Jason Au

“His fine art aesthetic combines with a street photographer’s sensibility and the compositional approach of isolating urban subjects to produce thought-provoking works that turn the mundane and everyday into something unique and magical.”
— South China Morning Post
「他的攝影美學糅合了街頭攝影師的觸覺及使人物抽離的表現方法，創作出發人深省的作品，也將平凡生活中的細節轉化成獨一無二且奇妙的寫照。」
— 南華早報

SCMP, January 2022

Award-winning Hong Kong photographer Jason Au has not been resting on his laurels during the Covid-19 pandemic, despite earning plaudits and prizes aplenty for his thoughtful and beautifully constructed images of the city he calls home.

But one shot in particular has caught the eye of international competition judges, winning three separate awards over the past two years. “Social Distancing” is the entry in question.

Au picks up the thread: “The photo was taken in December 2020. On a Sunday when the epidemic was raging, there were tourists sitting alone or in pairs under the atrium of a shopping centre chatting for the weekend. However, due to the law on the restriction of gatherings, people must maintain mutual respect between each other. Social distancing of at least 1.5 metres. A mall employee is patrolling around to make sure no one violates the gathering restrictions.”

Au, who favours black-and-white photography, offers this gem and a selection from his portfolio in which the city and its inhabitants are the main inspiration.

Hong Kong Lines and Patterns:

“You are a talented photographer with high aesthetic criteria and a restless spirit… You look for the expectational in the ordinary and you know how to make it visible. You are also a perfectionist who wants to control everything inside the frame through geometrical and balanced compositions. Even you act like a street photographer, the result has a fine art quality and direction.”
— LensCulture
「你是一位才華橫溢的攝影師。你具有高審美眼光和孜孜不倦的心境…… 你能在平凡事物中看到其不平凡之處，並且懂得如何使之變得眼前一亮。你也是一個完美主義者，想要通過平衡工整的構圖和幾何元素來控制攝影框內的一切。即使你攝影的題材是街頭，但你的作品有着藝術的質量和意境。」
— LensCulture

Jason Au (b. 1994) is an award-winning photographer based in Hong Kong. Jason is interested in street and fine art photography, with black and white being his preferred medium of expression. His high-aesthetic works often incorporate creative, geometric and balanced compositions.

His street photography series “Hong Kong Lines and Patterns” comes with the compositional approach of isolating urban subjects and geometric elements from the mundane yet chaotic urban environment of his hometown. Nevertheless, those subjects look trapped and lost inside an artificial geometric labyrinth without realising it. The sense of confinement in which the urban structure crashes the people, enclosing them into small boxes with no way out, is suggestive of the modern condition of how we succumb to the glory of the urban landscape, which is also a product of our creation. Perhaps his images are a metaphorical view of urbanity while also implying the melancholic romance of hectic modern city life in a metropolis like Hong Kong.

Hong Kong Encounters:

“Starkly graphic, minimalist and almost meditative, Jason Au’s photography of Hong Kong casts the buzzing city in a completely different light.”

— ROADBOOK

「鮮明的圖形、極簡主義、令人深思的攝影作品，Jason Au的攝影眼光重新揭示了香港這座繁華的城市。」

— ROADBOOK

“That vision, always in black and white, seems a personal response to the clamour and colour of his city; Au’s camera looks for moments of stillness and clarity, finding ways to control the chaos.”
— The Guardian
「那種黑白相間的影像，似乎是他對自身的城市，其人聲鼎沸、流光溢彩，作出的個人主觀回應。歐氏的相機總是在尋找靜止和透徹的瞬間，尋覓着駕馭混沌的方法。」
— 衛報

List of Awards:

2022

Shortlisted in Architectural & Design Category (Professional Competition), Sony World Photography Awards
Finalist, LensCulture Street Photography Awards
Remarkable Reward in Streets, URBAN Photo Awards
1st Place in Street Photography, Lugano Award
2nd Place in Street Photography, Minimalist Photography Awards
3rd Place in Street Photography (Single Image), MonoVisions Photography Awards
Spotlight Winner in Portfolio and Single Image, Black & White Magazine Photo Contest
Selected Photographer, Life Framer “Street Life” Photography Prize
Gold Mention in Street, Black & White Photo Awards
Special Mention, International B&W Photography Awards
Best 25 Images, Dodho Magazine Monochromatic Awards
Finalist in Black and White, Lucie Foundation Open Call: Carte Blanche
Nominees, Fine Art Photography Awards
Official Selection in Fine Art, International Photography Awards (IPA)
Official Selection in Street Photography, International Photography Awards (IPA) ‘One Shot: Color’
Honourable Mentions, Vienna International Photo Award

2021

2nd Place in Single Image, LensCulture Street Photography Awards
1st Place in Street Photography, International Photography Awards (IPA)
1st Place in Isolation Category, International Photography Awards (IPA) ‘One Shot: Our Times - Pandemic Perspectives’
1st Place in Street & Architecture, Paris Street Photo Awards
1st Place in Street Photography, ND Awards
1st Place in People, Black & White Spider Awards
1st Place in Pandemic Diaries, 500px and Neil Dankoff Photography Competition
1st Place Winner, The London Photo Show Competition
2nd Place in Street Photography, Fine Art Photography Awards
Silver Prize in Street Photography, Prix de la Photographie, Paris (PX3)
Silver Prize in Portfolio (Fine Art), Budapest International Foto Awards (BIFA)
Finalist in Travel, Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest
Finalist Photographer in Streets, URBAN Photo Awards
Top 50 Finalists, Hong Kong Photo Contest
Shortlisted, American Photography Open
Particular Merit Mention, All About Photo Magazine #22: Streets
Honorable Mentions, Annual Photography Awards
Honorable Mentions in Street, Monochrome Photography Awards
Honorable Mentions, MonoVisions Photography Awards
Honorable Mentions, Tokyo International Foto Awards (TIFA)
Honorable Mentions, Vienna International Photo Award