Asia
Austin Bell’s obsession with SHOOTING HOOPS chronicled in book & exhibition
The Blue Lotus Gallery hosts pictures of all 2,549 basketball courts in Hong Kong
One of the things that Austin Bell first noticed when he visited Hong Kong for the first time in 2017 was the vivid colors of the basketball courts nestled on every street or corner. The bright yellows or day-glow blues highly contrasted the dull asphalt surfaces of the basketball courts he was used to seeing in his native USA. Soon, Austin had an obsession with taking photographs of all 2,549 basketball courts in Hong Kong. Now that infatuation has turned into a self-published book, SHOOTING HOOPS, and an exhibition at the Blue Lotus Gallery in Hong Kong from January 17 to February 23.
Hong Kong is an insanely dense city, but there is usually a small ‘pocket park’ where neighbors can gather within walking distance from anywhere. Austin returned to Hong Kong in 2019 with a mission to photograph all the basketball courts, using Google Maps and his drone. With over 140 days of shooting and 40,000 photos on his computer, Austin is now ready to show an angle of Hong Kong rarely seen from the street level.
In a press release, he said, “I often shot from dawn to dusk, tallying months of full days of shooting. Because of the density, I routinely shot upwards of 100 courts in one day. I decided to test my limits and meticulously planned a route. At the end of a single day, I had captured 475 unique courts. The insane became mundane. I had become an obsessive completist, unable to rest until I found every court in the city. My obsession was fuelled by two desires - to show an unseen perspective of Hong Kong and to fully explore a city that I feel so captivated by.”
One man’s obsession can become another man’s joy. His book SHOOTING HOOPS will be available on January 17 for the book launch and signing at the Blue Lotus Gallery. The exhibition runs until February 23.