Photo Dump: My First Roll of Ilford Delta 100

Feb 20, 2025

It was the summer of 2020. We were a few months into the pandemic. Hong Kong became an isolated island. Number of people visiting Hong Kong shrank by more than 99 per cent. My wife and I had to cancel our trip to Finland in June, which at the beginning of the pandemic, we were still optimistic about. We were wrong, by a lot. We wouldn’t be travelling again until November 2022. It was then that I decided to get my dream camera, or one of them, the Leica M6. Like always, I’ve got nothing to say about the camera, other than it’s the M6. I got a 35mm Summicron lens.

I got the camera in July And knowing the trajectory of the pandemic now, I am happy that I bought it. I started trying different films and one of the early rolls I shot was the Ilford Delta 100. It was Ilford’s pro grade film, its answer to Kodak’s TMax 100. It’s got fine grain and rich details, and I love it. Also it’s quite a bit cheaper than TMax, which means I like it even more.

The first roll was shot around my neighbourhood in Kennedy Town, western end of the Hong Kong island. Here are a few photos.

I saw this twig hanging from a tree over the Sai Wan Swimming Shed, an Instagram hotspot. Before the pandemic there was always a long line of people waiting to take photos at the spot. It was the worst around sunset. I think this twig was many of us during those few years, hanging on by a thread in jeopardy and uncertainty.

The pandemic changed how many people lived. Because gyms were closed most of time, people opted to exercising outdoors. Number of hikers in Hong Kong shot up during the pandemic, so did hiking accidents. In 2020, number of hiking related rescues almost tripled compared to 2019. Many people didn’t seem to understand that they needed to be prepared physically, mentally, and materialistically for hiking. Hong Kong is hot and humid most of the year. I always saw people hiking in jeans, flip flops, and even heels. It was bad. And I realised that it had nothing to do with the photo. Moving on.

Outdoor dining and masking, the pandemic special.

Hong Kong government, in its infinite wisdom, banned indoor dining during lunch hours, but not dinner time. The stupidity of such policies cannot be overstated. Many labourers, because they didn’t have an office to eat their lunch in, had to eat their takeouts outdoors, in scorching heat or pouring rain. Mockery of the policy flooded social media at the time. One said: the virus only works during lunch hours.