Activities to explore and document your neighbourhood

Difficulty: Explorer (Level 1)

You don’t need fancy equipment to document the beauty of Hong Kong’s streets. Through photography and conversation, you can capture the sights of your neighbourhood and learn more about the people who live in it.

Both of these activities are great ways to spend time outdoors and sightsee. You may notice things you would have never paid attention to before and find out more about the small businesses around you.

Photo: Shutterstock

Street photography

Materials

• a phone or a camera

Instructions

1. Think of a street in your neighbourhood that has a shop you like or a view that looks nice.

2. With your parents’ permission, come to this same spot at four different times of the day: early morning, noon, early evening and night. Each time you come to the spot, take a few photos of anything that interests you. If you don’t have a smartphone or camera, you can always draw what you see.

3. Print out your photos and place them in a frame together. What do you observe that is different between each time of day? How are the colours different? Have the people changed? What emotions do you feel when looking at them? Do you think anything would change if you did this project during a different time of year?

4. Finally, share your photography with friends and family.

Photo: Shutterstock

Neighbourhood history

Instructions

With a parent or guardian, pick three old shops or restaurants in your neighbourhood. When these shops are less busy, interview a shopkeeper or worker to learn more.

Here are some prompts:

1. What is the name of this shop or restaurant?

2. What does it sell?

3. How many years has it been in business?

4. What is the hardest part of running this business?