Victoria Harbour, with its beautiful skyline, may be one of Hong Kong’s most iconic sites.

What better place than the waterfront promenade next to the Star Ferry Pier in Tsim Sha Tsui can you soak up the view of the IFC, Bank of China, HSBC tower or the Convention and Exhibition centre?

Yet, the harbour is in constant danger of constant reclamation, whether to build new building apartments, commercial towers, recreational spaces such as the West Kowloon Cultural Area or MTR extensions. In the 1950s, the waterfront line on the island was at Hennessy road. Nowadays, the public rarely gets direct access to the water. Very strange for a city that started as an island and is still today one of the world’s most important harbours in the world. The ongoing reclamation that stretches from Central to Causeway Bay is meant for a new bypass and a brand new waterfront promenade that hopefully will be ready in the coming years.

At the South China Morning Post, we decided, in January, to focus on the harbour from a historical point of view. One of my videos accompanied the print story. In the video, I decided to focus on the importance of the harbour for Hong Kong and what mistakes have been made in the past (in terms of protection and urban planning). I also met with a ship captain at Star Ferry, who tells us how the ferry routes, crossing Victoria Harbour, used to be a very common mode of transportation for Hong Kong people commuting to and from work; the ferry is mainly used today by the tourists (although many Hong Kongers use it to commute every day, still). Shooting aboard the ferry, commuting back and forth on a sunny day from Tsim Sha Tsui to Wanchai, was a memorable filming experience.

One of the videos I shot for the South China Morning Post recently won an award.

Each year since 2010, the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) holds the Asian Digital Media Asia awards; this year in Kuala Lumpur. SCMP.com won best news website, we also won in graphics, but I am especially glad to be the first to bring back gold in the video category, since we only relaunched the new SCMP.com in September.

I enjoyed covering the story a lot. I worked with two colleagues and we were out and about reporting in Tin Shui Wai at 5 am. I wish I could do more stories like this.

To give a little bit of context, Tin Shui Wai, nicknamed “city of sadness,” is a new town located far away in the northern part of the New Territories. A bus ride to Central can take 1h30mn… Distractions or public services are as scarce as the public housing blocks are tall and grim. The poverty rate is higher than in other parts of the city. It is not unusual to hear or read in the news that somebody committed suicide by jumping out of his/her window.

One early morning last September my colleagues and I went to report on how local people did not have access to affordable groceries and vegetables and how hawkers, some old and simply trying to make a living, were harassed by the ever-zealous government officials. You can read my colleague Jennifer Cheng’s story here (paywall) and the video is below:

Neighbourhood Sounds: Tin Shui Wai from Helene Franchineau on Vimeo.

He is the first Afghan to get a Pulitzer, and this was also the first Pulitzer for the newswire AFP. Massoud’s photo, depicting a girl screaming in shock, with heaps of bodies at her feet after a suicide bomber detonated his bomb and killed many of her relatives, also received first prize in spot news at the Picture of the Year Award and second prize for spot news from World Press Photo. Needless to say I admire the man.

He made a long-lasting impression on me as a very committed person: he seemed very concerned about the future of Afghanistan and plans to move to Egypt or Lebanon soon to cover what’s happening there. I hope I’ll get to go to a more eventful place than Hong Kong soon.

My SCMP blog post here.

The article, called “Tiananmen amputee limbers on new limbs” and published October 8, 2009, tells the story of a young Sports student in Beijing who got his legs crushed by a tank on June 4, 89 as he was saving a woman from the same fate. Amputated, he went on competing but was prevented by the authorities from doing so internationally when he started speaking up about what had happened that fateful night.

I met him one afternoon at the US Congress as he was receiving prosthetic legs from an American company. Thanks to these new legs, he was able to stand up for the first time and dance with his wife. Needless to say it was a very emotional scene and it was surreal to see Republican Representatives Joseph Anh Cao (Louisiana) and Christopher H. Smith (New Jersey) tearing up a little.

Fang Zheng actually came to Hong Kong last June for the annual June 4 candle-light vigil in Victoria Park. I teamed up with a colleague from the print desk to interview him, and then I shot the vigil at night. (Video below)

Record turnout for June 4 vigil from Helene Franchineau on Vimeo.

I was surprised, but he still remembered me from Washington DC, after 2 1/2 years. He still lives in California with his wife and now two daughters.

Post originally published August 30, 2011:

Not far from work is the Wanchai ferry pier, and I never tire of taking the ferry to Tsim Sha Tsui when the sun is setting down. Most of the people on the boat do not even bother to look at the scenery anymore, I must be the only one facing the island side, soaking up the view and taking pictures…

I just started my 3-month internship at the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong. I knew the city well already, so it didn’t take long for me to adapt myself to this new environment.

I write for the Hong Kong desk for the moment, but I really would like to write for the China and the Business desks.

Because hey, I want to go back to the mainland eventually…

I got a video published on The Wall Street Journal on May 27, a few days after I left New York. Article here.

The most challenging part of the shooting was that my classmate (David Alexander) and I had trouble being with Arina at the right moment when she was getting the “bird down reports,” as we still had classes or were already engaged in other assignments. But finally, we got it:

Update May 2012:

I am still in touch with Arina Hanzen; she still emails me to give me updates about her birds

Goodbye New York. As I am typing these words, a police car rushes past my window, covering the sound of the much-needed air con. I am in Hong Kong.

Stop.

Be kind rewind.

I graduated from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, with a concentration in Digital Media, on May 18th. It was a very festive conclusion to one of the best years of my life (people, friends, classes, professors, life in New York).

I was supposed to fly from New York to Paris via Reykjavik the next Sunday. So yes, I had the privilege to be on one of the rare flights that were cancelled due to the Icelandic volcano. A few calls later, I was on an Air France flight, direct to Paris.

Before leaving (abruptly), I met Livingstone for the last time, around Chelsea Park. He was my character for a past video. He took me to a music store and played some jazz music for me. I had asked him several times before, half jokingly, to play for me one day. He knew that I was leaving so it was time. It felt like the story was complete, in a way. I hope Livingstone’s friend helps him in the future. I am really worried I will never see him again. He has my email, but who knows what may happen to him?

Hope on Hold is the final project produced in my Visual Storytelling class (taught by John Smock and Judith Levitt): one student, one story, about what happens to dreams, projects, causes, future, after budget is cut, after bills are vetoed, after companies choose to freeze hiring, after educational programs are being canceled.
My class and I tried to look into the long-term consequences of the 2008 financial crisis and how New Yorkers have had their life put on hold by a lack of funding or political will.
My project is the last one (bottom right): it is about the 30th anniversary of AIDS, and how it went from being a threat to being something we live with and no longer pay much attention to.
I portrayed James and Wanda, two New Yorkers both affected with the virus but are also radically different. They both fight for the 30% rent cap bill, which would provide affordable housing to people living with HIV/AIDS in New York. The fact that Governor Paterson vetoed the bill last September after it passed both State Senate and House, was, for me, the sign that AIDS became a minor cause, a white noise.
See the website here: http://hopeonhold.com/
My project on Vimeo here:

From Black Death to White Noise, 30 years of AIDS in New York from Helene Franchineau on Vimeo.

30 years after the virus was identified, HIV/AIDS went from being the biggest health threat for an entire generation to a cause that people no longer pay attention to. The face and demographics of the virus have changed: Hispanics and Latinos are disproportionately impacted, as are people living on a low income.
Three New Yorkers tell us what it is like to live with the virus in New York in 2011.
Produced by Helene Franchineau for the Hope on Hold project (http://hopeonhold.com/) at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.