Media

HKU PhD student wins silver in international photo competition
with portraits of wide snakes

13 Sep 2016

HKU Ecology student Sam won Second Prize and honorable mention in a prestigious international photo competition spanning over 85 countries.

Sam’s winning portfolio, titled “Serpent”, consists of wild snakes photographed during his travels in Borneo, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Through his lens, he is able to portray the cute and beautiful side of snakes.

Sam is a freelance wildlife photographer, while also doing ecological research and conservation. He is currently studying a PhD at the HKU Faculty of Science.

Sam often shares his photos on his Facebook page to spread more awareness. Growing up abroad, his childhood idol is the “Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin, who also travels the world finding animals.

Sam mostly photographs at night, because “that’s when most animals are active”. He prefers to venture out alone, and feels that the jungle at night “is magical, kind of like the movie Avatar”. He has travelled throughout Southeast Asia, in particular in the jungles of Borneo, where he lived for a year doing research and photographing on the side. His adventures now take him to Hong Kong, where he has already captured many of Hong Kong’s special creatures, such as the Romer’s tree frog. “With beady eyes and a wide smile, I think frogs are super cute,” he says. Because Hong Kong is a subtropical region, Sam thinks “we still have a lot of wildlife, even though they are constantly under threat from development”. One of his winning photographs is a Bamboo Pit Viper, photographed in a Hong Kong country park.

Sam will introduce his winning photos and share his background stories during the press briefing on Sept 15 (Thursday).

Details of media briefing:
Date：September 15, 2016 (Thursday)
Time:  11 am
Venue: Conference Room, Faculty of Science Office, Chong Yuet Ming Physics Building, the Unviersity of Hong Kong

For media enquiries, please contact Ms Cindy Chan, Senior Communication Manager of HKU Faculty of Science (tel: 3917 5286/ 6703 0212; email: cindycst@hku.hk )