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The agency had asked him to help with its 45th anniversary publication. He agreed, and asked the agency if it possessed photos of its first resettlement blocks. He wanted them for the publication. Someone said no. Later, at the agency's office, he was researching in a back room and came across more than 20,000 negatives dating to 1962.
"These would be the most important visual record about public housing, not only in Hong Kong but the world, because public housing would not be developed on the same scale [anywhere else] as in Hong Kong," said Ko.
When Ko offered to catalogue the entire collection, he met with disappointment. He ended up printing about 3,000 of the photos and labelling them, but is concerned that the rest of the 20-odd thousand others may just be discarded and lost forever.
"I was very disappointed because these would be very important in the future for researchers and their own use,” said Ko. “I think these people are very short-sighted. I don't think any other department would be much better. Even the Government Information Service has its photo library, but I was told by a staff member that a lot of [photos] have been discarded in the past 10 years, because the less they possess, the less they will need to do."
Ko moves to the edge of his chair; he seems agitated by the current situation. We are at the City University in Kowloon Tong, sitting facing each other on one of the open floors of the school. It's early on a Saturday morning, but Ko is wide-awake. No late nights for the 37-year-old, except in the dark room.
most
Ko says he has a collection of more than 100,000 photos he's taken but also including many contact sheets that haven't been sorted out. Among his collection are some that appear in the RAS publication on Yau Ma Tei.
The Hong Kong native has published many books, including one co-authored in English on Hong Kong battlefields, but Ko prefers to write in Chinese. His first book, more photos than text, was a history book on Hong Kong for secondary students.
152
The agency had asked him to help with its 45th anniversary publication. He agreed, and asked the agency if it possessed photos of its first resettlement blocks. He wanted them for the publication, Someone said no. Later, at the agency's office, he was researching in a back room and came across more than 20,000 negatives dating to 1962.
"These would be the most important visual record about public housing, not only in Hong Kong but the world, because public housing would not be developed on the same scale [anywhere else] as in Hong Kong," said Ko.
When Ko offered to catalogue the entire collection, he met with disappointment. He ended up printing about 3,000 of the photos and labelling them, but is concerned that the rest of the 20-odd thousand others may just be discarded and lost forever.
"I was very disappointed because these would be very important in the future for researchers and their own use,” said Ko. “I think these people are very short-sighted. I don't think any other department would be much better. Even the Government Information Service has its photo library, but I was told by a staff member that a lot of [photos] have been discarded in the past 10 years, because the less they possess, the less they will need to do."
Ko moves to the edge of his chair; he seems agitated by the current situation. We are at the City University in Kowloon Tong, sitting facing each other on one of the open floors of the school. It's early on a Saturday morning, but Ko is wide-awake. No late nights for the 37-year-old, except in the dark room.
most
Ko says he has a collection of more than 100,000 photos he's taken but also including many contact sheets that haven't been sorted out. Among his collection are some that appear in the RAS publication on Yaumatei.
The Hong Kong native has published many books, including one co-authored in English on Hong Kong battlefields, but Ko prefers to write in Chinese. His first book, more photos than text, was a history book on Hong Kong for secondary students.
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