My Own Dear Photograph

It took a few years and a couple of tries, but I finally got my own Dear Photograph.

Dear Photograph is a website where you submit a photo of a photo from the past in the present.  In other words, you go back to where a photo was taken years ago, hold the photo up so it matches the background, and take a photo of it.  There's usually a story attached to the photo, typically in the form of a letter addressed to the old photograph.  Some of the stories are incredibly awesome.  Some are sad (there are a few that people have taken in New York where the Twin Towers used to be).

For me, my ultimate Dear Photograph was to go back to Ocean Park in Hong Kong and take a photo in the same spot where my dad took a photo of me and my brother in front of the mountain with the seahorse logo cut into the landscape.  I had tried to do it 2 years ago during my last visit, but I didn't get the chance.  As I was planning this trip, I realized the first trip happened just over 30 years ago.  So, this time, I was determined to get the photo.

I don't remember very much about that visit to Ocean Park (nor of Tokyo Disney World, which we also visited during the same trip).  I was pretty sure it was going to have changed a substantial amount.  I mean, Hong Kong changes every 30 days, let alone 30 years.  As I entered the park, I could see the seahorse on the mountain right away.  So my first order of business was to get to the spot and take the photo.  I manoeuvred myself into position, and took the shot:

For context, this is what the spot looks like today:

I don't know if you can tell, but I'm not standing as far away from the mountain as I was during that first photo.  But I was standing as far back as I could.  After some more investigating, I figured out that the spot where my dad had taken the photo was likely outside of the park, which in the present day has been turned into the tour bus parking lot.  So, I guess I technically didn't have to spend the 345HKD to get the photo.  But I made the most of it anyway.

It's actually a really nice amusement park/zoo.  As you can see, the cable cars take you to the other side of the mountain, where there are roller coasters and other rides, along with aquariums with sharks and cages full of monkeys and birds.  It was also really really quiet.  I had purposefully chosen a day when I figured attendance would be somewhat lower, but that day the park was noticeably empty.  Vendors were standing around, looking bored.  There were almost no lines for the rides.  The seats at the shows were half full.  I'm sure during peak season this place would be seriously packed with mainland tourists.

I'm not sure why this was such a big deal for me.  It's nice to know that something from so long ago (okay, "long ago" in comparison to my life so far) is still around.  It amuses me that my brother who lives in Hong Kong now was not born yet when that photo was taken (he was actually in utero, so I always say that, physically, he went to Hong Kong with us that time).  I guess I am and always will be a sucker for nostalgia.

Dear Photograph, it took me 30 years to come back, but here I am.

"So you can keep me inside the pocket of your ripped jeans"