You’ve prob­a­bly seen the pic­tures, dense, col­or­ful apart­ments of Hong Kong that appear to close in around you, yet there’s a cer­tain beau­ty too it. Hong Kong’s Mon­tane Man­sion in Quar­ry Bay (also called the Mon­ster Build­ing) is a must-see for any photographer’s vis­it to Hong Kong.

First and most importantly READ THIS!

These are the pri­vate res­i­dences of many peo­ple, be respect­ful! There is now a sign ask­ing peo­ple to stay out. If you do come here please be very polite, keep qui­et and don’t linger longer than need­ed. I’m sure you will be more appre­ci­at­ed if you buy some­thing at the small shops at ground lev­el as well.

Montane Mansion & Oceanic Mansion — Instagramable Quarry Bay

These “man­sions” from the 1960s per­fect­ly con­vey the feel­ing of Hong Kong, one of the most pop­u­lat­ed cities in the world. Dense­ly pop­u­lat­ed, com­pact and an inter­est­ing con­trast of old and new.

 

Photography Tips — Montane Mansion &

Oceanic Mansion

 

1. Visit both Courtyards

Don’t for­get to see both court­yards. There are two. You can access the sec­ond through the back stairs or from a lit­tle fur­ther down the street at 1032 King’s Road. This sec­ond court­yard is actu­al­ly the one that is pho­tographed most.

2. Day or Night?

I rec­om­mend going at night. If you want to go dur­ing the day and night go for it. But I think the night is more beau­ti­ful, but only if you shoot it right (long expo­sure on a tri­pod). Look at the pic­tures and decide for yourself.

3. Bring a Tripod for Night Photography

If you go at night, bring a tri­pod if you’ve got it. If you don’t, for a make-shift solu­tion try to lay your cam­era on one of the struc­tures in the courtyard.

4. Wide-Angle Lens

You’ll want your widest lens for this. It will real­ly make a dif­fer­ence. I shot with a 12mm on a Sony Alpha A6500, so the 35mm equiv­a­lent would be 18mm. Some images were also cropped slightly.

5. Shoot RAW

It might be com­mon sense to the seri­ous pho­tog­ra­ph­er, but don’t for­get to shoot RAW if your cam­era can. Dur­ing the day it’s a pret­ty high con­trast scene with the bright blue sky and shade inside the court­yard. You’ll be able to pull much more shad­ow detail and bring down the high­lights when you shoot RAW. So if your cam­era has the abil­i­ty to shoot RAW, use it.

6. Try Different Angles and Compositions

I’m sure you’ll want to shoot the clas­sic dense, seem­ing­ly closed-on-four-sides view look­ing up, but also try dif­fer­ent angles, zoom in, include the shops, maybe some green. Keep­ing look­ing for dif­fer­ent angles, per­spec­tives. With­out dis­turb­ing the locals of course.

7.  Exterior Photography

Look at the out­side of the build­ing. While not quite as pho­to­genic it’s still has some­thing to offer.

 

How to get to Montane Mansion, Quarry Bay

Mon­tane Man­sion is locat­ed in Quar­ry Bay on Hong Kong Island and com­pos­es var­i­ous “Man­sions” includ­ing Ocean­ic Man­sion. You can use the fol­low­ing address.

Mon­tane Man­sion 1028 King’s Road, Quar­ry Bay

Take the Quar­ry Bay Metro stop, then Exit A. Turn right on the street (King’s Road). You will pass “Taikoo Place”. Keep fol­low­ing the road pass­ing “Mount Park­er Road Green Trail”

It’s less than a ten-minute walk from the metro sta­tion. The entrance looks like this

Map:

 

Where should I go next?

 

If your vis­it dur­ing the day, take a stroll down to the Quar­ry Bay Park and Quar­ry Bay Prom­e­nade with nice views of Vic­to­ria Har­bor and the retired Alexan­der Grantham fireboat.

Not too far is also the Drag­on’s Back hike with some fan­tas­tic views of Shek O and the ocean. Click here for the full hike description.

Click here for a list of places to see (and shoot) in Hong Kong.

Check out the view of Hong Kong from Vic­to­ria Peak. Walk­ing to The Peak I believe is the best way to get there as you will have many more pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties of the life in Hong Kong as well as some dif­fer­ent views of Vic­to­ria Harbor.