Saola

After the hurricane, on Kodak Colorplus 200

When I started this Substack I wanted to stray away from “current affairs”. That was what I was running away from, after all. I pursued “current affairs” as a profession for half a decade, only to realize that chasing “the news” ended up being events around the world chasing me.

But on Friday, when Hurricane Saola skirted past by Hong Kong, I wanted to document it. It was a category 10 storm, the highest warning level that the Observatory could issue. It has only happened sixteen times before, the last one being in 2018.

The night before the storm, we had emptied the markets off of meat, vegetables and other produce. The city was prepared to shut down for two days, and shut down it did. We were all hunkered indoors the Friday when the Observatory issued a signal 8 warning before sunrise. Signal 8 meant that schools were shut, public facilities closed, employees expected to work from home. Barely any cars passed as the storm neared, an eerie silence in the face of a brewing storm.

Then the rain came, and so did the signal 9, only to be undercut by a 10 shortly after. As the winds rattled against our windows, I felt that this storm was different. I was confident that the city would survive this, as it had many times in previous typhoons. I just hoped there wouldn’t be too much damage.

The winds stopped howling in the early hours of Saturday. The eye of the storm had passed overnight, bringing a trail of rain in its wake. A quick peer out the window showed that signposts were snapped in half, trees bent over the roads, leaves scattered atop water drains. As the signal 8 was lowered, government workers were quick to clear up trees that blocked major roads and other debris that could harm civilians.

On Sunday morning, as the damage was being cleared, I went out with a camera. I loaded it with a roll of Kodak Colorplus 200.

Update log:

• 🏠 Working from home on Friday felt really oddly 2020-ish. With a pandemic/storm brewing outside but “normalcy” inside? What is that anymore?

• 📺 Finished Heartstopper season 2. The series continues to be very cute and wholesome. Also, is Paris that beautiful?

• 📹 Discovered Cody Mitchell on YouTube. Amazing videos on photography, film and the creative life. I’m sinking deeper and deeper into this film photography hole.

• 🎧 Girls Like Girls by Hayley Kiyoko (5h 12m remaining). I listen to anything narrated by Natalie Naudus, really, but especially when it’s written by Lesbian Jesus.

• 📺 Resumed Ted Lasso season 3. I forgot this show existed for a second. Also, hello, Jack????!

• 📹 On the YouTube channel: Sketching complex greens with dried gouache.