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Jasmine Moreno

Professor Malvin

English 114 A

28 October 2017

False Skyline

People travel with the expectations of encountering beautiful sceneries and creating

amazing memories. To not allow pollution to ruin these expectations, the people of Hong Kong

have created a banner that displays the skyline on a clear day. Being in a new place with family

and friends distracts tourists and they fail to notice the pollution around them. In this photo, a

couple is seen posing for a picture in front of a Hong Kong back drop instead of the real skyline.

They are so oblivious to what is really behind them and act as if the skyline had always looked

hazy and grey. Instead of appropriately addressing the problem the people from Hong Kong

created a fake scenery to satisfy and keep attracting tourists. This photo of tourists posing for a

picture in front of a false skyline portrays how people fail to notice the extreme damage pollution

has created.

Observing the photograph, it appears to be taken from a distance showing a backdrop of

the Hong Kong skyline and the real Hong Kong skyline behind it. On the bottom left corner,

there is a woman and man posing for a picture while another man takes their photo. Right behind

the tourist is the backdrop of the Hong Kong skyline that stretches across the bottom of the

photograph. The backdrop has vibrant colors and everything is sized to look identical and

realistic to the authentic skyline. The ocean is extremely blue and has a calm movement, the

buildings are visible and very detailed, there are fluffy white clouds in the sky, and you can even

see mountains behind the buildings. In the background is the real Hong Kong skyline that
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stretches across the top half of the photograph. The skyline is very difficult to see because of all

the smog in the air. Due to the pollution, you can only see the outlines of the buildings and no

details. It has even made it difficult to see the bright blue ocean and makes everything look hazy

and grey blocking its potential beauty.

After reading Picture This: How Pictures Work by Molly Bang, I began to really

understand the photographers strategies and reasoning in the way he took the photo. I learned

how the placement of objects and the use of certain colors in photos indicate certain things. For

example, vibrant colors can represent the focus in a photo and placement of objects can show

movement, a sense of stability and calm, and even distance. In this case the backdrop of Hong

Kong is the focus of the photo because of its bright and capturing colors. In the slideshow Bang

also explains how depth works, A sense of depth in space is created by placing the bases of

progressively smaller/thinner/lighter objects gradually higher on the page. In this photo, there is

also a sense of depth between the false skyline and the real skyline. First glancing at the photo all

you see is the bright Backdrop of Hong Kong on the bottom part of the photo. Once you look at

it more closely you are able to see the real skyline in the distance when you gradually look up to

the top part of the photo.

Through this photo the photographer captured the ignorance of people towards pollution

and how they continue to go on their day as if it was not a problem. They decided to use a banner

to mask the unpleasant truth of society to satisfy and keep the tourist. The truth is the money

tourism brings increases the economy which is more important than peoples health. In order to

maintain the tourism in Hong Kong, and the money they bring, they had to find a fast, easy, and

economical solution to their problem. This solution being to use a backdrop of Hong Kong that
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displays the skyline on a clear day. This is only a temporary solution because at the end of the

day pollution will only get worse to the point where it will begin to affect peoples health.

The proper way to address the problem would have been to inform people of the

pollution along with its dangers and cut off hours in the factories. Cutting off hours in factories

would reduce the smog being created and therefore improve the air quality. Aside from this they

should have also tried to find other ways to reduce the further development of pollution.

Although this solution would damage their economy, over all it will make the skyline look clear

again, maintain their tourism, improve the air quality in Hong Kong, and most importantly

preserve the health of the residents and the tourist that visit. The message in this photo is to

spread awareness about pollution and how it has already ruined a beautiful scenery and will do

more damage in the future if it is not attended to properly.

The pollution in Hong Kong has become so bad it has even begun to affect their tourism.

In an article from NPR the author talks about how the president of the International Association

for Tourism Economics explains how pollution is a factor for a decrease in tourism. In another

article from Tripsavvy by Rory Boland, he explains why Hong Kong has high levels of pollution.

He says, Hong Kong has the worlds highest traffic density as well as coal burning power plants

which contribute an estimated 50% to the total level of pollution. These are the factors as to

why Hong Kong has a problem with pollution. He also addresses how the problem is only

getting worse. According to Boland, The University of Hong Kong conducted a study which

showed that pollutants in the Hong Kong air were three times higher than New York and double

that of London. This just shows how the pollution is worse in Hong Kong compared to other

places. Lastly Boland says, Around 1/5th of the Hong Kong population claims the problem is so

bad that they have considered leaving the city. People are finally starting to realize how bad the
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problem is and its sad to know that people have to consider leaving their homes for the concern

of their health. This just shows how bad the pollution really is and how it can-do harm to people.

In my interview with college students Dalia and Andrea, their thoughts on the photo were

very similar. When asked what first caught their attention when looking at the photo they said

the Hong Kong backdrop because of its high-quality colors and location on the photo. While

looking at the photo more closely they finally noticed the real skyline behind the false one. They

were shocked on how the fake skyline was more realistic looking than the real one. Then I asked

how the image made them feel and they answered with sad and disappointed in common. Sad

because the tourists were not admiring the real scenery and disappointed because the people who

live there are not dealing with the problem correctly or at least trying to speak up. They both

believed this photo will definitely bring peoples attention to the citys problem with pollution

and hopefully spread awareness of its outcome and hazards to other countries. Some words Dalia

used to describe the photo are unfortunate, ignorance, and anger. Andrea used the words realistic,

forged, and disappointing to describe the photo. When asked what they believed was the message

they had different responses. Andrea said dont always believe what others say, meaning

people can say its your health is not at risk when in reality it is. Dalia said the message is there

is so much more than the eye can see, meaning that everything beautiful can have a bit of

disaster hiding behind it. Their response to the image was the same as mine which was sadness

and disappointment. Overall, I was more shocked than anything knowing that officials in Hong

Kong let the problem get so bad.

In conclusion, this photo demonstrates how severe the pollution has gotten and how

people are completely ignoring it. The whole skyline is grey and hazy making it difficult to see

its true beauty. Aside from this pollution has seriously affected the peoples health causing them
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to even consider leaving their homes. Its upsetting to see how people are not taking action to

make a difference. This photo will hopefully spread awareness about the effects of pollution and

persuade people to make a positive change for the future generations before things get even

worse.
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Works cited

Bang, Molly. Picture This: How Pictures Work. 8 November 2017.

Cortez, Dalia. Personal Interview. 16 October 2017.

Hernandez, Andrea. Personal Interview. 16 October 2017.

Neuman, Scott. "Have Your Picture Taken with Hong Kong's (Smog-Free) Skyline." NPR. 29

Aug. 2013. <http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2013/08/29/216802749/have-your-

picture-taken-with-hong-kongs-smog-free-skyline>. Accessed 8 November 2017.

Rory Boland. "What to Know About the Pollution in Hong Kong." TripSavvy. N.p., 22 May

2017. Web. 08 Nov. 2017. <https://www.tripsavvy.com/hong-kong-pollution-1535601>.

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