Meet Kelvin Yuen, Hong Kong award-winning photographer

Vast galaxies of stars, majestic mountains, seas of cloud and boundless wilderness – Kelvin Yuen has travelled the world, dedicating his life to capturing breathtaking natural wonders. The photographer’s landscape scenes, including a remarkable image of a lightning-slashed Guilin mountain range, saw him crowned the winner in the Nature/Landscape category, overall winner in the open category and Photographer of the Year at the 2024 Epson International Pano Awards .

We meet Yuen to hike Lion Rock, the iconic mountain that overlooks Kowloon and has come to symbolise the spirit of Hong Kong. Close to his home, it also marks the starting point of his photographic journey.

At the age of 18, Yuen first carried his camera up Lion Rock and was so captivated by the view that he wanted to preserve its beauty. “Since I live at the foot of the mountain, I often observe the weather outside my window. Whenever I see that the mountaintop is free of clouds, I set out to climb,” he says. Though his technique was shaky at first, Yuen was not discouraged. He studied photography while continuing to scour the mountains for shooting locations. Eventually, a nighttime shot taken from Kowloon peak won him the youth category championship at the 2015 National Geographic Photography Competition, when he was just 19.

That photo, Wild Child Chasing Dreams in the World, paved Yuen’s career path. From then on, he focused on natural landscapes, expanding his scope from Hong Kong to the world while continuing to scoop awards.

Photo fit

Landscape photography is physically demanding: Yuen strides swiftly, soon leaving us puffing behind him. One can imagine the grit required to capture stunning vistas in extreme climates. “To be a landscape photographer, technical skills, physical fitness, mental fortitude, a spirit of adventure and the ability to endure solitude are all crucial,” he says. “However, skill can be honed through practice, making it the least important.”

In recent years, Yuen has ventured into polar wildernesses, often carrying heavy gear. His long-distance equipment usually weighs 25kg – about half of his body weight. In addition to photography equipment and camping gear, he must sometimes carry more than 10 days’ worth of food and, most importantly, a satellite communication device. This inevitably involves trade-offs: “Equipment is indispensable, so I can only bring less food.”

Natural abundance

Yuen’s treks have taken him through Patagonia, Everest Base Camp, the Tibetan Plateau and the wilderness of the American West. Each trip requires meticulous preparation, which includes gathering information, planning shooting opportunities and arranging often complicated logistics. However, landscape photography is not staged, the weather may not always be as expected and Yuen has learnt to face disappointments with equanimity. “Getting little in return for a lot of effort is normal, so I’ve honed my mindset to accept failure,” he says.

That said, sometimes there are pleasant surprises. His award-winning Guilin lightning shot, Power of Nature, presented among his Wilderness series released last year, came from a scouting trip during which he originally intended to find a sunrise location but changed plans at the last minute due to thunderstorms, yielding a serendipitous result.

During a 2022 expedition to Canada’s Northwest Territories and a vast uninhabited region of jagged mountains known as the “Unclimbables”, Yuen’s helicopter charter was delayed, so he arrived after nightfall. “I had to walk alone for 12 hours in complete darkness without any paths or directions,” he says. He spent a week camping in the area in overcast conditions, only to be rewarded on the last night with clear skies and a dramatic aurora borealis show.

Yuen’s not one to be easily defeated. Each time he sets out, he considers different backup plans. “Before the pandemic, I was on a two-month photography assignment in Europe. My flight from Norway to the Faroe Islands was cancelled, and I had to stay in the UK for a week. Fortunately, I’d prepared beforehand and immediately changed course northward to Scotland. The resulting photos even won awards.”

Ten years into his career, Yuen has held exhibitions in Hong Kong and abroad, and his works have even been selected to appear on Hong Kong postage stamps. This year, he released his second personal photography collection, Wilderness. But he doesn’t yet see himself as a master: “I’ve only a small foundation in landscape photography, and I now have a clearer understanding of what breakthroughs can be made and which areas await exploration.”

As we walk and talk, we find ourselves at the “head” of Lion Rock. Standing at the mountain’s peak, we gaze into the distance, appreciating the vast beauty of the Kowloon Peninsula beneath our feet and Hong Kong’s vibrant cityscape beyond. Throughout the decade he’s spent honing his craft, Yuen’s journey has been filled with challenges, but he’s never been a stranger to traversing mountains and valleys to get to where he needs to go.

Wilderness is out now and available for purchase from EastPro Gallery .