[Leica] The 2nd Hong Kong LUG-dinner on April 24, 1999 (long)

[TTAbrahams@aol.com]

Howard's computer "burned and crashed" and he asked me to post his write up 
about the LUG dinner in Hong Kong. I wish I could have been there!
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------

As written by Howard Cummer:

Nineteen LUGGERS and wives and guests met at the Aberdeen Marina Club in Hong 
Kong last night for the second HK LUG dinner.  Francis Lun and his wife 
joined the dinner, Francis is big in Hasselblad, especially the  wide, as 
well as Leica. Urban Councillor Chris Cheung joined us again. He was at the 
first HK LUG dinner in honour of Tom Abrahamsson, who also sent greetings to 
this dinner and regrets that he couldn't be here. Jim Nelon, who was also at 
the first dinner joined us. His book is at the editorial stage and we are all 
looking forward to seeing his great photographs between book covers soon. Jim 
felt a little isolated last night because almost everyone was an M user - 
only three Jim, Ken Lam and Francis are R-aficionados.  Ken brought a 
spectacular picture album of planes taking off and landing at Kai Tak airport 
(using his R8 and the 80 - 200 f4.0). The views from the Kowloon ferry 
terminal and from Signal Hill were amazing and conveyed so well the "over the 
roof top" landings that were part of the Kai Tak experience. 

Dr. Joseph Yao and his wife Sarah, prime organisers of things LUG in Hong 
Kong, were there. Joseph with his titanium M6 and titanium winder and a black 
paint M3 - brassed and wonderful looking. Sarah brought an album of pictures 
from her trip to Nepal, filled with people pictures which were very simpatico 
in terms of photographer and subject. An example was a photo of an Indian 
holy man with one leg wrapped around his neck, smiling and waving at the 
camera - no stealth shots these! Michele Bina, who provided the venue at the 
LRC for the first dinner also came with his friend Edwina and brought his M 
series gear on his motorcycle. Shanghai Photographer Adrian Bradshaw, who had 
been on a shoot in Shenzhen, just across the Chinese border from Hong Kong, 
also joined us, loaded down with interesting gear, including a Noblex 
Panorama, as well as lots of M-stuff. Kathy and Leslie Koh also joined the 
dinner, having heard about it
through Joseph and the LUG. Joseph also brought a guest from Belfast (Robin 
Hillis) who turned out to be a flier who had earned his wings flying over the 
prairies of Saskatchewan (Canada) where I come from. The world is indeed very 
small and getting smaller! 

The table talk, over very good Thai food and wines chosen by Sarah (who is in 
the wine business) ranged over camera equipment and enlargers and digital 
copying and printing and there were several nice enlargements, both 
photographic and digital showing what the new 15mm Heliar can do. There were 
several Voigtlanders in evidence and both Heliar and Skopar lenses (allowed 
in because of the LTM mount ;-)) - one advantage of living in Hong Kong is 
that new equipment especially from Japan is quickly available in Hong Kong. 
The digital printing - done by Joseph and Adrian - was the best I have seen 
so far and much better than what I can accomplish on my Epson.

The evening ended late with gifts of the "Leica - The Program" book from 
Leica agent Schmidt in Hong Kong and, of course, a group photograph.  For the 
next time we are hoping to organise a photo day followed by dinner. 

Here is Tom's note to the second Hong Kong LUG dinner which sums up nicely, I 
think, the bonus of being a Leica lover and a LUG nut. Tom e-mailed: "I am 
envious of all of you partaking in the 2nd Hong Kong LUG-dinner! Even though 
I cannot attend in person, I will certainly be there in the spirit. - Over 
the last couple of years I have met more interesting people and made more 
good friends through the LUG than ever before. Somehow that little box for 
holding film (and advancing the same film) brings together a great group of 
like-minded individuals. We are probably regarded as slightly off our rockers 
by the rest of the world, but we know that we are using the best camera, the 
best lenses and somehow we also manage to parlay that into good company, good 
food and good wine. It is not a bad combination and I am sure that Oscar 
Barnack would have liked all the people who have taken his "little camera" to 
heart. There is nothing worse than long speeches - so I keep this short. I 
will toast you all from here, all the absent LUG friends and  hope you do the 
same. I hope we can have a LUG dinner where we all can meet again. Some of 
you I will see this year in Vancouver and I am very much looking forward to 
it. The rest of you I will undoubtedly meet somewhere, sometime. Leicas do 
bring us together! Happy Shooting and a great LUG-dinner to you all! Tom 
Abrahamsson"

That says it very nicely. 
 Howard Cummer