Carver, Bearded man looks a bit like Bukowski, Girl with glasses like Annie Hall (on a bad date), Blonde is a like a philosophy student from Germany. Vivid.

One place I used to frequent was a fast food place called Steams. I’d buy a coffee and sit there and watch people, and eventually get up the courage to ask someone if I could take their picture. This was 1975 and early 1976. When people asked what’s it for I’d say “it’s just for me. I’m a photographer”. Which seemed to satisfy them, and we’d get on with it. Some of these are in “Under Vancouver 1972-1982”. Link to books in bio. greggirardpictures.com 1. Jukebox and Umbrella. 1975. 2. Woman with rose. 1976. 3. Heinz soup (you choose a can, the restaurant heats it up and serves it to you). 4. Woman smoking.

@benzak2022 A mix of Kodachrome and Ektachrome (Tri-X b/w). Entry-level Canon SLR (TLb and FTb). Mostly 28mm. 🥂

@gregforaday Beautiful! what camera and lenses? Can you remember?

@DouglasPollitt Thank you!

@gregforaday These are fantastic. Pls post more.

@salfordsmith61 Now that’s a rare bit of good news, thank you! 🥂

@gregforaday They are stunningly beautiful, for once the algorithm did a great job and pushed this content onto my feed. I shall be checking out more of you work.

@xaliuqs_mcg On East Hastings, between Carrall and Columbia, south side…🥂

@gregforaday where was it? I wasn't here yet

“Accidental Encounters”, from M+ Magazine. Thrilled beyond words to see my HK pictures featured, with the subtitle, “Greg Girard’s Hong Kong”. Thank you to Iris Ng for the interview and to Silke Schmickl and the rest of the team at M+ for the support! @mplusmuseum Plus a few more encounters, from “HK:PM” and other bodies of work. Books available via link in bio. greggirardpictures.com 1. L. Kowloon Walled City, 1990. Top R. Kai Tak runway and Kwuntong breakwater. 1988. Bottom R. Kowloon Walled City facade. 1987. 2. Woman at tram stop, Central. 1986. From M+ feature. 3. Kowloon Walled City noodle factory proprietor. 1989. 4. Young Walled City resident studying, 1989.

@kentdebruin Thank you!

@gregforaday Ah good point, credited them now!

Mongolia scenes. Ulaan Bataar and Oyu Tolgoi. 2005/2006. Out-takes and published from a couple of magazine assignments. 1. Outskirts of Ulaan Bataar. 2. Woman relaxing, outskirts of UB. 3. People and livestock, outskirts of UB. 4. Outdoor pool tables, UB.

Shanghai scenes, 2001-2006. From “Phantom Shanghai”. Published 2007. Out of print but in discussion to reprint for the 20th anniversary next year. In print titles available via link in bio. greggirardpictures.com 1. House on Huashan Lu. 2005. 2. Lane houses, near Wulumuqi Lu. 2001. 3. House on Zixia Lu. 2005. 4. Mailboxes, Fuzhou Lu.