Many people take up photography to find meaning in the moment, but for Douglas So, it is about capturing history.
The Hong Kong based collector has spent the last two decades searching for rare cameras and priceless photographs.
In September 2014, he left his job as a lawyer to fully take charge of his dreams. So became the founder and director of the F11 Photographic Museum in Hong Kong’s Happy Valley district.
The museum is the first of its kind in the city exhibiting rare and vintage camera as well as prints.
“I always thought in Hong Kong, with myself and so many people interested in photography, why isn’t there a place where photo lovers can go to and have a gathering to look at all the interesting photography together?” he says.
So’s father was an amateur photographer who passed on his interest to So at a young age, often gathering the family by the projector to go through slideshows of his own work.
When So’s wife gave him his first ever Leica camera as a birthday present 18 years ago, it not only inspired his love for the brand, but also nurtured his passion to collect.
So attends auctions to find his beloved photographic pieces, boasting a vast network of dealers and friends across the world.
“In collecting cameras, there has to be a strategy, there has to be a focus,” says So. “You cannot possibly collect everything so you have to know. You have to have a plan as to what are the pieces that are missing from your collection.”
Among F11 Photographic Museum’s collection is a display of 60 Leica cameras – each with their own story and history – including a 1954 Leica M3, which according to So, is one of the most popular cameras Leica has ever produced.
“The experience, the feedback we have received (about the museum) so far have been overwhelmingly positive. And we’re very encouraged and we hope that we could do even better,” he says.
