High Life

HIGH LIFE 25 “王家卫影响了我” 1991年，夏永康从加拿大艾米丽卡尔艺术与设计大学毕业，带着满脑子的先锋 艺术理念，准备回到香港大展手脚。 “我在学设计的时候，也有学纯艺术，后者其实对我影响很大。”夏永康回 忆道，“设计那边，我学了怎么玩颜色、风格，而艺术那边教我很自私的去搞自 己喜欢的东西。老师很鼓励你去大胆寻找自己的方向，所以回到香港之后我都是 很大胆的，我想去玩一些没有玩过的东西。” 他一开始尝试的是一些纯艺术、抽象的照片。之后开始逐渐有朋友找他拍唱 片封面。 “1994年我开始拍唱片封面，那个时候我其实只懂自动摄影。第一次是帮 朋友的忙，但因为我不要钱嘛，所以之后大家都会找我。”他大笑着回忆道。 这当然是自谦之词。在接下来的几年里，夏永康接连拍出了数个至今看起来 仍前卫、大胆又颇具艺术感的唱片封面，其中就包括当年曾引起热议的彼时还是 刚出道歌手莫文蔚的侧面全裸唱片照 。 1996年，夏永康跟随王家卫远赴阿根廷拍摄电影《春光乍泄》，做剧照师。 这部电影不仅在后来让王家卫拿到了第50届戛纳电影节的最佳导演，更是从此让 夏永康声名大噪。 “刚开始时候跟王家卫的时候，我比较像个学生，跟着他学习，所以基本上 是他影响了我，拍东西我都受到他的影响。”夏永康再次陷入回忆。 “去了阿根廷之后因为大家都忙着拍电影没有人管我。我那个时候不懂，又 想要找到自己想玩的方法，就乱拍，花了很多底片的钱。 我很紧张拍不好，所以 就一直拍一直拍。然后王家卫就说，哇，花那么多钱。但还是让我继续拍了。” “Wong Kar-wai affected me a lot” Born in Hong Kong in 1964, Shya returned home in 1991 after studying fine art at the Emily Carr Institute in Canada in 1991 and founded the award-winning design studio, Shya-la-laWorkshop. In the mid-1990s he began his creative work with a diverse range of graphic design, including CD covers for the Hong Kong music industry. Shya has successively produced a number of albumcovers that still look avant-garde, bold and artistic for singers such as Karen Mok, Leslie Cheung and FayeWong. He moved into film after Wong Kar-wai asked him to join the crew in Argentina in 1997 during the filming of Happy Together , starring Leslie Cheung and Tony Leung. Happy Together not only earnedWong the Best Director award at the 50th Cannes Film Festival, but also put Shya in the spotlight. “When I started working with Wong, I was more like a student and just followed him. So basically he influenced me a lot on how to shoot, how to look at things and so on,” Shya recalls. “When we were filming in Argentina, everyone was too busy to care about me. I didn’t know what should I do, so I decided to find my own way to shoot. I was nervous that I couldn’t shoot a good photo, so I shot a lot. Then one dayWong sawmywork and said ‘Wow, that really cost a lot.’ But he let me continue myway.” There was even one set of photos all out of focus, because Shya forgot to turn his camera to automatic mode. Although he was initially scared to show them to Wong and art director William Chang Suk-ping, Shya was later shocked when they chose some to use.