Hong Kong is beautiful. We know this. The city’s jagged, shimmering skyline, rolling green hills and neon signs are so renowned that you can’t walk through tourist hotspots without encountering half a dozen visitors squinting to get the perfect shot.
And while those pictures will probably turn out great, we’ve seen almost every iteration of Victoria Harbour that there is to see… or so we thought.
Enter London-based photographer Rich McCor, otherwise known to his 156,000 Instagram followers as @paperboyo. McCor photographs world-famous landmarks, just like everyone else – with the addition of a paper cut-out or two to bring a fresh new perspective to well-trodden sights.
On a recent trip to the Fragrant Harbour, McCor set about re-imagining some of the city’s most beloved sights with nothing more than a little paper and a lot of imagination (not to mention a ton of research).
McCor told Coconuts Hong Kong that he typically starts looking at “obvious landmarks” when designing cut-outs for a specific place.
The photos are then captioned with an interesting factoid, shot through with funny quips and observations. For example, did you know the reason behind the holes commonly found in residential skyscrapers?
Some of the tableaus he creates are out of this world:
Hands up, who’s ever thought about skating down the big beautiful swoop of the Cultural Centre?
But the Londoner isn’t just reinventing the kind of subjects printed on postcards. One of our favourite photos from McCor’s visit features a lava lamp cut-out in front of the moon jellyfish tank at Ocean Park:
As a first-time visitor, the photographer told us he was surprised by some of the tranquil moments he witnessed while exploring the city. “It’s not the rushed, chaotic experience I thought it might be.”
“On nearly every street there’s something that will catch your eye – be it a Banyan tree with wild roots, an amazing view of a skyscraper, a store serving incredible dim sum or a surprising piece of green space.”
When asked what he’d like to do on his next visit, McCor expressed interest in exploring more of Stanley and the New Territories, and – like every procrastinating Hongkonger has said before him – “do a longer hike and find some of the beaches I’ve heard about”.
Check out a little behind-the-scenes footage of McCor in Hong Kong, courtesy of the Tourism Board:
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