男忍 Men of Endurance
The title of this work is a play on Chinese words.
- 男 man, men, male
- 忍 endure, tolerate, put up with
The cantonese pronunciation of 忍 is the same as 人, so it’s a play on this combination:
男人 vs 男忍
There is also the interplay of the portrait, in accordance to the two men in the frame.
- 男 man, i.e. the tattoo artist
- 忍 enduring the pain, i.e. the man receiving the tattoo
Original Description
A tattoo convention — the first of its kind — was recently held in Hong Kong. Tattoo is traditionally much of a taboo in Chinese culture, so I went to check it out.
This image captures the spirit of the event best. Unlike many conventions which have sales people talking non-stop, this convention is mostly silent, with men (and women) lying down patiently waiting for skilled tattooist to needle ink onto their skin while the artists patiently wait for the work to proceed while layers of skin heals over the entirety of the day.
Most of the photographs I have taken from this day was made possible mostly because of the excellent low-light high ISO performance of the 6D combined with the super 100-400 which allows me to photograph people from afar without alerting their attention.
The event was held at the InnoCentre in Kowloon Tong from October 4-6, 2013.
Description of the photo when it was originally published on October 29, 2013.
SML Data
男忍 Men of Endurance / 第一屆香港國際紋身展 1st International Hong Kong China Tattoo Convention 2013 (HKTattooCon) / SML.20131006.6D.30157.BW
- Date: 2013-10-13T19:41:49+0800
- Dimensions: 5301 x 3534
- Exposure: 1/320 sec at f/5.6
- Focal Length: 260 mm
- ISO: 4000
- Flash: Did not fire
- Camera: Canon EOS 6D
- Lens: Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM
- GPS: 22°20'12" N 114°10'32" E
Media Licensing
- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CCBYNC)
- See-ming Lee 李思明 / SML Photography / SML Universe Limited
- Copyright 2013 See-ming Lee