The Mad Butcher

I was yelled at while taking photographs of the old market along Fu Shin Street in Tai Po.

View large image Most Hong Kongers run away or hide when they see a camera, and I won't take someone's photo if they wave me off.

But there's a world of difference between pointing a lens at a person and an inanimate object. I'd just composed a shot and was about to press the shutter button when a man began bellowing "NO!" over and over again.

I looked up to see what the fuss was and found him glaring at me. What was my crime? What heinous sin was I about to commit?

I had trained my lens on a display of meat. Pig organs, to be precise.

It was a great still-life composition consisting of items such as liver and kidneys, but the main attraction was three hearts. They'd been cleaned and arranged in a neat triangle.

Why he freaked out I have no idea; he wasn't even in the frame. You'd have to be unstable to become upset over a photo of meat.

As I was on public property, I could have taken the shot just to spite him, but it's not wise to antagonise a man brandishing a giant cleaver.

I moved on, but not before giving him my best frown and shaking my head to illustrate what I thought of him.

As a butcher selling organ meat, he shouldn't have any problem figuring it out.

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